argia.eus
INPRIMATU
Book
A girl who hated skirts
Xabier Etxaniz Erle 2016ko maiatzaren 18a

All the works in the “Eta zer?” collection are books about a situation; and normally in the same title it is clear what the work is going to be. Also on this occasion, the reader can see right away that this is a story of a girl with the likes or behavior of the boys. Or, more precisely, the story of a girl who doesn't like female behavior, the behaviors that society tends to give women.

Well, what happens is that Ion likes kids' stuff, which looks like a kid and looks like a kid.

However, the beginning of the story is a story about bullying: “Today I have been called marimutil at recess. Well, it was Aitor who called me like this. Others have not, others have listened, and some have laughed and others have shut up, I answer them.” And from that point of departure, this story comes from the outrage that has arisen from that name of ‘Mari-Joventa’.

Ion will talk to his grandfather, with whom his complicity is fundamental to understanding the development of history, even more so to channel his debates with the family following his aunt Naiara's wedding.

“I like to talk to my grandfather because he asks these questions. He says he wants me to think, that I myself create my own thoughts and make decisions, like adults. And I've tried to answer him." That's the basis of the relationship between Ione and his grandfather, who is looking for why things are, and understanding this will always be easier to find a solution to problems. In addition, when the grandfather learns that Ion has been called a "puppet," he tells him several things about his grandmother, how she sang, how as a woman she was weird and weird in a world of men, and they also called her "ladybug." “You have to be proud to do whatever you want, no matter if you’re a boy or a girl.”

This story about Ione has two spaces, the first, as we have seen, the school, where the problem is explained and as a consequence we are asked that Ion does not like skirts, that it is dressed like boys, that gives the boy… and the second is the house. History takes place naturally, almost inadvertently, from one side to the other. And what initially seems to be a matter of bullying or school, in the end becomes an intrafamilial issue. In fact, prejudices and inertia are solid, and it's hard to kill them, to confront them.

This story by Ana Jaka is a story in the style of the “Eta zer?” collections, complementary and enriching images by Patxi Gallego, comic styles and guidelines for following the line of history. The story worked encourages reflection but without becoming a pamphlet. In the end, the story returns to the beginning; but the final and the initial state are totally different.

Marimutila naiz

Idazlea: Ana Jaka

Ilustratzailea: Patxi Gallego.

Haurrentzat. 32 orrialde.

Argitaletxea: Elkar, 2016