By Maurits A., eight years old

Claudio Fragata was born in Marília, in São Paulo state, on November 25th, 1952 and is well-known for his children’s books. He started to write when he was seven, and many of his stories feature characters that are animals. This is the case of Alfabeto escalafobético (Jujuba Editora) in which each letter describes an animal using text and images. With this book, Claudio was one of the winners, in 2014, of the Jabuti Prize, the most traditional award in Brazilian literature.

He is currently working on the production of A África que você fala, which is about African words used in Brazil. Eight-year-old junior reporter Maurits A. talked to the writer to find out more about this and his other stories. Check it out below:

Which children’s games did you like to play? Which were used in your books?

I spent most of my time with toys. More than playing ball, catch, hide-and-seek…. and all my toys were animals. Animals show up often in my work.

What led you to write children’s books?

At a certain time in my life, I discovered that I all I knew how to do was write. I had not decided to write for kids, I just wanted to write books. Then things started happening. The first book I published was just for children. It was reasonably successful and so other publishing companies asked me to write books. In my inaugural year, I published two more books. After that, there was no turning back, I went on ahead. Many people ask me: “When will you write a book for adults?” As if I would only be a real writer if I wrote for adults. I do not have any desire to write adult books. I am very happy having a young audience.

Tell us about Alfabeto Escalafobético, which won the Jabuti Prize.

The idea came from Editora Jujuba. When they asked me to write a book about the alphabet, I thought the idea was boring. Then, I suggested a different alphabet from the ones that had already been done. I wanted to use all forms of poetry, such as the concrete poetry which plays with word sounds. For example, the letter “E” in the book has an elephant’s trunk. For me, creation has everything to do with freedom. If you are not free to create, it becomes very difficult. I always want one book to be different from the other.

Of all the books you wrote, which is your favourite?

A book is like a child. It is very difficult for a father to choose a favourite child, right? But I have a special affection for certain books, like João, Joãozinho, Joãozito [Editora Galera Record] which tells the story of my favourite Brazilian author, João Guimarães Rosa. He was from Minas Gerais state, and the schools there used this book. Nothing makes me happier than knowing that schools in Minas Gerais are reading about Guimarães Rosa’s childhood.

Are you writing a book now?

I have the habit of writing several books at the same time. I am writing two right now. One of them, A África que você fala, deals with African words that we use daily, and that sometimes we do not even know came from there. There is no release date for it yet, but I am in a hurry because I think Brazil really needs it. We need to pay homage and thank the people who enriched our vocabulary and gave us so many other contributions. I am writing the other book very slowly. It is the story of a 12 or 13 year-old girl who runs away from home. I cannot say much, but sometimes, I have the impression that it will be my best book. I am also finishing a book with illustrator Raquel Matsushita which is an alphabet. They asked me for a new alphabet because Escalafobético sold very well – 150 thousand copies! I told the editor what I was going to do, but I wanted it to be an alphabet of strange, sticky, and gross animals. So, “A” e for amoeba, “B” is for barata (cockroach in Portuguese) … To my surprise, the editor agreed.

Questions
1) What did Claudio Fragata say about writing adult books?
a) He said that that will be his next project.
b) He said that he had already published ten adult books.
c) Claudio did not talk about adult books in the interview.
d) The writer said that he does not want to write adult books.

Correct answer: D

2) What kind of books do you like to read? Why?

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