Establishing a literary canon is a complicated and controversial task due to the multitude of factors to be considered. This article is rooted in the idea that winning literary awards may be a key factor and, therefore, proposes a canon of children’s and young people’s literature based on the number of literary awards received by a certain book in Spain in the first twenty years of the 21st century. A sample of seventy-one books that had been awarded two or more prizes was selected from a total of 1,315 award-winning literary works. The prestige and reliability of the awards was examined, as well as the author, language of publication, genre, subject matter and reading level of the books. The final proposal is made up of eighteen books that have received the most awards and are the most widely recommended by national and international institutions and specialized journals. This article concludes that this canon is characterized by the fact that it is aimed at a young audience, it focuses on realistic and mystery novels, and all the official languages of Spain are represented in it.
Article Details
How to Cite
Gómez-Díaz, R., & García-Rodríguez, A. (2024). Establishing a children’s and young people’s literary canon based on literary awards. Ocnos. Journal of reading research, 23(1). https://doi.org/10.18239/ocnos_2024.23.1.452
Gómez-Díaz and García-Rodríguez: Establishing a children’s and young people’s literary canon based on literary awards
Introduction
Not least, the growth of works aimed at children and young people has generated multiple
proposals to create a canon of Children’s and Young Adult Literature (hereinafter
CYAL), a sign of its struggle to establish its own identity and be accepted as it
is, defending its literary, formative and educational values (). There are many monographs and articles on the subject of the CYAL canon, especially
the school canon. Among them, discuss the teaching utilitarianism that sometimes marks the selection of works in
a canon. In our country, we can cite the work of García-Padrino (;; ; ; ); ; ; , or the one coordinated by . Mention should also be made of those by ; Mendoza-Fillola (; ); ; on the existence of various canons, Lluch’s on the popular youth canon among peers
() and the Protagonista Jove award and the canon (). More recently, the studies by on the creation of a CYAL canon for teacher training or on a non-school canon.
Authors such as also refer to the social canon, such as the selection of reading material directly
promoted by the publishers themselves or by the circles close to the reader (friends
and family), apart from the official recommendations of the education system. They
even see the rejection of degrees that are part of the school academic canon.
Along the same lines is the study by , who advocate for the need for a renewal of the academic school canon in which the
most widely consumed literature is also included and which is incorporated into the
literary training of future teachers.
At present, there is no fully accepted literary canon for children and young people,
as there are many factors and agents that influence and make it difficult to establish
the field of study. We do find recognised, although also controversial, approaches,
among which are the various selections and guides, of undoubted interest, carried
out individually or collectively by specialists and professionals (). For years now, various proposals have been put forward for all kinds of works,
genres and even ages, such as the one drawn up by the Germán Sánchez Ruipérez Foundation
at the 6th National Symposium on Children’s Literature in 2000. Other similar initiatives include
the one coordinated by Félix López and the team of the magazine Peonza, cien libros para un siglo (López, 2004), a chronological overview of the 100 most representative titles of
the 20th century or, on an international level, the suggestive and not very academic selection
by Quentin Blake and Julia Eccleshsare, 1001 Children’s Books You Must Read Before You Grow Up (). There are also selections for specific genres such as Innovar e investigar desde la narración gráfica: hacia un canon literario del cómic () or a specific group of readers, Del canon literario juvenil a la creación adolescente ().
As in any literary canon, in the CYAL canon, criteria must be used to eliminate personal
or commercial tastes. The literary quality and the suitability of the books to the
levels of the readers are clear, but an authority is also needed to support and apply
it, which, according to different research, can come from the academy (), the educational system (; ), or literary criticism (). A canon must adapt to historical, political, social, economic, cultural and even
ideological changes (), but also to the transformations that have taken place in the book ecosystem and
in the role of the traditional mediator in recent years. These changes are forcing
us to rethink the creation of new literary canons that have little to do with the
traditional concept.
points to two important factors in this process:
- the sharp increase of formats and platforms through which the literary event flows
();
- the growing importance of peer-to-peer recommendation, i.e., the opinion of readers,
mainly on social networks.
To this should be added the use of titles in reading clubs, recommendations in libraries
and prizes and awards, which in the literary market of the twentieth century became
another element in the canonisation of an author or a work ().
