La Jornada: The children’s book Little Giants calls for empathy to confront oppression

The children’s book Little giants, Written by Alfonso Ochoa and illustrated by Enric Rodríguez, it arose from the idea that images precede words. Published by Alboroto Ediciones, the story narrates the arrival of giants to an inhabited planet with the intention of colonizing it, and through verses the point of view of the invaders is reflected.

Due to its quality, the work was included in the BRAW Amazing Bookshelf list of the Bologna Children’s Fair, in Italy, considered the most important in the world in that category.

In interview with The Day, Alfonso Ochoa, who has a career of more than 20 years publishing works for children, spoke about the curious beginning of this literary piece and the need for illustrators to propose narratives based on their creations:

“The book was born when the publisher asked me to write the text for a title of illustrations by Enric Rodríguez. I found it very striking, because, although he had already told the story with his drawings, usually the creation is the other way around, right?: first you have what is written and then the images. That’s how I worked on some verses to give an account of the vision of a giant race that colonizes a world inhabited by smaller beings,” he commented.

The great message

In the plot, when the conquerors finish dominating the small planet, another race of beings larger than them begin their arrival, thus showing that every act of violence and domination is an endless cycle that can only be eradicated by changing the mentality of the colonizers.

“The great message is that children always seek empathy. In this work the voice of the oppressed is never heard, which is what usually happens when a country is invaded or colonized, but it turns out that in the end the same invaders will also be silenced by those who come after, and their voice also ends up fading. In a world where we see talk of dominance and oppression every day, it is necessary to raise awareness of this.

“I don’t dedicate myself entirely to writing, I do creative direction, and I usually publish a book every year or a little more; I don’t do it constantly, but Alboroto Ediciones, the house that has published my four most recent titles, has a work model of great intention of dialogue with other countries and producing high-quality products in terms of publishing,” he commented.

Romper paradigmas

He said that it is very important that illustrators also take the reins of the stories and make proposals based on their work:

“My life partner is an illustrator, and she gave me another perspective on how we can create new processes to create stories. This book presented a very interesting challenge for me as an author, and I believe that illustrators should venture to make proposals like these to break that paradigm that they only give body to what an author writes. That way we can provide important feedback and teamwork that can help give a voice to more artists.”

For Alfonso Ochoa, the narrative exercise can cause a breaking down of the boundaries between young and adult readers. “In books about topics like the one this one addresses, I like the idea that in the story it is understood that the narrator believes he is right, because that teaches us to distrust him, to see things from our perspective; if we can teach children to do that, it seems to me that we will change how they see reading. The theme of the book is something atrocious, they have to realize it and say: ‘that’s not right’. We have to make them realize the violence that is there.”

In addition to the mentions as one of the most outstanding books of the year by the Bologna Children’s Book Fair, the illustrator of Little giants, The Spanish Enric Rodríguez was one of the 75 winning artists and will be part of the Illustrators Exhibition offered by this literary festival. Upon completion, an international tour will take the awarded works to cultural spaces in the main cities of the world over the following two years.

little giants It can be purchased on the Alboroto Ediciones website.