An emotional goodbye to Juan Muñoz Martín, author of 'Fray Perico and his donkey'

If you are of a certain age, it is very likely that, in your childhood, you have read books such as 'Fray Perico and his donkey', 'El pirata Garrapata', The corsair Macario on the island of dinosaurs and many other books by Juan Muñoz Martin.

Unfortunately, the author has recently died, in Madrid and at the age of 93. He leaves us a lot of children's books, and we would even bet to say also juveniles in some cases, which are worth reading. Therefore, we want to leave here our appreciation to this writer.

Who was Juan Muñoz Martín

First of all, we want to talk to you about who Juan Muñoz Martín was. He was born in Madrid in May 1929 and studied French Philology. But the truth is that he had many disparate jobs: as an administrator at the Social Security Institute (Social Security) making medication files; as a teacher in an academy, electrician or director of a school choir and a rondalla.

In fact, his job was as a high school teacher. And he spent more than forty years as a literature professor at the Jamer Institution College in Madrid.

However, that did not stop him from publishing books, something he wrote in his spare time, all of them dedicated to children. For this reason, he is one of the best-known and most acclaimed authors of children's literature, with several awards to his credit.

The first book he published was in 1967, at the age of 38. It was not until 13 years later that he published his second book, Fray Perico y su borrico, the first that catapulted him to fame and for which he managed to be Steamboat Award in 1979.

From there the books followed one another, his next success being two years later with El pirata Garrapata.

Awards He Holds

As we have told you before, Juan Muñoz Martín is an award-winning author. Not only for the Barco de Vapor Award, but also, years before, he had another award, the Doncel Prize for children's stories with Las tres piedras (specifically, his first book).

After 1979 he also received awards, such as the Third Grand Angle Prize for Youth Novels (for The Mechanical Man), a Second runner-up short story New Acropolis for Someday I will be; he Cervantes Chico Award for Children's and Youth Literature; or the Gold Medal of Merit in Fine Arts (the latter in 2021).

When Juan Muñoz Martín died

On February 27, at 12:33 p.m., the author's own family posted the news of his death on Twitter. Specifically, the text says the following:

«Dear readers and students of Juan Muñoz, sadly we announce his death. His books will always make us remember the best moments of our childhood, laughing at his crazy stories. We want new readers to discover you. We remember him so happy.

Along with the text was an image of the author along with his books and a smile.

Books by Juan Muñoz Martín

Juan Muñoz Martin wrote many books. But it must be recognized that only two stories were so successful that they became sagas. We are talking about 'Fray Perico and his donkey', which has 9 books in total; while 'El pirata Garrapata' has 17 books.

Throughout his life It has sold almost two million copies. and his books continue to be among the top sellers of Barco de Vapor, where he has published almost all his books.

Even so, it must be said that these stories that we highlight are not the only ones from the author. According to Wikipedia, which is where we have consulted the list of books that he wrote, being the last of 2021 (Another of The Pirate Tick that has become the last of those that he has written), the list would look like this:

• The Three Stones (1967)
• Fray Perico and his donkey (1980)
• The Pirate Tick (1982)
• The Book of Wonders (1982)
• Baldomero the Gunslinger (1988)
• The Pirate Tick in Africa (1988)
• The Three Stones and Other Tales (1988)
• The ugly, the stupid and the bad (1989)
• The Pirate Tick in Cleopatra's Land (1989)
• The pirate Tick goes on foot to the temple of Abu Simbel (1989)
• Fray Perico in the war (1989)
• The Three Caravels (1990)
• The pirate Tick is pharaoh in the time of Tutankhamen (1990)
• The Fruitful Bear (1990)
• The Pirate Tick in China (1991)
• The Pirate Tick in Peking and the Mandarin Chamuskin (1991)
• The Thirteen Brutal Sons of King Sisebuto (1991)
• Manué, but what happens in Bethlehem? (1991)
• Alarm on the Ramblas: the cases of Commissioner Ricart (1992)
• "Propoff." In Dreammate (1992)
• The Thirteen Short Sons of King Sisebuto (1993)
• Ciprianus, Roman Gladiator (1993)
• The privateer Macario on the island of dinosaurs (1993)
• The privateer Macario and his diplodoco drive New York crazy (1994)
• The Pirate Tick in the Forbidden City of Beijing Almost Lost His Toupee (1994)
• Fray Perico, Sock and the guerrilla Martín (1994)
• The Carioco Diplodocus (1994)
• Pepe and the armor (1994)
• Fray Perico in peace (1996)
• New Adventures of Fray Perico (1997)
• Fray Perico and Monpetit (1998)
• Baldomero the gunslinger and the chubby Indians (1998)
• Caralampio Perez (1998)
• The Pirate Tick in India (2002)
• The carioco diplodocus (2002)
• Baldomero the gunslinger and the sheriff Severo (2002)
• Marcelino and Marcelina (2002)
• Fray Perico and spring (2003)
• Fray Perico and Christmas (2003)
• The Pirate Tick in Japan (2004)
• Fray Perico de la Mancha (2005)
• Aunt Felisa's Laughing Tales (2005)
• Pilate, Jesus, Herod and the cat arrive in Bethlehem (2005)
• Aft wind under full sail, the three caravels arrive (2005)
• Humorous Tales of Uncle Nicanor (2006)
• Ten tales and peak of grandfather Perico (2006)
• The Little Emperor and the Warriors of Xi'An (2006)
• The Pirate Tick in the Underground Countries (2006)
• The Pirate Tick in Rome (2007)
• The Pirate Tick on the Moon (2007)
• The pirate Tick in the Prado Museum (2008)
• The Pirate Tick in America (2008)
• The Pirate Tick in Chichén Itzá (2009)
• Commissioner Nazario: the case of the giant diamond (2011)
• The Three Stones and Other Tales (2012)
• The Pirate Tick on Mars (2021)

A legacy not to be forgotten

If you read any of these books as a child, then surely you can remember them now, or even keep pleasant memories of the adventures you had with those characters. Perhaps you have even read them with your children. Or perhaps you have had them read them because you thought they were suitable for them.

Be that as it may, it is clear that it is important to remember them and, above all, not to forget those books that the author leaves behind to continue being remembered for years. Do you remember any book by Juan Muñoz Martín that you particularly liked? What did you feel when reading it?