“A Cat’s Stroll”, a Story Telling Children of the Importance of a Sustainable City

• Crea Madrid Nuevo Norte and EthicLab have published a story with didactic content telling the story of a boy’s search for his cat in the city, revolving around sustainable urban environments.
• The initiative is part of the programme of the Ministry of Education and Vocational Training and EthicLab, “Cuentos4Future”.
• The book is completed with a learning card with objectives, competencies, skills and activities.

Nico and his family have just moved to a new house, in a new neighbourhood, in a new city. One afternoon, their cat Menina disappears and they all go down to look for her on the street. They recruit several neighbours to help them, such as Abril, Noa and Izan, who will be Nico’s schoolmates, artist Lola and librarian Gemma. What was Menina looking for out in the neighbourhood?

This is the premise and the beginning of the story published by Crea Madrid Nuevo Norte in collaboration with EthicLab, the creative agency of sustainability magazine Ethic. The story was written by Begoña Oro and illustrated by Laura León, and its publication is part of the Cuentos4Future programme, a series of short stories resulting from EthicLab’s collaboration with the Ministry of Education and Vocational Training linked to the sustainable goals of the 2030 Agenda.

The purpose of the book is to introduce children to a model of a sustainable and inclusive city, to promote environmental education in urban environments and to provide positive references for children.

The story seeks to show children between the ages of 4 and 7 what a sustainable city is like from both an environmental and social perspective. It aims to make them reflect on urban environments and the quality of the spaces we inhabit by emphasising participation and inclusion. The aim is to involve children in the cities they live in by fostering in them a participatory and critical attitude, which will enable them to contribute to the construction of the city of the future.

The story highlights the value of neighbourhoods and the benefits of having everything close to where you live, such as schools and parks, without having to use a car. It also discusses the importance of having a green city, with more parks and gardens. Underlying the text is also the idea of the inclusive city, i.e., designed for everyone to enjoy, including children, the elderly, women and people with disabilities. Finally, it emphasises the beauty of the urban environment and the importance of having spaces that inspire people and make them feel good.

The learning card accompanying the story also defines the competencies and skills it helps to develop, which are key to understanding the story, and several activities for families and educators to deepen these ideas after reading.

Cuentos4Future, children’s storytelling for a better world

Signed by renowned journalists and writers, and with the support of the Ministry of Education, the Cuentos4Future stories are written by companies and organisations involved in sustainability to convey values for a sustainable future to children in their first years of school, always speaking to them in their own language through fictional stories with which they can identify.

Equality, environmental balance, global health, the fight against poverty… Humanity faces great challenges, summarised in the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs). I Meeting these goals requires the firm engagement of all generations, including the youngest. Cuentos4Future was created with the aim of helping today’s children understand the importance of starting from their local environment and progressing towards a more sustainable society in order to build a better future, by explaining these challenges in a way that they understand and by awakening their interest.

This series of stories aims to connect with a children’s audience and understands that the best way to do this is by using attractive formats adapted to their way of seeing the world. This is why EthicLab and the Ministry of Education offer the stories on a simple digital platform in addition to thee printed version, where the stories can be read or listened to. Each story has an associated learning card so that, in addition to having fun, young readers can suggest and internalise the most relevant messages.

In each of the eight stories published so far, the authors have had the freedom to imagine and write genuine stories, giving each story its own style that is unique to its author. However, all of them are written from the child’s point of view and always with a moral, however small, sewn into the narrative, to a more sustainable future.

About the author:

Begoña Oro is a writer and translator of children’s and young adult books. With a long career in successful publications, Oro has received numerous awards and recognitions for her work in children’s literature, and her work has been translated into eight languages. She is one of the most widely read authors in this genre, and her creativity has given birth to well-known characters like Rasi the squirrel and Nico the rabbit.