EDDIE SPAGHETTI
Picture Books, Fantagraphics, 2019
Written by Leah Goldberg per Aryeh Navon
Illustrated by Rutu Modan
Eddie Spaghetti is a resourceful child. He gets caught up in various adventures and solves everyday problems in a humorous but innocent and entertaining way. When Eddie doesn’t find a fish in the ocean, he fishes a goldfish out of its tank. When a table is too high for his chair, he saws its legs, then discovers he cut too much and now must cut the chair legs too. When he gets wet on a rainy day he hangs himself up to dry.
In 2013 acclaimed comic book illustrator Rutu Modan and author and illustrator Yirmi Pinkus founded the Noah Books project - an independent publishing house dedicated to creating contemporary comics for very young children based on classical modern Hebrew literature. With the rise in popularity of the graphic novel, Noah Books hopes to instill an appreciation for comic book style illustration in the next generation.
The first three books in the series are Eddie Spaghetti (Hebrew title: Uri Kaduri,) Mr. Fibber (Hebrew title: Mar Guzmai,) and A Tale of Two Cats (Hebrew Title: Maashe B’Chatulayim.) The first two books are Israeli classics, originally created through the collaboration of Aryeh Navon, one of the founding fathers of Israeli illustration and Leah Goldberg, one of Israel’s most renowned poets, and published in the 1930s in serial comic strip form in an Israeli children’s newspaper – and now re-imagined by Rutu Modan and Yirmi Pinkus in their signature illustration styles. These are joined by a third classic – A Tale of Two Cats written by the poet and children’s author Ayin Hillel and illustrated by Shimrit Elkanati, which was part of the PJ Library program.
Rights Sold:
World English: Fantagraphics
Reviews:
“Israel’s most classic children’s book tells the tale of a mischievous boy and the trouble he gets into with his dog. Modan offers a loving interpretation rendered in her whimsical, retro style.”- The New York Times“Modan's loose, expressive drawing is both tremendously evocative and precise.”- Publishers Weekly