EDEBÉ Children's Literature Award 2023:
Sé tortuga, Agustín Sánchez Aguilar
Casildo the rooster is desperate. He was once a famous singer, but a serious mistake kept him away from the stage and now he is finished. His last chance to avoid ruin is to teach a group of old turtles, Las Wonderful, to sing. They are retired and very old, but their optimism is indestructible. They want to win a music contest to give the award to a charity… but everyone knows that turtles can't sing, or do they?
The endearing characters that parade in this fun and crazy fable are very, very human animals, who through humor and comic situations actually transmit a profound message about how selfless love heals our deepest wounds, as well as the importance of overcome limiting beliefs and prejudices.
It is an invitation to a vital philosophy of "being a turtle", that is, of savoring the moment, of enjoying the journey with altruism and generosity; of teaching and learning.
A story so visual that it is like watching a fun musical while reading the work.
Publication: March 2023
Fragment:
«—Aren't you angry?—Of course not. What's the use of getting angry? Tell me, Mr. Casildo, what good has it done for you to spend so many years angry with the world?
MRS. LENNON
AGUSTÍN SANCHEZ AGUILAR
Agustín Sánchez Aguilar was born in Barcelona in 1971. He has a doctorate in Hispanic Philology, teaches literature at the Autonomous University of Barcelona and gives courses and conferences on encouraging reading, communication, creativity, storytelling and literature. In 2006 she won the Ciudad de Badajoz Poetry award with the collection of poems The gods and the crows, and in 2021 the City of Málaga Children's Literature with narration Carmelo must be saved, which has recently been included in the prestigious White Ravens 2022 list. He is also the author of the novels The legend of the Cid (2007) and X and me (2017), as well as numerous critical editions of works by classic authors such as Don Juan Manuel, Lope de Vega or Benito Pérez Galdós. In the field of children's and young adult literature, he has specialized in adapting great classics for school, as he did in his successful story Once upon a time Don Quixote (2005), in his retelling Plans Ovid's Metamorphoses (2010) and in its two anthological volumes of myths and legends of American folklore (2020-2021). As a lecturer, he has toured countless auditoriums in Spain and America giving talks on encouraging reading: "Why read?", "12 recipes to awaken interest in reading (and a magic formula that never works)", «The game of being other: how to use empathy to promote reading»… As a teacher, he regularly teaches classes at La Academia at the La Central bookstore in Barcelona, where he has given, among many others, the courses «Check out drama : a brief but substantial history of tragedy", "Touching fire: an introductory course in poetry" and "Orwell Orwell? Orwell! Life and work of the author of 1984».