Authors such as present literary prizes as shapers of the canon. Awards such as the Andersen Award,
the Astrid Lindgren Memorial Award (ALMA), the various awards at the Bologna Book
Fair or, in Spain, the Lazarillo, the National Children’s Literature Award, the International
Award for Ilustration-BCBF/Fundación SM.award and many more, show its importance in
the publishing market for children and young people. ) also state that “es innegable que para la LIJ estos [los premios] han ejercido una
función de legitimación de la calidad literaria y de la proyección de autores y obras,
que pasan a constituir el canon de este sistema literario”.
Awards add cultural value to books and have an impact on selection and purchase, give
visibility and attract readers to read a specific work. They are also a showcase for
young adult literature and help it to emerge from anonymity, increase print runs,
translations and sales, and be included in reading lists and recommendations (). The fact that a book receives a prize makes it more talked about and can be a further
criterion for the establishment of a canon.
Dentro de la LIJ, […], libro premiado no es necesariamente sinónimo de libro de calidad,
pero con frecuencia se le aproxima. Uno lee los libros publicados a lo largo del año
en las distintas lenguas del Estado, señala al lado de cada título aquellos que destacan
por su excelencia, o que sin ser excelentes significan una aportación a tener en cuenta
al ámbito de las lecturas. Y es que un premio, en la literatura infantil y juvenil
española, sigue constituyendo un factor diferencial ().
Objective and methodology
Based on the idea that award-winning CYAL can be considered a sample of literature
that could be the subject of a possible canon (; ), the aim of this paper is to determine which titles would form part of a list that
could make up a canon of award-winning CYAL books in the 21st century in Spain.
To that end, as an initial phase of the study, a database of CYAL awards (regional,
provincial and local) in Spain between 2000 and 2020 was compiled, based on those sources in which the awards, their
announcements and the historical lists of the prize-winners are included. The initial
resource was the database of literary prizes awarded in Spain compiled by the Spanish
Ministry of Culture and Sport, which was supplemented with information from:
- Websites of the Departments of Culture of the Autonomous Communities.
- CYAL prizes and competitions section of the National Library of Spain.
- Spanish Children’s and Young Adult Book Organisation (OEPLI) and its corresponding
regional sections.
- Publishers’ and writers’ websites.
- Specialised magazines.
- Wikipedia entries for the different awards located in the above sources.
The final result was 176 awards that made up 1,437 entries corresponding to the winning
works in the different calls for entries, with a total of 1,315 titles. The difference
in figures is due to the fact that a book may have won more than one prize. Of these
1,315 titles, those with at least two awards were considered eligible for inclusion
in the canon, resulting in a final sample of 71 books. It should be noted that, in some cases, the same work has been awarded prizes in
several languages, such as Verne o la vida secreta de las mujeres planta o La balada de los unicornios by Ledicia Costas, and El pintor del sombrero de malvas by Marcos Calveiro, que won prizes for both the work in Galician and Spanish.; ¡Corre, Kuru, corre! by Patxi Zubizarreta in Basque and Spanish; Kafka y la muñeca viajera y El aprendiz de brujo y los Invisibles by Jordi Sierra i Fabra, and Un hijo de Alejandro Palomas in Catalan and Spanish.
For each work, the following information was collected: title, author/s, illustrator,
publisher, date of publication, date of prize, prize received, genre, age and subject.
As for the subjects, the classification table of the public libraries of Salamanca
was used, as well as the age brackets. This information was used to characterise the
most awarded works.
We believed it would be interesting to check whether the proposed works had received
any kind of recognition from institutions or journals of recognised prestige in the
field of CYAL, confirming, title by title, their presence in the available years in
the following sources of information.
Note. The dates show the years consulted for each source.
Source: Prepared by the authors
Results, analysis and discussion
Of the total of 1,315 award-winning books, 95% received only one award, compared to
4% who received 2 awards; only 9 titles (1%) received 3 awards and only one received
4 awards.
In view of the data obtained, it can be affirmed that there is no tendency for the
same title to be awarded many awards, the usual situation is only one or at most two.
In the case of two or more prizes, it is usual for the first one to be for the original
work and the subsequent ones for the work already published and of an institutional
nature, as is the case for Barro de Medellín by Alfredo Gómez Cerdá; Cándido y los demás by Fran Pintareda; Cielo abajo by Fernando Marías; El efecto Frankenstein by Elia Barceló; Escarlatina, la cocinera difunta by Ledicia Costas; or ¡Corre, Kuru, corre! by Patxi Zubizarreta, for example.
