Blog post 2

As for my second blog post I wanted to discuss the importance of how children’s literature in Spain has evolved. I believe it is crucial to understand the historical significance that has shaped the influences in children’s literacy. By understanding the historical changes can help and be able to have a better understanding of the the impacts it has had in the course of time in children literacy. For instance as said by Marisa Lopez in her article of Children Literature Research in Spain, “Since 1920, children’s literature has developed significantly in Spain, and a number of twentieth-century writers have renewed and even revolutionized the genre.” (p.1) Lopez goes over a series of events and situations in history that has shaped childrens books over time. For example in 1930 children stories and books, “defended values imposed by the dictatorship. Any writing critical of Francoist policies or of the Catholic Church or that failed to exalt moral and social views rooted in Fascism was banned.” (Lopez, 2009, p.1) We are able to see that political standpoints shaped the influences on the type of literature the children were influenced by during the time. Over the course of time we also were able to distinguish movements and historical events that shaped children literacy in Spain, like women rights. If we were to take a look at the type of books that are released today, you can notice that we have books like The Story of Ferdinand by Munro Leaf, Lola’s Fandango by Anna Witte and Micha Archer, Shadow of a Bull by Maia Wojciechowska. All these books that have some historical significance of the culture and history of Spain. If we were to look closely, we can notice that bullfighting is an important component to the culture of Spain, we see several books touch on the topic of flamenco and the apparel and how that has developed over time. Also as seen in article by Erin Jones, From Bullfights to Haunting Frights: 7 Children’s Books Set in Spain, we see how these books shape the culture of Spain, similar to the topic that Lopez mentioned in her article of Children Literature Research in Spain. All in all, we are able to see the historical influences over the course of time and how that has shaped children literature in Spain.

Work Cited

López, Marisa Fernández. “Children’s Literature Research in Spain.” Children’s Literature

Association Quarterly, Johns Hopkins University Press, 1 Jan. 2009, muse.jhu.edu/article/249982.

Jones, Erin. “From Bullfights to Haunting Frights: 7 Children’s Books Set in Spain.” The B&N

Kids Blog, The B&N Kids Blog, 5 Aug. 2015, www.barnesandnoble.com/blog/kids/from-bullfights-to-haunted-frights-seven-childrens-books-set-in-spain/.