Jaimelín

This book was a joint project with my friend Andrea Jauregui. The objective was to participate in an international contest of books for children in Alicante, Spain.

The text in rhyme was written by Andrea Jauregui and I was in charge of the design and drawings. It describes the vicissitudes of a mouse.

It contains 32 pages with drawings in black and white in sumi ink and colour pages made with bleach on colour paper and chalk.

20 x 28 cm.

Year: 2005

 

Jaimelin, the flutist of Chaco

 

Jaime Jorge Luis tells this tale.
It was a little mouse
Which lived in Chaco
Four times four
It ran away from the banquet


From the cat’s plate
In a jiffy If it happened to hear
The feared purr
It ran away from the gluttonous cat

 

It had nightmares
It suffered from headaches
It spent its days in the library
One day on a shelf


Biting a story
It learned about a boy
Who after a try
Dumped all the mice
Far from the town

 

With a wind instrument
The mouse thought it a good idea
To eradicate the feline danger
If it worked for a shepherd

 

Why not try with lazy cats?
It saved coin after coin for months
And eventually bought
A wooden flute

 

It tried thousands of songs
None of which helped
It’s the flute which doesn’t work
Its aunt said.

 

It has to be bewitched
With nice words,
And sing in its ears
Music from the stars

 

It took from its red pocket
A giant book with old spells
With chalk dust, sugar and honey
And a melody written on paper.

 

It mixed in a shoe
Its famous potion anti-cat
It sang in a language
Which no cat knew

 

Before hearing the aunt
It filled its mouth
With a wizard’s air
And blew the spell
Into the golden flute.

 

Let the cat race disappear!
It screamed before heading off for home
The mouse tried the great flute
On an old cat which had no owner.

 

Seeing the cat run in fear
We’ve won, we’ve beaten them!
It shouted in victory
Brown and mongrel, white and reddish

 

As black as ink, green and yellow
As soon as they heard the bewitched flute
A sparkling light grew in their eyes
They went crazy


They ran away
They looked like comets
With their tails in the air
To the sound of the flute

 

The cat troop marched on
Flying stars
To the moon!


Since that day Jaime Jorge Luis
Is called Jaimelin
By all mice.


Thanks to his magic
In the lands in Chaco
It’s been a long time
Since no cat
Has been seen.