Pilar Lopez Avila, is from Caceres, Spain, and is teacher of biology for the last twelve years. She is also the mother of three children. Mar Azabal is a graduate in Geography, specialising in Administration and archive conservation. Her real dream was to create stories through drawing and illustration. She currently resides in Toledo, Spain, and spends her time teaching illustration courses for children, creating stories and enjoying raising her little child.
A story, warmly illustrated, about the importance of education, which denounces the difficulties that many children have, especially in continents like Africa, to get to school. The protagonist fights with the perseverance and overflowing enthusiasm of those who long to learn and keep curiosity alive. -Canal Lector With the feel of an Aesop's fable, this story is both empowering and reflective of the joy school can bring to children whose lives have been disrupted by war. Beautiful illustrations in graphite, watercolor, and colored pencil lend an ethereal, magical quality to this unnamed place, where dangerous creatures have endearing faces, and letters of the alphabet flutter around Ayobami like protective stardust. -Booklist (...) Younger children will likely relate to and enjoy Ayobami's perseverance to attend class. The framework of naming animals will also likely appeal to early elementary school-aged children, particularly as they themselves are learning about-and how to write the names of-various animals (...) A solid purchase for elementary school libraries. -School Library Journal A marvelous tale of one girl's passion for reading, writing, and learning. -Kirkus Reviews In this beautiful gem about a girl who wants to learn to read, letters burst forth from imagery done in cut-paper collage and a rainbow of color, each page telling its own story with a quiet, understated voice. -B.C. (New York Times)