Some notes on children's books in hypermodernity: Hop-o'-My-Thumb or The Boots of Seven Leagues in a selection of children’s object books

Abstract

 Nowadays, morphological, anatomical and material dimension has a special emphasis on children’s books, in opposition to the traditional deference attributed to the verbal component, substantiated in objects, often playful, hybrids, originals that defy any attempts at a definition and a categorization by the investigation. Having as central reference the volume Agradar e tocar: ensaio sobre a sociedade da sedução, by Gilles Lipovetsky, dedicated to the analysis of the bases of hypermodern society, this study focuses, particularly, on the short story Hop-o'-My-Thumb or The Boots of Seven Leagues, universally disseminated since 1697, by Charles Perrault, a text revisited here in four object books aimed at children, namely As Botas das Sete Léguas, by Vojtěch Kubašta; Polegarzinho e as Botas das Sete Léguas, illustrated by Truus Vinger, both edited by Electroliber; O Pequeno Polegar, by Booksmile, and O Muito Grande Pequeno Polegar, illustrated by Clémentine Sourdais, and translated by Edicare. It is intended, in this way, to reflect on the main singularities of these works or of these verbal-iconic and graphic reconfigurations, mainly based on the exploration of the materiality of the object book, through which it is revisited at an aesthetic and sensory level, a playful narrative centered on the theme of child death and abandonment.