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.

Sadly, the author recently passed away in Madrid at the age of 93. He leaves behind a wealth of children's books, and we would even venture to say young adult books in some cases, all well worth reading. Therefore, we wish to express our appreciation for this writer.

Who was Juan Muñoz Martín

First of all, we want to tell you about Juan Muñoz Martín. He was born in Madrid in May 1929 and studied French Philology. But the truth is that he had many different jobs: as an administrative worker at the Social Security Institute, filling out medication records; as a teacher at an academy; as an electrician; and as the director of a school choir and a rondalla (a type of Spanish folk music group).

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

He published his first book in 1967, at the age of 38. It wasn't until 13 years later that he published his second book, Fray Perico y su borrico (Friar Perico and his donkey), the first one that catapulted him to fame and for which he won the Barco de Vapor Prize 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 mentioned before, Juan Muñoz Martín is an award-winning author. Not only did he win the Barco de Vapor Prize, but years earlier he also received 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 Gran Angular Prize for young adult novel (for The Mechanical Man), a Second Runner-Up prize for New Acropolis short story for Someday I Will Be; the Cervantes Chico Prize for children's and young adult literature; or the Gold Medal for Merit in Fine Arts (the latter in 2021).

When Juan Muñoz Martín died

On February 27th, at 12:33 pm, the author's family announced his death on Twitter. The post reads as follows:

«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 Martín wrote many books . But it must be acknowledged that only two stories were so successful that they became sagas. We are talking about 'Fray Perico y su borrico' (Friar Perico and his donkey), which has 9 books in total; while 'El pirata Garrapata' (Pirate Garrapata) has 17 books.

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

However, it must be said that these stories we've highlighted are not the author's only works. According to Wikipedia, where we consulted the list of books he wrote, the last one being from 2021 (Another of the Pirate Garrapata series, which has become his last book), 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.

In any case, it's clear that it's important to remember them and, above all, not to forget those books the author leaves behind to continue being remembered for years to come. Do you remember any book by Juan Muñoz Martín that you particularly liked? What did you feel when you read it?