Types, prestige and strength of awards
Prestige is one aspect that can be assessed when configuring a canon of award-winning
works, which is related to the authority of the jury and the institution that awards
them, but also to the maintenance of a reputation over the years.
Within the almost endless variety of prizes that are announced and awarded in Spain,
according to previous research (), 54% are of an institutional nature, that is, organised by public or private entities
or bodies, associations, guilds and groups related to books, which aim to highlight
the quality of one or several works already published, which have stood out in the
panorama of annual production. Their purely honorary nature (in these cases, this
aspect is reinforced through financial incentives), the authority of the juries or
their independence from editorial connections and particular interests, tend to endow
them with a credibility that, in the field of the CYAL, is not usually questioned
(). In second place are those of a mixed nature organised in collaboration between
companies and institutions with 21%. Third place would go to private awards granted
mainly by commercial publishers (18%) and lastly to those originating from specialist
CYAL magazines (6%).
For the 71 titles analysed, the distribution is very similar: 32 of them are institutional
(58%), 13 private (24%), 6 mixed (11%) and 4 of them, granted by journals (7%).
Institutional prizes are often more prestigious and generate fewer doubts about the
jury’s judgements (). The Lazarillo award is one of the most prestigious awards in Spain and its list
of winners includes the most important Spanish CYAL authors.
Mention should also be made of the National Creation Award, which currently rewards
the author of a work published in any of the official languages of Spain. This is
one of the biggest awards in the field of CYAL (EUR 20,000).
At the autonomous community level, in Galicia we should mention Fervenzas Literarias. Juvenil created by the magazine of the same name to give an honorary award to the editor
of a work already published in Galician, and the one awarded by the Galician Writers’
Association.
In Catalan, the award Protagonista Jove by the Catalan Branch of Spanish IBBY is particularly noteworthy, as it is one of
the few awarded by the readers themselves; that of Hospital San Joan de Deu or Libros Mejor Editados de la Generalitat Valenciana.
Finally, for the Basque Country, mention should be made to Premio Euskadi for works in Basque or the Lizardi prize awarded by the Zarautz city council.
As for prizes awarded by publishers, some of the most renowned publishers are also
represented, albeit with lower numbers. It is worth highlighting the work of Galician
publishers, especially Xerais, Anaya, SM and Edelvives, and those that also publish
in Spanish and another language, such as La Galera and Edebé (graph 1).
Graph 1.Publishers with the highest number of awards
In recent years, the commitment of Valencian publishers such as Edicions del Bullent
and Bromera is noteworthy, possibly motivated by the consolidation of Valencian as
a working language and by the interest in promoting Valencian CYAL.
Editing languages
The awarding of prizes has played an important role in the promotion of the co-official
languages and in the consolidation of authors who write originally in them. Several
of his books have been translated and nominated for international awards, such as
the Galician writer Agustín Fernández Paz, nominated for the Andersen Award in 2012
and 2016 and for the Astrid Lindgren Memorial Award in 2010; the Basque author Mariasun
Landa, included in the IBBY Honour List, and nominated for the Andersen in 2008; or
the Catalan Jordi Sierra i Fabra, nominated for the Andersen 2006, 2010 and 2020.
In fact, of the total of 71 award-winning titles, 65 were awarded exclusively for
works in Catalan - including Catalonia, Valencia and the Balearic Islands - 31 in
Spanish and 18 in Galician, to which must be added those awarded for both Spanish
and Galician (2 works) and bilingual Spanish-Catalan works. Basque language is the
least represented with 4 awards.
It can therefore be affirmed that the Spanish publishing of young adult literature
is fundamentally multilingual, that is to say, the same works are published in the
different languages of the State, either in their original language or through translations.
In the case of awards, it is common for a work, especially in the case of unpublished
works and private awards, to be translated from Spanish into Galician, Catalan or
Basque and vice versa. This is more common when the publishing house awarding the
prize belongs to a business group with imprints that publish exclusively in those
languages.
Awards and genres
Spanish national publishing of children’s and young adult books is characterised by
the overwhelming predominance of narrative, especially novels, a behaviour that is
reproduced in the case of the award-winning books, which include 63 novels and 8 short
stories. This figure is directly related, on the one hand, to the fact that 70% of
the prizes awarded in Spain are for narrative, while only 6% are for theatre and 4%
for poetry (). On the other hand, most of the award-winning works on the list are aimed at audiences
over the age of 12, regular readers of the genre.
