Bibliotecarias a caballo (2022)

Bibliotecarias a caballo (our translation: Librarians on horseback) tells a fascinating real story about the vital importance of reading. Between 1935 and 1943, a small region of Appalachia, the great mountain range of the eastern United States, was filled with books. The credit was due to a group of women who were hired by President Roosevelt’s administration during the Great Depression to work as librarians on horseback. In the snow, in the rain, or in the scorching sun, they rode tirelessly along poorly beaten tracks to the most remote villages. On their way back, they often heard a request: “Please don’t forget, bring me a book!” For in those mountains, where life was so harsh and difficult, books became doors and windows, journeys to new territories, sustenance for the heart, food to face the hardships of everyday life with hope.

It should be underlined that racism is a form of structural violence and, as such, it appears in our most colloquial expressions, as it does in one of the pages of this picture book, when talking about “that black October”. This can be a good opportunity to reflect on the violence implicit in the language we use.

About this story of the librarians on horseback, there is also a picture book entitled La señora de los libros (original in English: That Book Woman, 2008) with text by Heather Henson and illustrations by David Small, available in Spanish by Juventud publishing house: https://www.editorialjuventud.es/la-senora-de-los-libros-9788426137852/