Mateo Simbana: Identity and spirituality in Ecuadorian children's literature

Teresa Crespo has been considered one of the pioneers of children's literature in Ecuador. Her story Mateo Simbana is one of her most emblematic texts. Considering literary texts for children as an aesthetic fact whose limits transcend the mere prescriptive purpose of these works (Subero; Delgado Santos), this article investigates the interrelation between the work as an artistic form and the representation of identity and spirituality within the framework of the functions attributed to children's literature in the enrichment of children's development (Colomer Martinez). It is concluded that the cultural socialization fostered by children's literature outlines, with a lyrical language and a solid narrative structure, the ethnic and spiritual commitment of an ancestral worldview which is part of an identity marked by the indigenous nature as well as by the mestizo one.