Not a single work of theatre or poetry appears among the most recognised, although
there are awards focused on these minority genres, such as the SGAE for Children’s
and Young Adult Theatre and the ASSITEJ for Theatre for Children and Young Adults,
or the Luna del Aire, Arume or El Príncipe Preguntón for poetry. Logically, they do
not appear because in no case have they won more than one award, but it can be noted
that 70 poetry works are included in the original database, of which 18 belong to
the three aforementioned awards. In the case of theatre, 71 works appear, 31 of which
have been awarded the two aforementioned prizes. The small financial amounts and low
sales volume may not be enough of an incentive for creators, but neither is it enough
of an incentive for publishers.
Awards, readers’ level and subject matter
In terms of reading stages, the analysis of the data shows that almost half of all
the works that have won two or more awards are for young readers (33 works), while
those aimed at readers aged 10 to 12 (23 titles) are in second place. Books for readers
aged 7 to 9 account for only 18% (13 works) and those focusing on younger readers
are merely testimonial (2 works) (graph 2).
Graph 2.Distribution of awards by age group
If we analyse the thematic classification, real life is recurrent with 30%, mystery
and terror (25%) and fantasy works with 20%, themes usually dealt with in literature
for young people, representing in total 74% of the sample analysed (graph 3).
Within real life are plays, usually starring young people, depicting similar environments
and problems faced by potential readers, family relationships and conflicts, adaptation,
social problems, etc. As for fantasy literature, its boom may be due to the growing
consumption by young people of titles such as Harry Potter or The Lord of the Rings (following its film adaptation) and all the series and sagas of these characteristics
that have appeared on the publishing market and which have often become true cult
objects.
The last places are occupied by adaptations of classics, and titles starring animals,
probably related to the fact that most of the winning works are, as mentioned above,
aimed at a young audience where these themes have hardly any place.
Graph 3.Subjects of the most awarded works
If we cross-reference the age data with the most important subjects, we find that,
for the youngest children up to the age of 9, fantasy continues to be the predominant
theme, while from the age of 10 onwards, the titles focus on real life, mystery and
terror, although fantasy is still present (graphs 4 and 5).
In terms of young adult books, it is striking that romance novels, which are a great
success among young people and about which there are recurrent comments and recommendations
on blogs and YouTube channels for prescribing juvenile reading, have such a limited
presence.
It is worth mentioning the scarcity of humour, which is widely used in children’s
literature as a way of showing reality from a different perspective and overcoming
hard and unpleasant moments, a fact that is again related to the reading stage for
which most of the award-winning titles are intended, for children aged 10 and over.
Graph 4.Distribution of subjects in the different age groups
Graph 5.Distribution of subjects by age
Authors and the gender perspective
The creation of a canon of works is also marked by the need to select a list of authors
() and, although it is not the aim of this work to establish a canon of authors, it
is unavoidable to highlight the work of those who have received a considerable number
of awards, either for one or several works or for their career. If we consider those
who have received the highest number of awards, we can see that there are 6 women
compared to 4 men (table 2).
Table 2Most awarded authors between 2000-2020 Source: Prepared by the authors.
Author
Award-winning books
Ledicia Costas
La balada dos unicornios // A balada dos unicornios
Escarlatina, la cocinera difunta
Verne y la vida secreta de las mujeres planta
A señorita Buble
As de bolboreta
Xelís, o Guerreiro das botellas de mar
Marcos Calveiro
El pintor del sombrero de malvas // O pintor do sombreiro do malvas
Palabras de auga
Emma Pedreira
Os corpos invisibles
Elia Barceló
El efecto Frankenstein
Alejandro Palomas
Un hijo
Xavier Aliaga Villora
El mio nom no ès Irina
Source: Prepared by the authors.
Among these 10 creators, considering that some authors received several awards for
the same title, it is worth highlighting the figure of the Galician Ledicia Costas
with several awards for four of her works, both in Galician and in Spanish; Emma Pedreira
with four awards for the same work Os corpos invisibles and Elia Barceló with three for El efecto Frankenstein.
However, among the most prize-winners there are no names of recognised prestige in
the Spanish CYAL who have received between 2000 and 2020 such important awards as
the Cervantes Chico (Jordi Serra i Fabra; Elvira Lindo; Marinella Terzi; Fernando
Lalana; Pilar Mateos or Maite Carranza); the National Creation Award (Juan Cruz Igerabide;
Jordi Serra i Fabra; Antonio Rodríguez Almodóvar; Alfredo Martín Garzo or Emilio Pascual)
or who have been proposed by OPELI for the Andersen Award (Bernardo Atxaga; Juan Farias;
Mariasun Landa; Agustín Fernández Paz; Fina Casalderrey and Jordi Serra i Fabra).
