Platero and I

Jiménez wrote this prose-poetry book about wandering through Moguer with his donkey when he was twenty-two, then rewrote and expanded it over decades. The result is a strange classic: too tender for today's literary fashion, but with moments of linguistic beauty that does not age. More than a book to read straight through, it is one to open at any page and linger on an image. It also works as an introduction to literary reading for children.