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Children's book review
Manolito Four-Eyes
Illustration: Reprinted from Manolito Four-Eyes with permission of Marshall CavendishBy Elvira Lindo Illustrations by Emilio Urberuaga. Translated from the Spanish by Joanne Moriarty. Marshall Cavendish, $16. Ages 10 and up.
From Oliver Twist to Horatio Alger’s rags-to-respectability stories, the blue-collar schoolboy has long been a literary fixture. Now another lad—just as charming, if a bit more eccentric than his peers—joins the canon.
Manolito Four-Eyes, the first volume in Elvira Lindo’s popular series to be translated into English, is an award winner in the author’s native Spain. And no wonder: The boy’s streetwise but sweet mien is a refreshing antidote to the cyber romance, jealousy and bratdom that plague much of contemporary kid-lit.
Full of invented sayings (“whole lotta cool”) and descriptive nicknames (“Big Ears López”), the brisk text depicts the goings-on in a Madrid suburb through the vision-challenged eyes of the nerdy, fun-loving ten-year-old. In one chapter, Manolito’s class dresses up as a flock of doves to represent World Peace at a costume contest. In another, he accepts a dare to jump in front of a distantly approaching bus. After the driver scolds him, the guilt-ridden boy seeks out his closest confidant, his grandpa. But the plotlines are mere vehicles for the book’s true joy: Manolito’s outstanding narrative voice. Prone to super-detailed tangents, it expertly mimics the rhythm of a chatty tween and is a treat to read. In fact, as Manolito would say, it’s the “bee’s knees.”
—Julia Israel
Time Out New York Kids / Issue 32 : Jun 1–30, 2008
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Lisa, I'm spanish and, reading these comments, I'm afraid that only us spanish can understand this kind of jokes. The Big Glasses or Big Ears are names that the "goodies" in the novel are given because often this kind of sweet children are given this kind of insults as a nickname and they also have to find in books that other children with extremely good qualities are given these despective nicks by their peers, that they are something normal. In spain the "kings of the course" are not normal.
I've read all Manolito Four-Eyes books and I think they're great. But I'm aware that the book won't succeed in the US because they don't understand Spanish sense of humor (well, some Americans don't seem to have a clue about what sense of humor is). That's their loss :)
I can totally understand Lisa's point of view, It;s the character, not the writing. Why use a negative connotation such as Four Eyes for a child that is witty and bright just because he has to wear thick glasses? Fine, wearing glasses might be associated to being intellectual but why not use a positive and funny as well, connotation such as " Brainy Manolito" Yes humor is good but sensitivity is important, especially among young children.
Well Lisa, I am spanish, and I hope one day you -and many others like you- can enjoy all the non PC funny things that life give us, because sense of humour and common sense are absolutely compatible, meanwhile you should read a blank sheet. This is the best way you will not feel offended.
Read the book, first.
Unfortunately Manolito Four Eyes is a character that could be taken as a mockery to children who must wear glasses due to vision inpairment. There's many children nowadays that suffer from this from a very early age. The nickname Big Ears Lopez given to his friend is kind of unsettling as well. This may be entertaining in Spain but the fact that this book may prompt children to mock others by using nicknames for their physical disadvantages, should stop the distribution of it in the US.