Awards and the canon generation: a selective approach
According to these data, a first proposal for a canon of award-winning books for young
readers in Spain between 2000 and 2020 would be made up of 71 works. However, the
high number of titles made it advisable to draw up a second canon applying more restrictive
criteria: titles with three or more awards or titles with only two, one of them being
the National Young Readers’ Book Award or the Lazarillo Award, as these are the oldest
and most prestigious institutional awards in Spain.
By applying these two filters, the list is reduced to 18 works (table 3) in which some of the best-known authors, titles and awards in our country are represented,
both nationally and regionally. In addition, several of them have been recognised
and recommended by prestigious institutions such as the IBBY, the Munich Youth Library,
the OEPLI or some of its regional sections, the Canal Lector and magazines such as
Peonza, Babar or Faristol.
Five of the selected books have been included in the White Ravens and another four
in the IBBY Honour List, although only one appears in both cases, Barro de Medellín by Alfredo Gómez Cerdá, also recommended in the selections of Peonza magazine and Canal Lector. In contrast, few books are included in the selections
of the specialised journals, none in CLIJ, six in Peonza and five in Babar. The source with the highest number of recommended titles is Canal Lector, 11 of
the 18 that make up the proposed canon.
If a ranking of the three most awarded and recommended titles were to be made, they
would be: Os corpos invisibles, Verne y la vida secreta de las mujeres planta, or Escarlatina, la cocinera difunta.
This second selective canon has the same behaviour as the data obtained from the analysis
of the 71 award-winners: narrative works aimed at the over-12s, with a predominance
of real-life themes and, to a lesser extent, fantasy, mystery and terror.
Another fact that may support the validity of the proposed canon is the fact that
the works have been translated into other languages. Following a search of the ISBN
database, it was found that 11 of them are available in several languages.
Table 3Canon proposal
Title and languages
Authors
Awards
Recommendations
1.
¡Corre, Kuru, corre!//
¡Korri, Kuru, Korri!
Patxti Zubizarreta
Ala Delta (2018 (Basque), 2019 Spanish)
Euskadi Literatura Infantil y Juvenil (2018)
Galtzagorri Elkartea
OEPLI
Peonza
2.
A sombra descalza
An Alfaya
Xosé Neira Vilas ao mellor libro infantil e xuvenil (2006)
Lazarillo creación (2005)
White Ravens
3.
Barro de Medellín
Alfredo Gómez Cerdá
Ala Delta (2008)
Nacional creación (2009)
White Ravens
IBBY
Peonza
Canal Lector
4.
Cielo abajo
Fernando Marías
Anaya Internacional de Literatura Infantil y Juvenil (2005)
Nacional creación (2005)
Peonza
Babar
Canal Lector
5.
El efecto Frankenstein
Elia Barceló
Edebé juvenil (2019)
Kelvin 505 (2020)
Nacional creación (2020)
OEPLI
Canal Lector
6.
El meu nom no ès Irina
Xavier Aliaga
Crítica dels Escriptors Valencians. Juvenil (2014)
Libros mejor editados Generalitat Valenciana. Libro infantil (2013)
Samaruc Juvenil (2014)
7.
El nen gris
Lluìs Farré
Hospital Sant Joan de Deu (2006)
Crítica Serra D’or. Infantil (2007)
Junceda de ilustración. Ficción (2006)
White Ravens
8.
Escarlatina, la cocinera difunta//
Escarlatina, a cociñeira defunta
Ledicia Costas
Fervenzas Literarias. Infantil (2014)
Merlín Infantil (2014)
Nacional creación (2014)
IBBY
Galician Books for Children’s
Canal Lector
9.
Kafka y la muñeca viajera //Kafka i la nina que se’n va anar de viatge
Jordi Sierra i Fabra
Protagonista Jove (2009)
Nacional creación (2007)
Peonza
Canal Lector
10.
La balada de los unicornios // A balada dos unicornios
Ledicia Costas
Lazarillo creación (2017)
Kelvin 505 (2019)
Fervenzas Literarias. Juvenil (2018)
Canal Lector
11.
La isla de Bowen
César Mallorquí
Edebé juvenil (2012)
Nacional creación (2013)
IBBY
Babar
Canal Lector
12.
