XXXII Edebé Award of Children's and Young Adult Literature

"La guerra de Nico"denounces the absurdity of war from perspective of an  11-year-old boy who, due to an administrative error, is called to the front lines. Despite his and his mother's efforts to clarify the mistake, the military ignores his explanations. Thus, Nico becomes an involuntary witness to a devastating situation. The work is much more than a pacifist plea: from the boy's innocent and curious gaze, it raises questions such as the value of human life, the price one pays when becoming an adult and the danger of following orders and preconceived ideas without question them.

In "Reyes de la montaña", several teenagers from a juvenile center will have to learn to survive alone in nature after a lethal virus spreads across the planet. Isolated from civilization and facing continuous internal conflicts, the group must create the rules of their new cosmos. A vibrant dystopia that delves into the essence of these young people “halfway between recently abandoned childhood and a still distant maturity,” who are not angels, but not demons, either.

Two different survival stories that aim to bring the complexity of human behaviour closer to their respective audiences.