Misadventures of a Giant Pig at the National Library by Marta Azcona and Anna Font has won the VIII Premio Muestra del Libro Infantil y Juvenil – which is a children’s and young people’s book fair prize, awarded with the aim of highlighting both the intellectual and artistic work as well as the editorial work of one of the 220 books that make up this year’s exhibition. It is a recognition of the work that presents the most harmonious balance between all its values.
This is what the members of the jury said about the book:
“It links up with the magnificent tradition of Spanish children’s literature, where the originality of the subject, the balance between text and illustration and the prevailing good humour make it a work that can remain in bookshops.”
“A story in the form of an altarpiece in Arte Mayor verses that undoubtedly draws on chivalric tales, on the adventures and misadventures of the hero, in this case the almost quixotic antihero.”
“Edited in a very personal way, almost like medieval songs (…). It is structured in verses with carefully chosen rhymes, always apt (…). For children it is a good technique to capture attention and make reading agile and entertaining. It also encourages them to get to know and take better care of books.”
“The entanglements in which this ‘colossal’ pig finds himself, unwittingly, have all the flavour of the farces and interludes of the comedy theatres. The liveliness of his action and his imaginative wit enliven a piece of humour that is (unfortunately) infrequent in the current panorama of Spanish children’s books.”