Angela Lago is now recognized as a pioneer of metafiction in children’s books, and Los cuentos de la calle Broca is her masterpiece.
A giant falls from a tale and lands on the street. He’s terrified of heights and wants to sleep in Bachir’s room. Problem: he’s 4 meters tall and his socks smell like thunder.
Los cuentos de la calle Broca (original Portuguese: A Rua do Broca) is a celebrated Brazilian children’s book written and illustrated by Angela Lago (1945–2017). First published in 1982, it has become a classic of Latin American children’s literature, widely studied for its narrative innovation, visual-textual interplay, and social criticism disguised as playful storytelling.
The book is not a single tale but a collection of three interconnected short stories, all set in the same working-class urban street — Rua do Broca. los cuentos de la calle broca
Spanish, like Portuguese, is a melodic language. Furnari plays with trabalenguas (tongue twisters) and paronomasia (puns). When read aloud, Los cuentos de la calle Broca sounds like a jazz session. The rhythm, the repetition, and the sudden stops are designed for parent-child read-aloud sessions.
The most linguistically complex story involves a battle between verbs and nouns. In la calle Broca, words literally live in the houses. One day, the verbs decide they are tired of always acting; they want to be things. The nouns argue they cannot move. A chaotic battle ensues where adjectives are forced to referee. A giant "BUT" (the conjunction) appears and creates a truce. The story ends with a parade where the words dance together to form a single, perfect sentence: "The cat slept." It’s a meta-narrative that teaches grammar without a single boring exercise.
Rue Broca is a real street in Paris’s 13th arrondissement, but in this version, it exists slightly sideways to time. The buildings lean together. The lamplighter is a retired magician. And at number 14, there is Monsieur Pierre’s épicerie (corner grocery). Angela Lago is now recognized as a pioneer
Monsieur Pierre (named after the author Pierre Gripari) is a storyteller with silver hair, suspenders, and a secret: each night, he locks the shop door and tells a story to his young neighbor, Bachir. But these aren’t just stories. They happen—in a hidden courtyard behind the store, where fairy-tale characters step out of his words and into Rue Broca.
The problem? They don’t behave like they’re supposed to.
The witch doesn’t want to eat children; she wants to open a café. The devil refuses to tempt anyone; he’s a civil servant. The giant is terrified of heights. A giant falls from a tale and lands on the street
Each episode/film segment follows Bachir and Monsieur Pierre trying to help these misplaced characters find their “story shape” before the magic fades or, worse, before the Story Inspector (a bureaucratic goblin) deletes them for not following the rules.
The title refers to "Broca Street," but don't bother looking for it on a map. Broca Street is a conceptual space—a fictional neighborhood that exists at the intersection of reality and imagination.
The name "Broca" is significant. In many Romance languages, "broca" can refer to a drill or a boring tool, but in the context of Furnari’s work, it evokes the idea of drilling into language itself. The Spanish edition retains the name, creating an exotic yet familiar environment. On this street, the laws of physics are just suggestions. Gravity might take a day off. Animals speak in riddles. Food items have existential crises.
The book is structured as a series of mini-tales, each just a few pages long. The illustrations (also by Furnari) are minimalist, often using silhouettes, tiny stick figures, and muted colors that pop with unexpected reds. The visual layout is as important as the text; words might shrink, grow, or fall down the page to mimic the action.
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