Novel
Cocorí
Not translated into English
Joaquín Gutiérrez · 1947
Synopsis
Cocorí, a little Black boy from the Caribbean coast of Costa Rica, lives between the forest and the sea. A blonde little girl who has come ashore from a ship gives him a rose and asks him for a little monkey; he goes into the forest to catch one, but when he returns the ship has put to sea again and the rose has fallen apart into petals. Why did the flower last so short a time? He asks his mother Drusila, the old fisherman, the tortoise doña Modorra, then the oldest animals of the forest, the caiman don Torcuato and the snake Talamanca.
Context
The book won in 1947 the first prize of the children's literature competition of the Chilean publisher Rapa Nui, which published it with a cover by Coré; the author is said to have written it in a week. It has been translated into about ten languages, even into Braille with the help of UNESCO, and adapted for the stage in several countries. In French, G. Tyl-Cambier produced in 1953 an adaptation illustrated by Guy Sabran. Having become required reading in Costa Rica, it has been denounced as racist by the association Proyecto Caribe and withdrawn from the primary school curriculum, at least.
Who it is for
A short novel for young readers, in Spanish, which is also read in adulthood; French adaptation of 1953.
Prizes and reception
Selected in 2010 among the ten most significant works for young readers in Latin American literature; the best known book by its author.