O meu pesadelo favorito
María Solar
Lazarillo creación (2014)
Fervenzas Literarias. Infantil (2015)
Gala do Libro Galego (2016)
White Ravens
Galician Books for Children’s
13.
Os corpos invisibles
Emma Pedreira
Fervenzas Literarias. Juvenil (2019)
Jules Verne de literatura Xuvenil (2019)
Gala do Libro Galego (2020)
Gala do libro Galego Libro Ilustrado (2020)
IBBY
OEPLI
14.
Prohibido leer a Lewis Carroll
Diego Arboleda
Lazarillo creación (2012)
Nacional creación (2014)
Peonza
Babar
Canal Lector
15.
Un hijo //Un fill
Alejandro Palomas
Joaquín Ruyra (2014)
Protagonista Jove (2016)
Nacional creación (2016)
OEPLI
Babar
Canal Lector
16.
Una habitación en Babel
Eliacer Cansino
Anaya Internacional de Literatura Infantil y Juvenil (2009)
Nacional creación (2010)
Canal Lector
17.
Verdadera historia del perro Salomón
Javier Serrano
Mejores ilustraciones de libros infantiles y juveniles (2001)
Nacional creación (2001)
18.
Verne y la vida secreta de las mujeres planta//
Jules Verne e a vida secreta das mulleres planta
Ledicia Costas
Fervenzas Literarias Juvenil (2016)
Gala do Libro Galego (2017)
Lazarillo de Creación (2015)
White Ravens
Galician Books for Children’s
OEPLI
Peonza
Babar
Canal Lector
Note. N.B. For works available in several languages, they are grouped together using the
Spanish title for literacy whenever one of the awards is available in this language.
Source: Prepared by the authors
Conclusions
At present, it is not possible to speak of a fully accepted children’s and young adult
literary canon, academic or otherwise. Even authors such as consider that we cannot speak of a single canon, but that it is plural and diverse.
Therefore, it is possible to propose a fee that takes into account other factors such
as the case of awards, which has been the main objective of this work.
Questioning a canon is always healthy if we consider that any proposal involves an
inevitable dose of arbitrariness (). However, despite the many discussions on the elements to be taken into account
when defining a canon for children and young people, it is increasingly accepted that
an award can be a component in the canonisation of a work, a factor that gives visibility
to titles and influences their selection and purchase. It is true that an award-winning
book is not always synonymous with quality, but as states, it usually comes close.
believe that the more radical positions that advocate the elimination of the literary
canon have a restrictive view of this phenomenon by considering that
“el derecho de un determinado texto literario a formar parte del canon no depende -no
debe depender, no puede depender- de elementos externos al texto, especialmente contextuales,
que no sean los ‘rigurosos criterios estéticos’ a los que se refiere Bloom (1995)”.
Various types of canons can be made, official or scholarly, personal, popular and
even, like the one proposed in this work: the canon of award-winning children’s and
young adult books. After analysing the 71 works initially selected, as well as the
18 that would make up the more selective canon, it can be affirmed that in the majority
of cases we are dealing with novels with institutional awards aimed at readers over
the age of 10, in which real life, mystery and fantasy themes predominate. There is
an important presence of titles in Catalan In this canon, whether or not they have
subsequently been translated into other languages, as well as works recommended and
recognised by specialised critics.
In the case of the 18 works, 88% are also recommended by the specialised critics,
so it can be affirmed that they are recognised works and can be included in a possible
canon.
The proposal is not intended to be an exhaustive canon, but a representative one,
which can serve as a reference for teachers or librarians outside the strictly scholarly
and/or academic sphere. This is a first approach to the subject that requires an extension
of the temporal and chronological framework of the study, for example, going as far
as 1958, the year the Lazarillo Award was created, in order to check whether they
have continued to be reprinted as a sign of their quality and validity over time.
On the other hand, it will be essential to broaden the geographical scope of this
canon, analysing international award-winning works that have been translated into
Spanish.
Likewise, considering that these are mainly works for young people, it will be necessary
to allow for the possibility of making a proposal for a children’s canon, restricting
it not by the number of awards but by age group among the 1,315 initial titles, as
well as to tackle the task of creating a canon of award-winning works in Catalan,
Galician and Basque.
The proposals for a children’s and young adult canon cannot continue to distance themselves
from the preferences expressed by the readers themselves, which is why it is necessary
to contrast this proposal with others that are closer and made among peers in social
networks, with the proposals for titles from reading clubs, recommendations from libraries
and even from specialists in cultural supplements.
