Bruno Blog

Today, I know a lot of people with low self-esteem, and I don’t mean when they go through a particularly bad season, but it is already a natural state in their lives and the consequence is their unhappiness.

We only live once and to tiptoe around life without being entirely happy is something we should know how to redirect, but since we are little. For this reason, I recommend this book by Àlex Rovira and Francesc Miralles, Tales to love yourself more, published by Destino and Estrella Polar. Both authors are experts in the self-help books but here they wanted to emphasize the importance of growing key aspects since kids, and probably the most important one is the self-esteem. The book collects 35 stories that will teach the kids to grow this power, raising their imagination, humour, love and self-acceptance. A work addressed to kids from all ages that illustrates through different versions of traditional tales and from different cultures, the keys to embrace the self-esteem so they can grow with confidence and independence, being respectful with themselves and with others, and knowing how to love because they learnt to love themselves, since if you don’t love yourself first you can’t love the others.

The book includes 12 guidelines for the self-esteem in kids. As a parents, we all want the best for our children but not always what we think that can be good for them, it really is. However, the unconditional love never fails, which does not mean to tolerate everything but to love our children for what they are. Give them confidence because they will have to face their own challenges, and however we are always there, as we grow old, there are many situations that we have to face in our own, with determination and confidence.

A very necessary and humane book so all together we can make a better world for our children.

“Enjoy the little things” is what people tell you when they see you overwhelmed, stressed and with a lot going on in your head. And they are right. However, I believe most of us first need to identify which are these little moments, because they are probably the ones we put less attention to, and when we look back, we realize they are the ones that matter the most. A sunset in front of the sea, the silence, a tea to think about life, the reading time in the terrace. For this reason, Anna Sólyom’s book, Little book of daily magic, is a gift to everyone who reads. A different book, published by Ediciones Cúpula, with a very special essence. Anna Sólyom is licensed in philosophy and works as a therapist to help others to discover their balance and inner strength, but I can assure you she is unique, because of her smile, her big heart and because she wrote this book with love and goodwill to teach us that there do exist small things that are like magic, that can change everything, and this is only up to us. It is not another book, this is a tool that can really help people who are feeling lost in this society that everyday I see, as I am getting older, more confused towards life, more complex and with less values.

The team who brought this book to life we did it with passion and I think you can tell this in every page. From Anna, who I deeply recommend to meet, because it is a pleasure to have her in your life, to the publisher David Figueras, who always believes in what he does and does it well, and also Francesc Miralles, our author in the agency expert in this genre and writer of the international bestseller ‘Ikigai’, who invites you to read this book with a wonderful prologue and nine secrets. And I cannot forget the team in the agency, who every day believes more in books that the reader will enjoy and will teach him to be happier, because life without happiness is not life. So having this book in our night table for these moments in which we all need some air, is a big gift for anybody you love.

[Bullying, why me? by Montse Doménech]

Today, the word Bullying is commonly used in our society and most of the people understand its meaning. I remember the first time I heard the word Bullying or Mobbing, and I did not quite understand what was it. A lot of books talk about this subject and it seems there is no much more to say. However, bullying keeps increasing and every day, more children and teenagers suffer it, which is disturbing, given the fact that sometimes we lack the tools to fight bullying. The definition would be: “type of aggressive behaviour that hurts intentionally another person, repeatedly and that implies an imbalance of power between the bully and the victim, who is not capable to defend himself.

I cannot really understand why someone can hurt another intentionally and repeatedly, and much less to a child, but there are two sides of the same coin – the victim and the bully – and this last also have a problem. So reading the Montse Doménech’s book was not easy, since most of the cases have deeply moved me that my reaction would not be appropriate, because we cannot forget the two sides: the bully is someone “sick” who had o has also a problem. We all put ourselves in the victim’s shoes and this books offers the right tools to fight the bully. Thanks to Montse’s reputation, graduated in Pedagogy and Psychology , and her way to focus the problem, the book is very useful for those parents whose children suffer from bullying, those parents whose children happen to be the bully, and those parents whose children fortunately are not going through any bullying situation but that also need to be aware, because as Montse says, most of us can identify and understand intuitively a bullying situation. It is in our power to help children and teenagers who are suffering it. The big question is: are we capable of identifying bullying? With this book, you get the right tools to be, so I truly believe it is a model that needs to be read even if we are not big fans of the non fiction: there are some topics that, when you have children, are indispensable to understand and learn, and thanks to books like this one, it is easier for us.

 La Epidemia de la Primavera – Empar Fernández

Today, flu is controlled and most of us when we catch a cold, we feel pain in our body and our fever rising up, that we quickly state “I have the flu”. However, this October is the centenary of the gravest flu epidemic ever suffered in Europe, in which between 20 and 40 millions of people died. Even though it is said the flu began in the United States, it is Europe where the first evidence was registered, concretely in France, from where it spread to Spain, a neutral country during the First World War. As Spain did not censor the public reports about the epidemic and its consequences, it was called “The Spanish Flu” despite being an international issue, but the data revealed that Spain was the only affected country.

Empar Fernández publishes La Epidemia de la Primavera (The Spring’s epidemic) with SUMA, where she talks about this specific era, the life in the trenches and the Barcelona of the first social riots leaded by women. Gracia Ballesteros is forced to abandon Barcelona and arrives in Burdeux, where she meets Carter Irvine, a young American man that has enlisted as voluntary to fight in the Old Continent. They fall into a relationship that will need to get over distance and the dangers ahead. In the midst of all, more and more people that are apparently well start dying because of the flu, an epidemic that will terrorize the world.

A truly hard novel but that emits affection at the same time, since the historic frame is devastating but we will live the love story between Garcia and Carter.  It will be impossible to put the book down because as a reader, you will need to know how, in such critical moment, people can fight until the end, especially the women who started playing an important role in society. A love story with spirit of achievement and values that will move all kind of readers, thanks to Empar’s style who has combined both topics flawlessly. A highly recommended novel to commemorate an autumn that a hundred years ago was fighting to survive against the uncontrollable flu and a World War that, in my opinion, was more controllable and provoked by the power abuses and the absence of conversation between parties. Cruelty and love in the same volume make the book a very compelling story that deserves to be read and promoted.

It’s World cup year, and the summer vibe with the world cup is quite different. Giant screens in terraces, football all day long on TV, and millions of people waiting for the results with painted faces and flags flying loose on their backs.

Football brings up passion, there’s no denying it, and it is still one of the most beloved sports by children. They practice it during break time at school, during their free time and more than usual, where there are lots of kids there’s a ball nearby. That’s why Anaya has thought of a curious book for the youngest and for the oldest, a book to reveal all the secrets, the legends, the myths and history of this sport. EL ATLAS MUNDIAL DEL FÚTBOL, written by Gabriel García de Oro, and illustrated by Jacobo Fernández, tells us all about the scores, the higher scorers, the impossible records, the best coaches, the best trivia and lots of interesting facts from over 40 different teams that have made of football the most popular sport on earth.

Do you want to be the knows-it-all of football? Then rush to your nearest bookstore and surprise all your football follower friends while you enjoy supporting the team you are rooting for the victory of the FIFA World cup 2018.