Playing with Little Red

En el número 174 de DPI, un imprescindible magazine sobre ilustración hecha en Taiwán, hay un especial sobre Caperucita Roja, donde aparecen algunos ilustradores que han trabajado sobre este cuento tradicional. Hemos tenido la suerte de compartir viaje y obsesión junto a otros autores como Paloma Valdivia, Celia Chauffrey, Micao, Daniel Egnéus, Spoonier o Shigeo Otake. Queremos compartirlo con vosotros  transcribiendo directamente la entrevista en inglés. Si alguien está interesado en el texto en español, nos puede enviar un mail a correo@milimbo.com

At number 174 of DPI, an interesting magazine about illustration made in Taiwan, appears a special review about Little Red Riding Hood, where the work of some illustrators shows the different point of view of this traditional tale and his character. We have been fortunate to share trip and obsession with other authors such as Paloma Valdivia, Celia Chauffrey, Micao, Daniel Egnéus, Spoonier or Shigeo Otake. We want to share with you directly transcribing the interview in English.

-Would you share something about yourself with us?

Milimbo is a graphic studio and little publishing house fron Spain where we work into differents ways to telling. Sometimes we do it writing stories, or illustrating them, sometimes we do it too creating a game, because we understand the game as a way to do and to get knowledge.

And that's what we do. Telling with images using a simple code, graphic, wich lead us to the symbolic reading, as do the fairy tales and oral tradition.

Inside the forest ... (Our philosophy)
The way to telling is like to know which path you should to choose. That is a rule of the game. You can try one, twice, three times and you know that you can fail and get lost.
When you feel that you've choosen the right path, then you can leave signals to recognize again the road (as did it Hansel & Gretel).
The choice makes we must take the most short and simple path. But If there are  obstacles, entertainments, we could get lost. (as happened to Little Red Riding Hood).This is our way, the most simple that leads to the symbol. We prefer create illustrations like symbols because them remain in our memories and transcends any temporal and aesthetic trend. On our way sometimes we discover books, sometimes not. But that's the game.
The book is a media, you can use it to send messages to others have to read.
 

We like books. And we do it, books for children and adults at same time, althought they receive it in a different way.
But ... are really our books, children's books? Or maybe are books for adults?
In this "tightrope" linking childhood and the adult world is on which we like walk. And since it we launch questions in either direction. This is our path choosen, is like a game.

-Please describe the product, counting game “Little Red Riding Hood”. What is the size, material, content, etc of this product?

Is a game about the “Little Red Riding Hood” tale. Inside a box slightly larger than a matchbox, sleeps Red Riding Hood, his mother, the wolf, the grand mother and the hunter. Give them life telling the story and moving the characters around the map of the forest. Play and discover new paths and way to telling the story.

All the pieces are made in cardboard. Box size: 9’5 x 13 x 5 cm

Inside Content:
-5 characters cutted on cardboard.
-A little book with the “ Little Red Riding Hood”  Grimm’s story
-A map of the forest

-How did you come up with an idea of this game?

We enjoy watching tales books, reading stories, and watching his drawings, we always play with them.

When we tell stories to our daughter, we found she likes to listen and watch, but she specially likes play to tell with her dolls, sometimes she create her characters cutting with paper, even she invent the music....

We made some characters in cardboard to play with her, later we did the map ... and finally we thought it could become in a board game about Little Red Riding Hood.

-How to play with it?

There is no only one way to play. The game has a booklet with the original text (in two languages) about the Little Red Riding Hood, you can read the story first and then play with the characters to move around the forest map, and retell the story as a small theater ... but you can change the actions, can be that the hunter get lost and riding hood helps and invites him to lunch... To get the character in your hands causes that the player takes his own decisions about what will happen to each character.

- Why did you have the idea to create these table games by the classic tales? How do people accept them? People usually buy them for their children or themselves?

 

As we said before, we enjoy watching the classic tales, for us are really important in the formation of the human, because it use symbols and children likes to play symbolically (to play at being doctors, parents, etc..). This allows providing the child learning about the world without moral lessons and at the same time, awake the most important part in the mental life of human, the imaginative quality.

Create games that be involve with fairy tales is another way to use and diffuse them, we want that more and more people know, count and play with them.

People likes these games. We see it, when we offers them into Book Fairs, children come and directly play with the cardboard characters, then adults knows that they could use it to helps them to tell stories.

When we think in a board game or a book, we conceive it for everyone, children and adults at same time. Because adults also like to play or watch picture books. If an adult has a child close is easier to play, cause the child ask for play with him. Maybe adults purchase it for a child, but we know that finally  play all together.