Griso, the One and Only
$19.95
By Roger Mello
Translated from the Portuguese by Daniel Hahn
The last of his kind, Griso travels the world searching for unicorn companions. He asks beetles, chameleons, and buffalos if they’ve seen any mythical creatures like him, and all send him on his way saying, “Neither here nor at the edge of the world.” Griso gallops across plains, marshes, and mountains, he trots into the sunset and chats with fearsome narwals by the sea. On each spread, we see Griso rendered in a new artistic style, portrayed as a shadowy cave painting, a chivalrous medieval stead, or lost along a mind-bending surrealist horizon.
Griso, the One and Only introduces young readers to artistic movements spanning the 7th to 18th century, leaping across time and color with the flip of a page. In Daniel Hahn’s exquisite translation, Griso, the One and Only opens the doors to a world of African painting, Tang Dynasty murals, medieval tapestries, and art hidden beneath Egyptian pyramids. A song of color, time, expression, and a fantastical search for belonging by Brazilian visionary, Roger Mello.
Coming on October 1, 2024
Praise
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Translated from Portuguese, this Brazilian import, from a prolific master of the imaginary realm, zigzags through time and cultures to track the rare beast . . . The animal transforms in each mesmerizing spread, appearing in the color/style of the new art form: a Persian bas-relief, ancient Greek vase painting, a Tang dynasty mural. Mello trusts viewers to make these visual leaps as the shape-shifter interacts with horned whales, buffalo, and, at the height of danger, a medieval knight on a horse whose armored head bears a spike. The text unites the disparate compositions into a brilliantly cohesive story.
— Kirkus Reviews, starred review
