The sea

Micaela Chirif
Illustrations by Armando Fonseca, Amanda Mijangos y Juan Palomino
Mexico City, FCE, 2021
ISBN: 9786071669483

♦ Hispano-American Prize for Children’s Poetry 
♦ Golden Apple. Bratislava Biennale
♦ CERLALC-IBBY children’s books catalog for sustainable development
♦ Recommended List Guggenmos Prize 2022 – German Academy for Children’s Literature
♦ Guía de libros infantiles y juveniles IBBY México 2023
♦ Premio Letterario Osilo XVII Edizione. Sezione “Letteratura per ragazzi”

A mermaid, a whale, a fisherman, a group of fish, a set of clouds, an octopus and a sky that shines over the waves are the polyphonic voices that “The sea” brings together to draw a landscape that is both geographical and affectional. But perhaps it is the irruption of the river and the tiger that gives the sea its true character by showing that everyone, even those who think they are alien to it, are part of its boundless immensity.

Winner of the Hispano-American Prize for Children’s Poetry, in the words of the jury this book “stands out specially for its playful lyricism expressed with emotion, wit and intelligence. The title consistently offers, in an updated, appropriate and suggestive language for children, a classic and eternal theme like the sea, with a singular freshness and semantic exploration”.

Comments

The sea is not a place, it is like a great quilt that supports us all, with our feet clean or impregnated with earth. The sea is how each one remembers or imagines it, it can be a postcard image or a home, even the sea could be a book, and if it were, it would be this one, because it is pure poetry, in all its corners, in all its waves.
Juan Pardomo

This collection of poems leads us, through its texts and illustrations, to discover the mysteries of the sea. The author delights us with word games that questions the reader in a playful and fun way. […] Micaela wonders aloud, enunciates, affirms and responds philosophically, leaving us with a magical and innocent answer, something unique only of those who know the sensitivity and inexhaustible childlike wisdom.
CERLALC Catalogue