Wimmelbook
But what does a “Wimmelbook” mean?
A Wimmelbook is a type of illustration book of German origin with a great tradition in this country but still very little known in Spain. It is a children’s book of plasticised cardboard (600gr) showing different parts of the city while accompanying some characters that appear on each page. There are no predetermined narratives or stories, which enables an open, original and multilingual reading while the kids are having fun to explore and recognise the different parts of their city.
Here are our protagonists! They all live in València and although they don’t know each other yet, they are part of the city and the city landscapes – each one in their own specific way. What are they doing today? Will they meet anyone new today? Accompany them on their walks as they discover the secrets and treasures of their surroundings.
And what makes our “Wimmelbook” different and special?
As soon as we started to work on the contents of the book we realised that for us València was much more than emblematic buildings and squares. In fact, our favourite places are often located behind the city walls in the surrounding nature. That is why we decided to broaden our perspective and represent not only the city as such (Old Town) but also the different surrounding ecosystems which in some way nourish the city itself: the vegetable garden (la huerta), the port area (La Marina), the natural park of the Albufera or the old riverbed, now transformed into a park that crosses the entire city.
A book for children and adults alike
We carried out an entire participatory research process. This means we got in touch with key actors in each place to identify elements that have to do with the essence of each of the places selected (flora and fauna, historical, ecological, social or cultural elements) that in our opinion can further enrich the different readings of the book, making it not only a book for children but also an interesting work for both educational and for tourism purposes.