The endearing author Juan Muñoz Martín, creator of characters such as Fray Perico or the pirate Garrapata, has died at the age of 93 in Madrid. His family has communicated it on his Twitter account: “His books about him will always make us remember the best moments of our childhood, laughing at his crazy stories,” they said.
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Children’s multi-seller, high school language teacher, tireless traveler and Gold Medal of Merit for Fine Arts in 2021, he published nine works from the saga of fray Perico, which began in 1979 with Fray Perico and his donkey, obtaining with that publication the Barco de Vapor award that was granted in its second edition by that editorial focused on children and youth readers. Character. a good man but clumsy to understand the world of the friars, it occurred to him after reading a book about San Francisco de Asis and discovering the humor behind this character. It took him 20 years to get it published, as the author explained in an interview, a time in which he was shaping the character with the help of his own students to whom he read chapters in class. Fray Perico’s books have sold more than one and a half million copies and the first of them is the best seller of the entire Barco de Vapor collection.
From the series about his famous pirate, he published 16 works between 1982 and 2009. The character, “the terror of London”, as the author explained, arose from the residue left in his childhood by reading adventure books, in especially those of Jules Verne. Some readings provided by his mother, who was a teacher and lived in a house where the school was also located, so the boy Muñoz, in the afternoons, read everything he found in the library, such as Verne, Daniel Defoe or Edgar Allan Poe. Juan Muñoz Martín was born in the Madrid neighborhood of Atocha and was the son of a large family, since he had 11 siblings. He came from a family of teachers because, in addition to his mother, his grandfather was also a teacher, which awakened in him the vocation of teaching. Muñoz founded several private schools.
Dear readers and students of Juan Muñoz, we sadly 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. pic.twitter.com/bidS3AAp9q
— Juan Muñoz Martín (@autorFrayPerico) February 27, 2023
When announcing his death, his family wanted “new readers to discover him.” In addition, he has thanked “readers, booksellers, teachers, parents, publishers, journalists and friends from the world of books and culture” for having “made him so happy”. Until shortly before his death, he continued to communicate with his readers through his Twitter account.
The author began in children’s literature by compiling some stories that he gathered with the help of his wife, the three stones, with which he won the Doncel prize in 1966.