83.7% of Spanish children aged 6 to 9 read books in their free time and voluntarily in Spain. This is one of the main results of the 14th edition of the Ibero-American Yearbook on Children’s and Youth Books 2023 of the SM Foundation, which offers detailed information about the sector not only in our country, but also in Argentina, Brazil, Chile , Colombia, Ecuador, Mexico and Peru. A very positive figure complemented by the fact that the LiJ already represents 16% of the total book market, with almost 9,000 titles published throughout 2021 and 2022 and more than 50 million copies published.

So there is no excuse not to include some stories of the Three Wise Men on the list to continue promoting reading by the little ones, who, according to the SM Foundation report, place illustrated stories at the top of the favorites. Below we leave you some suggestions that have reached our editorial office.

The Combel and Kalandraka publishing houses have released more mini-books for these dates. The first, as a series, has been named Flea Tales and is now in its third installment, with boxes of five mini-stories each. Mini because of the format, because they are great stories like Serafina, by Lluís Farré, Bestiary of Summer, by Mercè Canals or Radish Soup by Luisa Vera. Even smaller are those of Kalandraka, which under the title of Imperdibles, has already published 4 boxes with 7 stories each, of great stories such as Tomás the joker, by Jorge Rico, The watermelon driver, by Antonio Rubio or Chirimiri, by Fernando Pérez Hernando.

“How to draw an elephant?” begins The Definitive Drawing Manual. Well, first of all, draw a teapot, illustrator Enric Lax tells us. Sucked. And, how to draw mountains? Well, first draw a camel, of which you will have previously drawn a unicorn, and before that a horse. The thing doesn’t stop there, because grasshoppers, staplers and hats give a lot of play when it comes to drawing. A fun manual (definitive for sure, but we don’t know if for the better or to stop trying to draw forever) that with a lot of ingenuity, imagination and humor is capable of establishing a common thread with which to test our drawing skills. The basis of a proposal is the achievement of the next, even if it seems like a joke. Because in this book there is a lot of nonsense, analogies and creativity, although sometimes it doesn’t flow as it should and gets stuck. We got stuck on the first page, but we laughed and were amazed until the last page. Also in Catalan.

A fold-out story, accordion type, to watch and rewatch because many things happen in it, although the main story stars Eva, a girl who runs from her house to school and when she arrives, she finds a note in her backpack, The Note. After reading it, she puts it on top of the pencil case of one of her friends. But the note does not stop there. She travels from hand to hand with a mysterious message that provokes more than one reaction from her readers. What will she put in? An excellent book that is part of this year’s selection from the White Ravens catalogue. Also in Catalan, Galician, Basque and Italian.

Among the proposals that come to us from the comic sector, we highlight this protagonist who has the gift of metamorphosing with everything that interests her or that she does not understand. In the first installment she did it with a dog and in Grandmother’s Life she exchanges her life with a grumpy grandfather who treats her to her screams every time she goes with her father to the bakery. Selma does not understand why she does it and her metamorphosis will help her not only to understand the complaining grandfather, but for much more. A series that gives us a very different point of view than what we are used to, from respect and empathy, but with many doses of humor and calling a spade a spade. We can’t wait to find out what or who Selma will be swapped with in the next issue. Also in Catalan.

Allow me a geographical license and take it home. And Ramon Gasull has devised a story in which he records with talented rhyme the great connection that exists between the melody of Amparito Roca and the Santa Tecla festivities. With the fun illustrations of Anduluplandu, the name behind which the illustrator Elisabet Díez is found, this story begins with the disastrous disappearance of the Amparito score on the day of Santa Tecla, so the musicians will not be able to play it unless they readers give them a hand. A fun book, full of Tarragona words and references, which is at the same time a review of one of the most traditional festivals in Tarragona. A warning, when you open this story the notes begin to sound and it will be difficult for you to stop humming the Amparito for a long time.

One afternoon while having a snack on a bench, Ona met a bear. But as we can already imagine, this is not just any bear, although it apparently looks like it came from the Rocky Mountains themselves. This bear is determined to be a poet, because she fell in love with poetry listening to a clown who lived in the same circus from which he escaped. And finding himself free, the first thing he has decided to do is compose. But she doesn’t even know how to start, so Ona will be essential in this beautiful story in search of a rhyme and the inspiration that makes it possible. A dream, also in Catalan.

This story is born from a previous project with which the journalist Xavier Aldekoa and the documentary filmmaker Alfons Rodríguez followed for three years the steps of ten African boys and girls with whom they talked about the challenges and successes of the continent. The project was baptized with the name Indestructibles, and now Aldekoa takes up the stories of four of its protagonists in The Stories of Africa, with k, which is the name of the stuffed lioness that functions as the common thread of the entire story. Áfrika comes to life at night to explain to Lena and Aina the stories that she lives with her mother, a photojournalist who, when she travels, takes the stuffed animal with her to feel closer to her daughters. This is how the stories of the African continent reach little ones, which always star girls eager to break the mold and make their dreams come true. A beautiful compilation of stories of improvement, dreams and challenges. Also in Catalan.