Toledo, Eymard
Bené, schneller als das schnellste Huhn
A story from Brazil
© 2013 Baobab Books; 3rd edition 2019
Original edition
32 pages, hardcover, 30,5 x 21,7 cm
CHF 25.00 / € [D] 18,50 / € [A] 19,10
ISBN 978-3-905804-51-5
Ages 5 and up
His full name is Benedito da Silva, but everybody calls the boy in the number 10 jersey just Bené. He loves football with all his heart. Bené does not only love playing and juggling with footballs, he and his family actually make a living out of manufacturing them. Each day, they make four or five balls, and it is Bené who sews them – and who puts their quality to the test... Only the good ones will sell.
The story about Bené is set in Brazil, Bené does not attend school. Like many children in the poorer areas of Brazil (and of many other countries in the world), he has to help his family earn a living. His dream of wearing a genuine jersey and real football boots one day may never come true, but he is a artist with the ball, even when playing in his flip-flops.
Foreign rights sold:
Spanish (Chile), Swedish
→ Foreign Rights Catalogue
The Autor and Illustrator
When Eymard Toledo, who was born in Belo Horizonte, was a child, she spent all her holidays in the house of her grandmother in Ubá, a small village at the time. At the age of 25, after finishing her arts studies, she travelled Europe on her own. It was Berlin where she decided to stay, and where she completed her education, earning a master’s degree in industrial design. She has been living in Germany for more than twenty years now. She is married and has two sons, and lives in the city of Mainz. Once a year, they all head off to Brazil on holiday. And of course, they never fail to visit Ubá.
Her two sons, as many boys in the world, love football. In Ubá, Eymard Toledo watches them play with the locals kids. Seeing their joy and their skill inspired her to write the story about Bené.
→ Eymard Toledo's website
Awards
→ One of the Most Beautiful German Books of the year 2014 by Stiftung Buchkunst
→ Book of the Month by the German Academy for Children's Literature
→ Peter Pan Award 2020, IBBY Sweden
