
The Silence of The Hippo
African Folktales Told by Children
Life
Published by: Centrala
64 Pages, 9.50 x 130.00 cm, B&W and sepia illustrations throughout
- Hardcover
- 9781912278060
- Published: December 2020
$20.00
Other Retailers:
The African imagination unmercifully breaks down European preconceptions of what a folktale is supposed to look like.
Poetic, somewhat absurd, and in some places dark – such are the short folktales in this book. Most of them come out of traditional African folklore, as reimagined by child storytellers, with a rather distinctive flavor.
These stories came into the hands of the Czech artist David Böhm in the suitcase of his sister Terezie as a stack of student essays from a small Central African school. Retelling these kids' stories in comic format, Böhm creates a singularly refreshing graphic adaptation for adults.