Now that I have ended up with some Argentine moots —do any of you remember reading Otroso growing up? It had a pretty big impression on me, enough that I drew art for it. I still have it somewhere… the first humans I ever drew!
My tween ass proceeded to send said art to the author, with the bold suggestion to make a movie of her book together. What can I say, I was an ambitious 13 year old (or thereabouts). I do remember her response being pretty terse, lmao.
Even now at 42, I feel that she could have turned a young fan down with a little more kindness… I don’t remember the exact words, other than they stung. But I also don’t blame her, my message must have been cringe beyond belief! 😅
To put it very simply, Otroso is about a group of teens (maybe tweens?) that one day decide to move a tile in the kitchen floor of one of their homes and start digging down to make a secret base, and it escalates from there.
“Otro” means “other”, so “Otroso” is a word referencing something “other”, as in another world/place (it’s not a real word).
The book is told from the perspective of a journalist from the neighborhood, putting together a story for a special issue of the local newspaper. It’s short, but really neat.
I still wish a movie would be made out of this book. It has such a Goonies vibe to me.