Notes
[1] The awards have been counted independently with different modalities.
[2] Data set available in: García-Rodríguez, A., & Gómez-Díaz, R. (2023). Libros de literatura infantil y juvenil con dos premios o más concedidos en España
entre 2000 y 2020 [Data set]. Zenodo. https://doi.org/10.5281/zenodo.10411464
References
1
Adrada-Sánchez, R. M. (2009). Presentación: notas para un estado de la cuestión. Signa: Revista de la Asociación Española de Semiótica, 18, 13-19. https://doi.org/10.5944/signa.vol18.2009.6196
2
Aguiar, V. T, Turchi, M. Z., & Penteado Martha, A. (2013). Prêmios Hans Christian
Andersen e Astrid Lindgren Memorial Award (ALMA). En B. A. Roig Rechou, I. Soto López
& M. Neira Rodríguez (Coords.), Premios literários e de ilustración na LIX. Xerais https://www.cervantesvirtual.com/nd/ark:/59851/bmc7q0v1
3
Barrena, P., Careaga, P., Gómez-Navarro, M. J., & Mora, L. (2000). Libros infantiles y juveniles para hacer buenos lectores. ANABAD.
4
Bernúmez-Martínez, M., & Núñez-Delgado, P. (Eds.) (2014). Canon y educación literaria. Octaedro.
5
Blake, Q., & Eccleshsare, J. (2009). 1001 Children’s Books You Must Read Before You Grow Up. Quintessence.
6
Cano-Vela, Á. G. & Pérez-Valverde, C. (2003). Canon, literatura infantil y juvenil y otras literaturas. Universidad de Castilla La Mancha.
7
Chartier, R. (2018). Las revoluciones de la cultura escrita. Editorial Gedisa.
8
Cerrillo, P. C. (2010). Lectura escolar, enseñanza de la literatura y clásicos literarios.
En G. Lluch (coord.), Las lecturas de los jóvenes. Un nuevo lector para un nuevo siglo (pp. 85-104). Anthropos.
9
Dotras-Bravo, A. (2013). El canon literario de la literatura infantil y escolar. En
M. A. Garrido Gallardo (Dir.), La biblioteca de Occidente en contexto hispánico (pp. 111-128). UNIR.
10
Dueñas, J. D., Tabernero, R., Calvo V., & Consejo, E. (2014). La lectura literaria
ante nuevos retos: canon y mediación en la trayectoria lectora de futuros profesores.
Ocnos, 11, 21-43. https://doi.org/10.18239/ocnos_2014.11.02
Francés-Díez, M. À. (2021). Dialogic creation of the popular canon and social capital
on Twitter. Bulletin of Hispanic Studies, 98(10), 981-999. https://doi.org/10.3828/bhs.2021.57
13
García-Padrino, J. (1999). Del Ramayana a Trafalgar: los clásicos al alcance de los
niños. En P. C. Cerrillo, & J García Padrino (Eds.), Literatura infantil y su didáctica (pp. 139-160). Universidad de Castilla-La Mancha.
14
García-Padrino, J. (2001). Clásicos de la literatura infantil española en el aula
de Educación Primaria. En C. Guillén Díaz & C. Fuertes Ramos (Eds.), Destrezas comunicativas en la lengua española (pp. 105-133). Ministerio de Educación, Cultura y Deportes
15
García-Padrino, J. (2004). El canon en la Literatura Infantil o el debate interminable.
Primeras noticias. Literatura infantil y juvenil, 205, 29-43.
16
García-Padrino, J. (2007a). Clásicos de la Literatura infantil española. En Pedro
C. Cerrillo & Santiago Yubero (Eds.), La formación de mediadores para la promoción de la lectura (pp. 51-64). Universidad de Castilla-La Mancha; SM.
17
García-Padrino, J. (2007b). Clásicos de la poesía infantil española. Primeras noticias. Revista de Literatura, 228, 27-34.
18
García-Rodríguez, A., & Gómez-Díaz, R. (2022). Children’s and young adults’ literature
awards in Spain: analysis and characterization. History of education and children’s literature, 17(2), 355-376.
19
Kümmerling-Meibauer, B., & Müller, A. (Eds). (2017). Canon constitution and canon change in children’s literature. Routledge. https://doi.org/10.4324/9781315680385
20
Lluch, G. (2010). Las nuevas lecturas deslocalizadas de la escuela. En G. Lluch (Ed.),
Las lecturas de los jóvenes. Un nuevo lector para un nuevo siglo (pp. 105-128). Anthropos.
