“It got out of hand.” It all started with an idea from Olga, the teacher of Grade 2 of Primary Education in “Colegio Blanca de Castilla” (“Jesuitinas” – Daughters of Jesus) of Burgos. It was about writing a story for Fabiola, one of the girls in class, who had leukemia (had, because Fabiola has already recovered and returned to school). It was to be a present on the occasion of her birthday. And a year later, the project has become a social phenomenon, with a reprint of 200 copies for solidarity sale, for the benefit of the Burgos University Hospital.
‘Friends Forever’ is the title of the story, written by Fabiola’s classmates, under the coordination of the Burgos writer Roberto Llorente, who is the father of one of the pupils. The project was born last year, recalls Llorente. Olga divided the class into pairs, for each to prepare its own story. The writer only gave them one guideline: the narrative had to feature three friends, Fabiola and two twin brothers named Fabio and Lara.
The texts and illustrations are the work of elementary students.
Freestyle … so the children set their stories in a zoo, an aquarium, a world of jelly beans or a magic fountain, a little chaotic when the moment came to combine the texts together into a single written work. However, Llorente said that “it has been a total success.” At the time, three copies of the story, illustrated by the students themselves, were published and delivered to Fabiola, the school and the writer himself. But the parents of the other students began to ask for it, and a year later, 200 copies have been reprinted.
The initiative was presented on Thursday afternoon in the Culture Room of the “Hijos de Santiago Rodríguez” Library, at the “Camino de la Plata” Mall, and Llorente acknowledged that those 200 copies had been lacking. Each book costs 9.50 Euros and the money raised will go to the “Cole de los Pijamas” of HUBU [Burgos University Hospital], the program that allows children who are admitted to continue receiving classes with some normalcy. What they need will be bought for them, explains the Burgos writer.
By Patricia Carro
Published in Burgos Conecta
