Synopsis
Antonio Lozano is a journalist and children's book writer. Birte Muller is an author and illustrator.
Michelle Negron Bueno - Children's Literature
This is a story of a child's quest to understand where her grandmother has gone after death. Felipa, who lives in a small village in the Andes, first asks her family's animals—a pig, a donkey and a llama. Discouraged by the animals' silence, she searches far and wide, hoping to find her grandmother's soul. Her father finds her far away from home and explains that souls, while present in our natural world, cannot be visited in the same way as when they were alive. They return, he says, to visit us every November. Months later, as her village celebrates the Day of the Dead, Felipa finally understands that souls return as loved ones remember and honor them. The author/illustrator of this book spent time in Mexico and Bolivia learning about the "Todos Santos" celebration which takes place all over Latin America every year. After returning to her native Germany, Muller created this book, a tender and thoughtful reflection on loss and remembrance, in order to introduce children in Europe to this tradition. 2003, North-South Books, Ages 4 to 8.