Martí Alcón | Spain
Mr Chipuri wakes up without his head. How could this happen? And exactly today, he has to look after his two grandchildren Frida and Valentin! How is he supposed to communicate with them? And how to prepare lunch when he has no eyes and no mouth? Fortunately, his parrot helps him find his way to his grandchildren's house. The children are delighted with their headless grandad: throwing peas into a headless collar, jumping without bumping their heads, playing 'blind hide and seek' ... All these crazy games are possible! In their search for Mr Chipuri's head, they stop by the butcher's and at the hospital, but no one has ever seen a similar case. Mr Chipuri becomes a village attraction and – unfortunately – gets soon in trouble in public:
"That's a scam! Cheap magic!" people say.
"A headless person shouldn't be looking after children!"
"And how are we supposed to know if this is really their grandad?"
Before the police can arrest Mr Chipuri, the grandchildren and the parrot intervene: The parrot distracts the crowd with a huge flock of birds, while Frida and Valentin sneak off with Mr Chipuri. And the children's mother, although quietly doubting Mr Chipuri's mental fitness, defends them to the policeman: "Do you really believe what you are reproaching? That a parrot can gather a flock of such different birds?"
A day without head is exhausting. Mr Chipuri drives home in the evening, looking forward to dreaming and wondering what the next day will bring.
The story is told in 18 short chapters on 48 pages.
The text is originally written in German by Eva Roth, Switzerland; www.evaroth.ch ; https://www.instagram.com/eva_r.o.t.h/
Martí Alcón and Eva Roth met at a children's book festival in Germany and got inspired by the idea of this picture book.
Education:
Escola de la Dona de Barcelona
Illustration (Ignasi Blanc) / Basic printing techniques (Jan Barceló)
Graduation: 2018
Published titles: 1