Antonia Murgo
Translator: Blanca Lago
Editorial: Nordic children’s
Original publication year: 2023
The bogeyman, Uncle Camuñas, the Big Bad Wolf, Baba Yaga or the Bogeyman. They are all characters invented with a single purpose: scare children. But why are we so cruel as to want to instill fear in a spirit as innocent as a child? Well, if that innocent spirit does not obey in any way, if it does not see the danger, if it wants to do as it pleases, we parents already resort to anything, and fear is a very powerful tool.
Terrifying characters work as negative reinforcement to eliminate attitudes in children
It is not that it is justified to scare the little ones and traumatize them for life. What I’m talking about is that not long ago, if your son was going to put his fingers in a socket or look into a well, it wouldn’t hurt for Uncle Camuñas or the bogeyman to look out and take him away. These characters function as negative reinforcement to eliminate or minimize any attitude that parents or caregivers wanted to eradicate.
The problem is that today Child psychology goes in another direction. We must make the little ones understand what is right and what is wrong and insist. Never stop doing it until you internalize it in your daily life. It is a beautiful theory and a beautiful practice that sometimes works well and other times not so much.
Mister Moonro and family
But be careful, we are not here to judge how we educate children. Here we have come to know the life of the Boogeyman, one of the scarers with the most stripes and most tradition that exist. Far from that image of an undesirable person who kidnaps children and takes them who knows where, the Boogeyman has his own name: Micheal Him Moonro. And he’s not bad. He’s just doing his job.
Mister Moonro (that’s how everyone knows him) has a son, Corvin. Let’s say he’s a little too naughty and needs a babysitter. Without knowing where he gets himself, Miss Decembera 15-year-old teenager, arrives at the Moonro mansion and finds that the tender child she was supposed to take care of is capable of transforming into smoke and hiding among the ashes of any fire.
The Boogeyman has his own name and he is not bad, he just does his job
The Bogeyman Miss December and the Moon Clan it’s a be honest and gentle who understands that the bad reputation he carries around the world is only the result of a job that he does not like, but that he has to do “because it is work.” Starting from this base and turning popular folklore on its head, the story of this children’s novel begins when Miss December discovers a amazing secret of the Boogeyman’s family at the moment when three strangers break into the house with ulterior motives.
The work touches on several themes that we have all experienced when we were children. Talk about lonelinesstalks about dutytalks about the feeling of belongingto feel misunderstood and also talks about fear. The kind that is visceral and that attacks us at night when we are alone with our monsters. But this book takes that fear and turns it inside out like a sock so that it looks in the mirror and we realize that it is not as fierce as they paint it.
sweet debut
Antonia Murgo signs an almost dreamed debut with this book. This journalist dedicated to cinema, series and animated films has collected the baroque style of Tim Burton and has mixed it with the magical sensation that they transmit Mary Poppins and Studio Ghibli in The moving castle to give us a debut feature that has already earned him Strega Ragazze e Ragazzi 2022 Award for Best Debut Novel. It is one of the most famous literary awards in Italy, Murgo’s country of origin.
Antonia Munro has taken Tim Burton’s style and mixed it with Mary Poppins and ‘Howl’s Moving Castle’ by Studio Ghibli
In addition, at the end of 2023, he was elected as Best Children’s Book of the year by Madrid Bookstoreslaunching the beautiful edition of Nórdica infantil and the brilliant translation by Blanca Lago.
And what else do you want me to tell you about this book. Well then read in one sitting, which seems to be the beginning of a longer series and, if its author hasn’t thought about it, she should, because Miss December, Corvin and the rest of the characters should have many adventures ahead of them. And here is a reader who has already been won forever. There is no need to be afraid of the Boogeyman or to recognize that there are readings for children and adolescents that, seen and read with adult eyes, are also a wonderful enjoyment.
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