Review by Booklist Review
In this beautiful, haunting poetry collection--dedicated to the child victims of Pinochet's Chilean regime, established in 1973--each of 33 poems focuses on a different child: Alicia, who never celebrated another birthday but who could have loved balloons; Francisco, who loved to read; Jessica, Marcela, and Orlando, who enjoyed animals and insects. The short, heartbreaking poems bring to the surface the simple joys of life that these kids experienced for too brief a time, reflecting not only on the many possibilities of which they were robbed but also the acute way children have of noticing everything--the changes in a tree, the brightness of the sun, the different sounds raindrops make. At the end, the names and ages of all 33 children are listed, along with a poem dedicated to one child found alive. The soft, muted illustrations show the beauty of the world as seen through their eyes, tinged with the sadness of something lost, imploring readers never to allow children to go through this experience again.
From Booklist, Copyright (c) American Library Association. Used with permission.
Review by Publisher's Weekly Review
Through short poems, Ferrada (Mexique: A Refugee Story from the Spanish Civil War) honors the memories of the 34 children who were among the victims of General Pinochet's 17-year regime in Chile, which began in 1973. Many of the poems, each titled with one child's name, imagine an encounter with a small, precious part of nature: seasons, a bird, the moon's reflection in a glass of water. A poem titled "Jessica" starts, "She devoted that day to watching the ants," which parade, carrying crumbs, across a table. Jessica crumbles bread for them and leaves a tiny note with it: "A gift, for next winter." Multimedia drawings in muted shades by Valdez flash with the occasional spark of yellow, as in the poem in which a child named Susana watches a town's lights turn off: "It's like watching sunsets/ lightning bugs/ tiny lighthouses." Dedicated to "the memory that helps us defeat monsters," the childhoods that Ferrada imagines for these young victims of violence--childhoods in which nothing bad happens, and there's enough time for each to do whatever they like--feel both poignant and haunting. Ages 7--up. (Mar.)
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Review by School Library Journal Review
Gr 3 Up--On September 11, 1973, a military coup in Chile led to a 17-year dictatorship. A haunting introduction explains that 3,197 people were killed during this time and 34 were children under the age of 14. Ferrada and Valdez provide an homage to childhood and life that gives a voice to the deceased children. Each poem is titled with the name of a child who was killed during General Pinochet's regime, and every child's full name and age are listed in the back matter. Ferrada's language and choice of form--free verse translated from the original Spanish--flows well and captures the personalities of the featured children. Poems for the children who died very young are sweet and short. For example, five-month-old Raúl liked the sound of his mother calling him "little bird." The natural world is a common thread, enhancing the sense of wonder, curiosity, creativity, and inventiveness of childhood. The repetition of the theme also connects the experiences of these children to those around the world. The mixed-media art uses watercolor, pastel, charcoal, and colored pencils to create a soft and dreamlike palette. White space is incorporated well and allows the poems to shine. VERDICT A heartfelt volume emphasizing innocence in the face of continuing political violence, this #OwnVoices work is a must-purchase for poetry collections serving young patrons.--Rachel Zuffa, Case H.S., Racine, WI
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Review by Horn Book Review
During General Pinochet's dictatorship, thousands of Chilean citizens were "disappeared," including thirty-four children. Ferrada's (Mexique: A Refugee Story from the Spanish Civil War, rev. 1/21) thirty-four poems are titled with each of the children's names and are musings on how they might have seen the world. "Macarena," for example, named for a girl killed at age six, reads: "Three birthday wishes: / to make it summer all year long / to find the star that sleeps in the middle of apples / and to discover a secret anthill." The poems are rich with the sensory details of ordinary life, describing ants collecting crumbs, the faint sound of bubbles popping, the reflection of the moon in a glass of water. Watercolor, graphite, pastel, charcoal, and colored-pencil illustrations accompany the poems, and the visual images are as tender and imaginative as the verse. Concentric circles -- puddles of soft blues, golds, and greens -- fill a double-page spread to accompany the poem about Soledad, a child who loves the sound rain makes on the roof. In another illustration, a bear, adorned with a stunning coat of spring flowers and birds, represents spring. Without the title and accompanying author's notes, the vignettes would have little specificity to the horrors in Chile. They are, instead, reminders of the value of every child and leave the reader with a sense of loss for what might have been, had each of these children, and all children killed in political violence, survived. The book closes with a complete list of the young people's names and ages when they were disappeared -- following which a final poem, "Pablo," honors a boy who in 2013 was found alive. Maeve Visser Knoth May/June 2021 p.147(c) Copyright 2021. The Horn Book, Inc., a wholly owned subsidiary of Media Source, Inc. No redistribution permitted.
(c) Copyright The Horn Book, Inc., a wholly owned subsidiary of Media Source, Inc. No redistribution permitted.
Review by Kirkus Book Review
An homage to the children killed during the dictatorship of Gen. Augusto Pinochet. On Sept. 11, 1973, the democratically elected government of Chile was overthrown by a violent military coup, supported by the CIA. A right-wing authoritarian military dictatorship ruled Chile for the next 17 years. Only when democracy returned to Chile did the world find out how many had died at the hands of the regime. Among that number were 34 children under the age of 14. Ferrada has written a tender poem for each one of these children--most with an uplifting nature theme--as a way of naming them and remembering them. The effect is to reclaim their childhoods: Luz is "a collector of sounds"; Gabriel "likes to imagine that the stars are holes in the sky." Chillingly, their full names and ages are listed at the end along with the notation killed or, in one case, disappeared. Some were but a few months old; many were just preschoolers. Originally published in Spanish in 2013 for adults, the book is now being reissued for children accompanied by soft-edged artwork done in watercolors, graphite, pastels, charcoal, and colored pencils that lends an ethereal quality. The author points out the importance of telling this story, "knowing that at this moment, many children feel afraid, suffer tragedies, and even lose their lives because of political violence." A book to be read and remembered: a tribute to children whose lives were lost to forces not of their own creation. (Poetry. 8-adult) Copyright (c) Kirkus Reviews, used with permission.
Copyright (c) Kirkus Reviews, used with permission.
