“It was clear to us that we wanted the lead to be a girl who had the freedom that Pippi Longstocking had; that she was a girl without prejudice, fun and not at all dramatic because everything, as her mother says, has a solution », Roca said yesterday, before the act held in the courtyard of La Misericòrdia. Mia Fantasia is “a special and different girl” who lives with her parents, Linus Fantasia and Flordeneu Encantada, and has the power to speak with her animals: Bowie the dog, who has one eye of each color, Vinil the cat, the spider Rosalía –with very long legs– and the hamster Boleta. Curious names for some pets that, for Roca, will stimulate the little ones to “link or link to other universes.
“Mia is six years old and about to start school. But she doesn’t go to a magical school, so she has to hide her powers that allow her to talk to animals”, details the author, who assures that the main objective of this collection of graphic novels is to “entertain” and that young readers have fun with these adventures, of which four books have already been published: Who is the strangest friend!, Hi there is a kronk to the school!, The ghost of the golfers Y Rescue us in Vinyl!
Each installment, then, is a different adventure, although it also deals with more sensitive issues, such as bullying in Hi there is a kronk to the school! “These books never blame anyone, but try to understand why a child becomes a kronk, what has happened so that you want to attract attention, “suggests Roca.
To write them, Roca affirms that he has had to go back to the age of 6 to reflect on the fears and concerns he had at that age. “In The ghost of the golf courses there are all my little childhood terrors, like vampires or the dark. As a child I was afraid of many things, but with age one becomes braver. When you are a mother you have no choice. Now, it is true that the medium has to make you be more cautious », she confesses.
Success
On the good moment that children’s and young people’s literature is experiencing, Roca assures that “it is essential that the characters are magnetic and that the story is attractive, just as it happens in the theater.” “Everything that has to do with children is considered minor, but in reality it is very important because they are the future and it is not easy, even for the writers of bestsellers for adults,” he warns.
«Arturo Pérez-Reverte said that he would dedicate a collection with the big names, most of them men by the way, to bring them closer to children. and where is he now The little hoplite? Children do not care if you are a Nobel Prize, they are interested in the story you tell, “he remarks. «And now they are not looking for that Pérez-Reverte collection, they are looking for characters like those of Mia Fantasia or like I was looking like crazy for the adventures of Astèrix or my son dragon ball», he assures.
