Carmen Gil

The Sparkling Elves were a happy band, living in the Forest of Light and consuming the invisible but highly nourishing "things in the air." Ranging from delectable odors to flying words, blown kisses to spare story elements, these things brought joy and pleasure to the elves. Then one day the Snouty Witches, a grim bunch intent on making lots of money, decided that the elves needed to be brought into line, and their effervescent joy quenched. So it is that they set about capturing all of the things in the air, thinking to deprive the elves of their sustenance, and turn them into gray automatons. But now matter how hard the witches worked, more things were always being created, and flying through the air...

Originally published in Spain as Las cosas del aire, and translated into English by Jon Brokenbrow, who also translated Pilar López Ávila's gorgeous Ayobami and the Names of the Animals and Ariel Andrés Almada's lovely The Lighthouse of Souls, this is a book I tracked down largely because of my interest in witchy picture-books. Unfortunately, despite my predisposition to like it, I was mostly unimpressed with The Things in the Air, finding the story somewhat odd and unsatisfying, and the artwork only occasionally appealing. Sometimes, when I read translated picture-books, and don't take to them, I think something must be lost in the translation, but given my positive reaction to other books that Brokenbrow has worked on, I think the fault must lie with Carmen Gil's story. Her central idea is interesting, but the end result doesn't feel convincing, and her characters, both elves and witches, feel like overblown caricatures. The artwork from Omar Turcios is garishly colorful, and not really to my taste. My favorite scenes, from a visual perspective, ended up being the ones depicting the Snouty Witches, which is probably not that surprising, given my interest in such figures. I'm not sorry to have read this, given my interest in both witchy tales and translated children's books, but I'm not sure I strongly recommend it either.… (mere)