Flooded

By Mariajo Ilustrajo

  • UK based Spanish author

  • First published in 2022

  • Can be read with 4+ but I insist on reading it with 7-15 year old children or even adults.

Flooded is another example of a book that pretends to be for little children but if you read between the lines it can be enjoyed at any age.

My students loved Mariajo’s idea to colour the most central characters of the book. And in this case water is a character.

The first page begins with the illustrations contradicting the text. Just as any other summer’s day… but it isn’t. We don’t know what is coming and it is brilliant for your classroom. The kids start guessing what’s going to happen and then they spot the oxygen tank. So funny. Nothing as of yet has happened but the monkey is panicking. The trick is very clever as Mariajo lets the monkey see the problem that the reader can’t. We discussed how panicky people can be in situations. The children told me how they see optimists and pessimists and where they are in this classification. Is it time for gas masks or is he overreacting?

Reading through, we see that nobody cares and even realises that the problem is growing. Even when the monkey tries to alert people, they just ignore him.

panicking monkey

It’s fun for some of them, others are not bothered.

Flooded by Mariajo Ilustrajo

And then we see that some animals are already struggling with the water. They are grumbling but not doing anything. Only the monkey is trying to save them and the art. By the way, thanks Mariajo for Easter Eggs. My students recognised them all.

Not only do they ignore the sufferings of other creatures, they laugh at them and seriously don’t understand what’s all the drama about. But it’s like in real life. People gaslight others when the problem seems insignificant. But any problem is big if it is big for someone.

When the animals are gossiping about the hippo who flooded the town, one of them fobs the idea off and blames politicians. I laughed out loud. Even kids actually found it funny though at their age they don’t blame exactly politicians, but they blame someone like their peers.

When the situation escalates and most of the animals are in trouble, there pops a con artist who sells fish tanks to the desperate. They think they are oxygen bottles. But also the fish now are swimming loose. There is always the one that benefits from a disaster, isn’t there?

When it gets unbearable, they start protesting. Probably, at this point they have already learnt a few lessons, such as helping those in need, but they still don’t understand that they need to help themselves. Politicians are not coming. It’s their problem.

Then the monkey finally manages to get their attention and they save the town. They pull the plug. Literally. That’s a very beautiful part of the book language-wise.