The President of the Jungle Has a Paperback!
An unexpected package arrived for me today. I sometimes get books in the mail to review, so I figured it was one of those. It was about the size and shape of a picture book but lacked the firmness of a new hardcover. Maybe a F&G, the abbreviated name for folded and gathered pages — the picture book equivalent of advance reading copies of novels. But too thick for a picture book. I opened it and this is what I found.
Two copies of a brand-new paperback edition of The President of the Jungle, the picture book I translated from Portuguese four years ago. Created by a collective of four Brazilian writers and artists — André Rodrigues, Larissa Ribeiro, Paula Desgualdo, and Pedro Markun — and published by the Nancy Paulsen Books imprint of Penguin Random House, The President of the Jungle received much attention and a Kirkus star when it came out in 2020.
This picture book presents the basic principles of democracy, including the loser of a presidential election doesn’t get to stay on as president.
The book features a collection of animals ruled by Lion, the king of the jungle who has just diverted the river to build a swimming pool for himself and his family. This is the last straw for the creatures, who organize a protest that leads to the dethroning of Lion and calls for an election to choose a president. Monkey, Snake, and Sloth declare their candidacy. So does Lion, hoping to return to power. The animals come up with a list of rules, one of which is that candidates cannot eat their opponents. (Or their vice-presidents, as Snake chooses Mouse to be her VP.) They campaign. One candidate is disqualified for bribing voters. And a new president is chosen, who will serve until the next election a year later.
This light-hearted introduction to the political process for the youngest readers was created to improve civics education in Brazil. And it was much needed. At the time that it came out in the original Portuguese, Brazil had gone through the impeachment of the country’s first woman president, Dilma Rousseff; the imprisonment of former president Luíz Inácio Lula da Silva on corruption charges (later overturned); and the impending election of right-wing extremist Jair Bolsonaro, who would attempt a coup when he lost the next election to Lula in 2022.
I’m happy to see the English-language edition released in time for elections in the United States, which like Brazil is facing threats to democracy and a need to provide civics education beginning in the earliest grades.
