You might have heard of Fernando Fernán Gómez before. Not as a writer of children's literature, but as a director, a scriptwriter, a playwright, or an actor (All About My Mother, Butterfly, Belle Époque etc) Yet here we have, from the same man, a delightful little piece of children's lit. The story is fun enough to appeal to kids, yet also addresses some serious issues and includes some more mature jokes that will likely go right over the youngsters' heads. And here is the story: Retal, his family and all his friends live in the most peaceful place in the world - Tranquilópolis. The inhabitants of Tranquilópolis are friendly, non-violent, easygoing, and very trusting people and have lived in harmony for centuries. There has never been a war in that area, nor do they believe that there will ever be one. Unfortunately, this does not prove to be true. And, one day, the inevitable happens: the king of a neighbouring country decides to invade their territory and has plans of ruling the town tyrannically for ever. Will Retal and his gang of friends be able to do something about it?

The story is not very innovative but nonetheless I enjoyed it quite a bit. Much of the later part of the book is surprisingly violent, with people's heads being cut off and other monstrosities - Roald Dahl-style, just like I like it. That prevents the story from getting too cutesy. Which it could easily get because oh-my-God the names of people and places are just adorable: the name of the "tranquil and peaceful city" where Retal lives is Tranquilópolis, the evil king that invades it is named Malrey I (Evilking I) and one of Retal's friends is called Morito (Little Arab Boy) "because he looked like an Arab and who knows maybe he was one." Mostly, I just loved reading in Spanish again, which I haven't done for a long time. That might be why I noticed - and enjoyed even more than I usually do - all the little word-plays and puns and the different ways language is used across idioms; and I loved the book all the more because of that. ( )