A child who has not yet learned how to read looks out at the world and sees language as such a child would: as lines and squiggles that don’t exactly make pictures but don’t seem to make anything else either.
Lines, Squiggles, Letters, Words
Brazil
The Head Of The Saint
Having arrived in Candeia, Brazil, starving and footsore, after walking sixteen days to fulfill his dying mother’s last wishes, young Samuel takes up residence in an enormous, broken statue of Saint Anthony and finds that he can hear the prayers of the townspeople, despite his lack of faith.
Featured in WOW Review Volume IX, Issue 3.
Along the River
Boats of all shapes and sizes travel on the river, through the seasons, toward the sea. Who will you meet on the river?
When The Slave Esperança Garcia Wrote A Letter
In 1770, the slave Esperança Garcia bravely penned a letter to the governor of Piauí state, in Brazil, describing how she and her children were being mistreated and requesting permission to return to the farm where the rest of her family was living. Before she wrote her letter, Esperança Garcia lived on a cotton farm run by Jesuit priests, where she learned to read and write — a rare opportunity for a woman, especially a slave. But one day, she was separated from her husband and older children and taken with her two little ones to be a cook in the home of Captain Antonio Vieira de Couto, where she and the other slaves were beaten.
Amazon A B C
Labeled photographs present an alphabet of Amazonian animals, from the agouti to the zorillo.
Soccer Star
When Paulo Marcelo Feliciano becomes a soccer star, crowds will cheer his famous name! Then his mother won’t have to work long hours, and he won’t have to work all day on a fishing boat. For now, Paulo takes care of his little sister Maria (she teaches him reading, he teaches her soccer moves) and walks her to school, stopping to give his teammates cheese buns as they set out to shine people’s shoes or perform for the tourist crowd. At day’s end, it’s time to plan the game, where Givo will bounce, Carlos will kick, and Jose will fly! But when Jose falls on his wrist, will the team finally break the rules and let a girl show her stuff? Set in a country whose resilient soccer stars are often shaped by poverty, this uplifting tale of transcending the expected scores a big win for all.
My Friend the Painter
A young boy becomes friends with the artist in the apartment upstairs and tries hard to understand when his friend commits suicide.
Amazon Boy
As a Brazilian boy makes his first trip up the Amazon to the port city of Belém, he learns something about the river’s many treasures.
When the Rivers Go Home
Describes life in the marsh in Brazil known as the Pantanal or “drowned forest.”
The Sea Serpent’s Daughter: A Brazilian Legend (Legends Of The World)
Relates the traditional Brazilian legend of how the Sea Serpent’s gift of darkness to his daughter brings night to the people of the rain forest.