Imagining Refugees in Spanish Children’s Books

Stories that Erase the Past and Promise a Happy Future

Abstract

Beginning of the article:

There are very few Spanish books with narratives about people who have been forced to leave their countries. Amongst the numerous books recommended for children under 13 by the Fundación Germán Sánchez Ruiperez, a prestigious institution in reading promotion based in Madrid, I could identify only four stories originally published in Spain —either written in Spanish or in another of the official languages such as Basque or Catalan—, in which a character features who could be classified as a refugee in a Western country. In this article I will explore these stories.