Blancaflor, the Hero with Secret Powers: A Folktale from Latin America: A Toon Graphic (NYT Best Children's Books of 2021)

NYT Best Children's Books of 2021

A Junior Library Guild Selection

A damsel to the rescue! Raised by a mean ogre of a father who eats his opponents for dinner, Blancaflor is often told not to show off her own considerable powers for fear of scaring off suitors. When a prince falls from the sky and wakes up in her lap, she is spellbound and moves heaven and earth to help the endearing, yet not so clever, young man, all while trying not to let him know. With their trademark magnificent brio, Nadja Spiegelman and Sergio García Sánchez update a classic tale extolling the strength and resourcefulness of women.

Nadja Spiegelman is the Eisner Award-nominated author of the Zig and Wikki series of science comics for young children and the editor-in-chief of an international literary magazine. Her memoir, I’m Supposed to Protect You from All This, was published by Riverhead. She is a contributing editor at The Paris Review and the co-editor of the 2016- 2017 project Resist!, a magazine of women’s political comics and graphics.

Sergio García Sánchez, a professor of comics in Angoulême, France, and at the University of Granada, Spain, is one of Europe’s most celebrated experimental cartoonists. His work has been published in over forty-five books and translated into nine languages. He lives in Granada with his wife and collaborator, Lola Moral, who colored the art for this book.

NYT Best Children's Books of 2021