BLANCAFLOR, THE HERO WITH SECRET POWERS

When Blancaflor’s father, an ogre, sets a trap to win a prince’s kingdom and then eat him up, Blancaflor sets out to thwart the plan.

In a twist from the traditional trope in which a damsel in distress is saved by the dashing prince with whom she then lives happily ever after, here it is the brave and resourceful young woman with hidden powers who saves the clueless prince. As the ogre and the prince play “The Ogre’s Three,” a deadly game the ogre is bound to win, Blancaflor carries out the challenges, letting the prince believe it is he—and his luck—who has accomplished the feats. As in so many fairy tales, in spite of her smarts and his lack thereof, the pair fall in love at first sight, and they do go on to live happily ever after. García Sánchez captures the nonstop action with artwork that is dynamic and vibrant. Readers can’t help but follow as the story goes back and forth between pages full of panels to full-bleed illustrations. The brown-skinned characters have wonderfully expressive faces despite deceptively simple styling. The setting of the story—and the story itself—feels more European than Latin American, a phenomenon of cultural exchange addressed in a foreword by F. Isabel Campoy and in Spiegelman’s closing note. The book publishes simultaneously in Spanish, ably translated by María E. Santana and José M. Méndez.

An energetic, girl-power addition to the fairy- and folktales shelf.