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Saturday, July 4, 2015

Review: "Los Secretos de Julieta"

Los Secretos de Julieta


In 2008, Chicos.net Ediciones first published “Los Secretos de Julieta”, a didactic book about sexual education to work with not only at school but also at home. Through Julieta, Czarny, Reiman and Urban, reflect upon how children should manage in different types of abuse in modern society. Furthermore, the illustrator gives meaning to the plot with colourful images.

In this story, Julieta's mother explains her that there are two kinds of secrets. The ones that you can keep and the ones you must tell to an adult you trust.  The book shows different situations in which Julieta has to decide to keep a secret or not. For instance, if someone touches her in an inappropriate way, it is a secret she must share, and if someone tells her secrets about a surprise party or news about a sibling coming, she can keep them for herself.

The book has the didactic potential to introduce sexual issues as well as physical, verbal and psychological violence to children by using real life examples. The language used is friendly and appropriate for the topic and the illustrations are very colourful. Julieta's facial expressions clearly show her feelings at every moment and situation. Another aspect to take into account is that in the book the abusers are men.

We highly recommend this book because of the gripping topics which are developed. These delicate issues are really relevant in the whole society. That is why they must be dealt carefully and with a lot of responsibility not only by teachers but also by other adults. We have to distinguish that abuse has no gender. 

21 comments:

  1. Hi guys!
    In case you want to change the title and/or the image just let me know and I will edit it.
    Have a nice weekend!

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  2. Great job guys! Congrats!!! I've got a comment, since the register of this review seems to be informal, I'd change the connector "Furthermore"(line 8) for a "Besides".
    Do you agree? Well, "give it a thought". See us!

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    1. Hey Andres! I actually felt the review was rather formal, or at least is in between, like it wants to be completely formal because the topic that is being told is delicate, but then it is written in a nice smooth easy reading way... I liked the furthermore, but I understand your point of view.
      Now that I think about it, it seems to be written for a newspaper, right? So it is not informal, but it is also not formal... it's journalist-like... I might have invented a genre there (lol)...

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    2. I meant to say "as if it was written for a newspaper"

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  3. Hi everybody!
    In the last sentence of the intruduction, I would add "to the plot" after "gives meaning" in order to make it clearer. I mean "Furthermore, the illustrator gives meaning TO THE PLOT with colourful images.
    In the first sentence of the third paragraph, I would write "The book has the didactic potential to introduce sexual issues AS WELL AS physical, verbal and psychological violence to children by using real life examples."

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    1. I agree with "to the plot". This is a current mistake for me, I leave out pieces of information that makes the text not clear for a reader that hasn't read the source material.

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  4. Wow, I think this is perfect, really... Now I feel bad about my silly review lol.

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  5. Andres! When we were writing it, I proposed to use "In addition" so I agree with you (lol) I feel it might be too formal!
    Agus! I also agree with you n_n Consider it done!
    Pau! Don't be modest, you know you are good in writing ¬¬

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  6. Hi, evebody! I'd modify the third paragraph because the last sentence introduces another issue. I think it'd be developed in another paragraph by adding more sentences and giving more details. By the way, I remember that that was our original idea and we ran out of time!
    What do you think abot it?

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    1. This comment has been removed by the author.

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    2. I agree with you, Mariana! We should have developed the issue about abusers but we wanted to go for a break hahaha. It would be good to include another paragraph explaining what we discussed in class (men are also abused and women are abusers, too)

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  7. Hey people this is the 3rd time i repost this comment and i can not read it on the blog. Here it goes again... I think I would change the last sentence from the third paragraph by adding the info we discussed in class... That not only female are the ones abused and male the abusers,but the other way around....

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  8. Sorry, just stepping in for you not to think I don't follow your discussions. First thing I noticed was the following fragment:

    "a didactic book about sexual education to work with not only at school but also at home"

    There's something I don't like there, and I wanted to see whether you feel the same about this phrase. Any ideas?

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  9. Hi people!
    I’ve been thinking of a possible correction for this fragment, have you? I believe that the problem has to do with the preposition “with”. What do you think?

    Well, my first thought was: “After a preposition we can only have a NOUN or an -ING form.” Ring the bell? But then I checked on internet and I found many examples that did not follow that rule (you can find whatever on internet, I know!). Anyway, I’ll tell you my point. I’m not pretty sure but I assume that the intended meaning for “not only at school but also at home” was to mention different places at which we can work with that book, is that right? If the answer is ‘No’, you can go on with your things and stop reading this comment. If the answer is ‘Yes’, I think that the problem is the following:
    The fragment “not only at school but also at home” does not seem to convey those possible places but something used for working. I mean, it seems to be the object of the preposition “with”.
    Compare these two fragments:
    "a didactic book about sexual education to work with not only at school but also at home"
    "a didactic book about sexual education to work with this"

    All in all, I’d erase “with” to keep the original intention.
    "a didactic book about sexual education to work not only at school but also at home"
    Another possibility (quite “rebuscada” and possibly wrong):
    "a didactic book about sexual education with which to work not only at school but also at home"

    Well, that’s all guys. Thanks for reading. Please, give me your opinions. And good luck for the exams!

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    1. Hi Andres!
      You are right. We wanted to say that you can read the story in different places (at school, at home, even at the club). Maybe we can change "work with" and write "a didactic book about sexual education to read not only at school but also at home."

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    2. Great analysis, Andrés. Totally agree with your conclusions.

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  10. Hi everybody! First of all, I agree with you that ‘furthermore’ is too formal! I also have a comment about the second paragraph of the review. Please, let me know if I’m right or wrong!
    I would change ‘you’ for ‘she’ in the second sentence as in the previous one, we mentioned Julieta. ‘She’ would point back to Julieta in first sentence. To be clearer: “In this story, Julieta's mother explains her that there are two kinds of secrets. The ones that SHE can keep and the ones SHE must tell to an adult SHE trusts. ”

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    1. You are right Jime! The pronoun "she" would be better than "you."

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  11. Hi guys!
    I've come to realize that when I push the "publish" button, it erases what I've typed... Just in case, I'm copying this comment before posting it.
    Well, what I was going to post last week was that firstly, I sent an e-mail to Blas asking him how could I change the review by taking into account all your comments and he told me to use this space just to discuss variables. So, if you see that I haven't changed anything, it's Blas' fault (lol)
    Secondly, I don't agree with you, Mariana and Rocio jajaja I think that it is too ambitious for one review to talk about so many things. May be, it would be better if the topic of the review was different but we chose to talk about the didactic potential of the story. For instance, if we decide to make a review taking into account the different types of abuses and the stereotyped role of genders in this situations, we should think about changing the main topic.
    Leaving you with this humble opinion, I'll take a step back and watch you argue about it jajaja just kidding! I'll be reading your opinions :)

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