Lluch, G. (2022). Espacios y actores responsables de la creación del canon no académico.
En R. Tabernero, R. (ed.), Formar lectores en la sociedad digital: retos y propuestas desde la investigación. Peter Lang.
Lluch, G., Tabernero, R., & Calvo, V. (2015). Epitextos virtuales públicos como herramientas
para la difusión del libro. El profesional de la información, 24(6), 797-804. https://doi.org/10.3145/epi.2015.nov.11
Lorente-Muñoz, P. (2011). Consideraciones sobre la literatura infantil y juvenil:
Literatura y subliteratura. Didáctica. Lengua y literatura, 23(1), 227-247. https://doi.org/10.5209/rev_DIDA.2011.v23.36317
27
Martín-Barbero, J. (2003). De los medios a las mediaciones. Convenio Andrés Bello.
28
Mateo-Girona, M. T. (2022). Desde un canon propio hacia un canon especializado de
literatura infantil y juvenil para la formación docente inicial. En M. J. Maldonado
& M. Gutiérrez Zornoza (Eds), De la literatura infantil a la competencia literaria (pp. 101-116). Dykinson. https://doi.org/10.2307/j.ctv2s0j6hg.11
Ortiz-Ballesteros, A. M., & Gómez -Rubio, G. (2022). La literatura infantil y juvenil
de autor en los libros de texto de Educación Primaria. Ogigia. Revista electrónica de estudios hispánicos, 31, 181–206. https://doi.org/10.24197/ogigia.31.2022.181-206
34
Ortiz-Hernández, F. J., Rovira-Collado, J., Pomares-Puig, M. P., Baile-López, E.,
Ros-Selva, J., Sánchez-Verdú, R., Rovira-Collado, J. M., Albero-Gabriel, J., Álvarez-García,
D., & Vidal-Martín-Toledano, J. (2014). Innovar e investigar desde la narración gráfica:
hacia un canon literario del cómic. XII Jornadas de Redes de Investigación en Docencia
Universitaria. En El reconocimiento docente: innovar e investigar con criterios de calidad. Alicante: Universidad de Alicante. ICE. https://rua.ua.es/dspace/bitstream/10045/41850/1/2014_XII_Jornadas_Redes_60.pdf
35
Pascual-Díez. J. (2007). Lecturas y factores que condicionan la maduración lectora.
Implicaciones educativas. En P. C. Cerrillo, C. Cañamares & C. Sánchez (Coords.),
Literatura infantil: nuevas lecturas, nuevos lectores (pp. 421-428). Ediciones de la Universidad de Castilla-La Mancha
Rivera-Jurado, P., & Romero-Oliva, M.-F. (2020). El adolescente como lector accidental
de textos literarios: hábitos de lectura literaria en Educación Secundaria. Ocnos, 19(3), 7-18. https://doi.org/10.18239/ocnos_2020.19.3.2313
38
Selfa-Sastre, M., Balça, A., & Costa, P. (2017). Biblioteca escolar, lectura y literatura
infantil y juvenil: selección de títulos actuales en español y portugués (2005-2015).
Tejuelo. Didáctica de la Lengua y la Literatura. Educación, 25, 5-34. https://doi.org/10.17398/1988-8430.25.5
39
Sotomayor -Sáez, M. V., & Díaz- Armas, J. (2013). Los premios Lazarillo y Nacional
de Literatura Infantil y Juvenil. En B. Roig Rechou (Coord.). Premios Literarios e de Ilustración na LIX (pp. 59-90). Edicións Xerais.
40
Tarrío-Varela, A. (2013). Os premios literarios. En B. Roig Rechou (Coord.). Premios Literarios e de Ilustración na LIX (pp. 15-36). Edicións Xerais,
41
Tejerina-Lobo, I. (2004). El canon literario y la literatura infantil y juvenil. Los
cien libros del siglo XX. Revista de la Asociación de Amigos del Libro Infantil y Juvenil, 12, 17-25. http://www.cervantesvirtual.com/servlet/SirveObras/platero/ 68060953006027051800080/index.htm
42
Vita, S. (2003). Hacia la conformación de un canon para la escuela secundaria. En
Ángel G. Cano & C. Pérez (Coords.). Canon, literatura infantil y otras literaturas (pp. 557-568). Universidad de Castilla-La Mancha.
