10 literary novelties for the enjoyment of readers aged 3 to 6 | Experts | Moms and dads

Published for the first time in Italy in 2000, young readers in Spain finally have the pleasure of enjoying this highly original work which presents a childhood free of sentimentality, decorations and Instagram filters and, perhaps for this reason, more complex and real than ever. The black and white photographs of boys and girls taken by Enzo Arnone in England between the end of the Seventies and the beginning of the Eighties – when childhood could still be childhood – are capable of captivating the reader by themselves. But Bruno Munari – and Regina López Muñoz’s translation – elevates them to another level with his ingenious, poetic and friendly notes, with which he seems to give voice to the boys and girls photographed.

The British writer Laura Mucha presents many of the protagonists of the classics of children’s literature and brings them together in the house of the three bears, where the smallest of them tries to finish reading a book. A failed attempt, because every time he starts reading there’s a knock on the door. Little Red Riding Hood, the three little pigs, Goldilocks appear… and even the evil wolf disguised as a grandmother who, as usually happens, ends up receiving what he deserves. The recognisable, colorful and friendly illustrations of Marc Boutavant (“Stinky Dog”), the cumulative structure and the use of deception (the role of the little bear is extraordinary) proposed by the author will excite young readers. One of those books you want to read again and again.

Boys and girls in the midst of an eschatological scene will appreciate this hilarious album written in rhyme by Alicia Acosta and illustrated by Emilio Urberuaga. Featuring a pirate with a gas problem and a pressing, and unsatisfied, need to go to the bathroom, which explains his permanent bad mood, this story is destined to make readers who approach it laugh non-stop thanks to its agile pace and the farts of its protagonist, the true terror of the seas. An encounter with a pirate will make Malacaca reconsider his diet. And sometimes you just need to eat a little healthier to go to the bathroom again (even if that means losing your greatest weapon in battle).

Illustrator Eugenia Alcázar proposes a journey to a city where all its inhabitants wear the most surprising hairstyles made by a hairdresser that no one sees. The fame achieved by the city and its hairdresser brings a rich businessman to its streets, who offers the mysterious character the best facilities for styling VIP clients. Who could refuse such an offer? However, trapped between walls and utensils, and bombarded by the requests of the entrepreneur and his new customers, the invisible hairdresser is unable to replicate the hairstyles that until then he created for free. Alcázar’s nice and colorful illustrations, which successfully uses ‘collage’, fit perfectly into a story which, like a fairy tale, speaks to readers about the importance of freedom as an indispensable condition for artistic creation.

There is a factory (imaginary, of course) where every day some animals go to ask themselves questions. Many boys and girls will identify with these animals – a mixture of drawing and wood, an extraordinary work by Isidro Ferrer – because if childhood is characterized by something, every time language develops, it is for its extraordinary ability to ask questions, to question the world, to want to go further, even when there are no answers. “Do stars drink milk?”, “How does the worm know that inside the apple there is a house?”, “Do clouds have holidays?” The prestigious Chilean author María José Ferrada once again awakens the girl within her in this beautiful album which is a vindication of curiosity.

Originally published in French, this large-format picture book by Argentine author Joaquín Camp (translation by Alba Pagán) has many of the qualities one might expect from a good children’s book: a compelling story; a sense of humor, for all ages, which, at times, leads to laughter; some dose of tenderness; a powerful message that doesn’t fall into moralism, and a character that makes you fall in love. That character is Juan Rex, a dinosaur descendant of an entire lineage of horror professionals who arrives in the city after his studies with the aim of terrorizing its inhabitants. However, things there won’t go as he expected, which doesn’t necessarily have to be a bad thing, no matter how much you think he’ll disappoint his family. And sometimes, as Juan Rex discovers, from things that don’t go as expected you find your way back to yourself.

In what is already starting to be a fruitful collaboration and a guarantee of quality, the writers Myriam Dahman and Nicolas Digard and the Catalan illustrator Júlia Sardà join their paths again for the third time to give shape to another beautiful, dark and evocative fairy tale. Featuring in this case a solitary witch with an unusual ability to see the truth and the slave of a ruthless sea captain, this illustrated album claims courage, ingenuity and love over wealth; and, what is most important in these times, the power of truth as the best and only path to victory. Translation by Carole Vautier and Alberto Álvarez Gil.

Swiss authors Rebecca Gugger and Simon Röthlisberger achieved recognition in Germany in 2024 with this recommendable picture book starring a boy who loves digging holes in the ground. One day, in one of them, he finds a huge trunk which, to his disappointment, is filled only with words. However, that “aloneness” and that “disappointment” will not last long. How long does it take for the little one to understand that those words are capable of changing everything around him: the illustrations in which the protagonist gives shape to the word ‘Phosphorescent’ are extraordinary. A beautiful story about the transformative power of words that invites you to play with language. Translation by Mateo Pierre Avit Ferrero.

150 years after its original publication, the French illustrator Timothée Le Véel recovers and adapts with his spectacular charcoal drawings a story by the writer Émile Zola (1840-1902) featuring a chubby domestic cat as the protagonist. The protagonist, bored by the placidity of his days, is attracted by a litter of stray cats fighting for survival and in whose existence he believes he sees true life. Curiosity killed the cat, you know. Told in the first person, this initiatory tale takes on even more importance in the times of Instagram, as it speaks to readers of the attraction generated by what we don’t have and of the mirages with which we are often blinded by nostalgia for the unknown. Translation by Juana Inés Dehesa.

The unmistakable illustrations of Mariana Ruiz Johnson tell in vignettes the adaptation that the Argentinian Laura Wittner made of one of the most recognized Russian stories. “The Story of Tsarevich Ivan, the Firebird and the Gray Book”, coming from the oral tradition, was written and compiled in the middle of the 19th century, along with hundreds of other stories, by the writer Alexander Afanasiev. Like a beautiful fairy tale, with no shortage of magic, betrayal, learning and a love story, this story has everything needed to captivate readers. Ruiz Johnson’s illustrations and beautiful edition of A Fin de Tales also make it a perfect gift.