Un diamante en el fondo de la tierra

De Jairo buitrago
Illustrated by Daniel White Pantoja

There are memories that seem like stories and that change over time. Some are from travel, love, big fish, and penguins. Memories are like a treasure, like a hidden diamond in memory, to be rescued.

 

The White Ravens Award Winning Book, 2016 and IBBY Honor List, 2018

Also available in ebooks:

FORMAT

Recommended for 8 to 12 years
Design: Binding with eye-catching blue exposed threads on the spine
Binding: Hardcover
Size: 25 x 18,5 cm
Pages: 36
Vintage: 2015
ISBN: 978-956-9330-17-9

REVIEW

Students are told to ask their grandparents about their life stories, but at first it appears that the narrator's grandfather has little to offer. While the grandparents of other children talk about being brave sailors, decorated military personnel, eccentric or romantics, womanizers or challenge hunters, he stares out the window lost in his memories. Little by little it becomes clear that his is a special biography. The boy's grandfather was persecuted and abused for his political activism, as was his wife, who was also arrested, captured and never returned. In short, almost starkly, the story describes an individual destiny that also evokes memories of the military dictatorship in Chile (1973-1990). The black and white illustrations, which are based on a comic and a cinematographic aesthetic, visualize some facts that are only hinted at in the text by showing unmistakable quotes from the collective memory of Chile.

The White Ravens, 2016.

AUTHORS

Jairo buitrago is a writer of children's books. His books translated into many languages, have been chosen on several occasions from the IBBY honor roll in various countries, he has obtained the Ser Award in Brazil, the Junior Library Guild Honor List in the United States, the ACLI award in Colombia, the Colibrí Medal, in Mexico the A La Orilla del Viento Award and the Castillo 2019 Hispano-American Children's Novel Award, and in the United States The Kirkus Best Picture Books of the Year, School Library Journal Best Picture Books of the Year and a nomination in The Kirkus Prize for the best children's book of the year. 

Daniel White Pantoja is an editor and illustrator. He has been included in the IBBY Honor List (2012, 2018), in the White Ravens list (2017) and twice won the Colibrí-IBBY Chile Medal (2015, 2017). He is the director of Erdosain Ediciones, a label specialized in the publication of illustrated books of literature, art and essays. He has given classes and workshops on illustration and literature at universities and book fairs in Guadalajara, Mexico City, Boston, Medellín, Bogotá and Lima.

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