Antonia
A Journey to a New Home
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- $11.99
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- $11.99
Publisher Description
Perfect for fans of Oliver Jeffers and Jon Klassen, this nearly wordless picture book tells a heartwarming and hopeful story of loss and new beginnings as a little girl and her dog, Antonia, journey with their family across a river to start a new life.
Like so many people around the world facing difficult times, the little girl and her family in this eye-catching and emotionally satisfying picture book have had to leave their home. The girl has brought along her belongings and her friendly, curious dog, Antonia. While waiting for a boat to take them across a river, she plays with other children who've also brought pets --a duck and a bird. But on the other side of the river, Antonia goes missing in the brush. The girl is distraught, until a new friend releases his own pet bird from its cage in an extraordinary gesture of solidarity and freedom. With colorful, whimsical illustrations and an uplifting message of resilience, this US debut from a talented Colombian creator will leave readers with a full heart.
PUBLISHERS WEEKLY
A note to readers opens Colombian author-illustrator Dipacho's U.S. debut, explaining that corporations in Colombia are buying up land and displacing "many farmers, and... Black and Indigenous people." In this mostly wordless story, highlighted by watercolor washes and layered paint, several families, two brown-skinned, one light yellow, leave their homes in search of new places to live; their journey unspools from left to right. The small cartoonlike figures, with bright eyes and distinctive features, carry their belongings in plastic shopping bags and tied-up bundles. One child, who has brown skin and a textured tower of black hair, brings their beloved orange dog, Antonia, who crosses the river in a ferryboat with the families. But during a passage through thick jungle growth, the child and their mother emerge without the canine in tow. They call: "¡Antonia!" In anguish, the child calls again, the name stretching across a spread. The other children console the owner, and one makes a gesture as compassionate as it is unexpected. But the families must go on in this bittersweet picture book, which conveys with power one child's loss from forced migration. Ages 4–8.
