THE IMAGE OF THE BAOBAB BETWEEN AUTOBIOGRAPHY AND COMPARISON: THREE BRAZILIAN CHILDREN'S LITERATURE BOOKS AND EARLY CHILDHOOD EDUCATION IN GUINEA BISSAU
Comparative studies in education; autobiographical research; children's literature, baobab
This study is linked to the line of research “Comparative Studies in Education” (Ecoe) of the Postgraduate Program in Education (PPGE), at at the Faculty of Education of the University of Brasília (FE / UnB). According to Comparative Studies approach, also appropriating (auto)biographical research methodologies, it deals with the representation of the Baobab in Brazilian children's literature and the meaning of this tree for the children of my home country, Guinea-Bissau. The research aimed first to reconstruct the state of the art of studies about Baobab, with links to education, to Afro-Brazilian and Guinean history and culture, and then analyzes three Brazilian children's books in which the image of the Baobab appears::Uma aventura do Velho Baobá, written by Inaldete Pinheiro de Andrade and illustrated by Ianah Maia (São Paulo: Pequena Zahar, 2022); O pequeno príncipe preto, by Rodrigo França, illustrated by Juliana Barbosa Pereira (Rio de Janeiro, Editora Nova Fronteira, 2020) and Obax, written and illustrated by André Neves (São Paulo: Editora Brinque-Book, 2010). I seek to discuss different representations of childhood and their living environments, taking as a common thread the representation of the baobab in images and text, and linking it to my experience as a child who grew up in the shadows of the baobab.