JULIA ALVAREZ is the author of numerous books for adults including In the Time of the Butterflies, and How the Garcia Girls Lost Their Accents, which was picked by New York librarians as one of 21 classic for the 21st century. She is also an accomplished writer of children's and YA books including The Tia Lola Stories, Return to Sender, and Before We Were Free, which was an ALA Best Book of 2002 and winner of ALA's Pura Belpre Award. She is Writer in Residence at Middlebury College, and co-founder with Bill Eichner of Alta Gracia, a sustainable coffee farm and literacy center in the Dominican Republic. And she is a founding member of Border of Lights, an ongoing movement to promote peace and collaboration between Haiti and the Dominican Republic. She lives in Vermont.
"... a meditative poem that asks all the hard questions and offers
lyrical possibilities filled with life and love." —The New
York Times Book Review
"This beautiful book asks all the right questions to help young
children become aware of the eternal bonds that live on after
death, while wisely leaving the answers to the readers themselves.
A book to ponder, to discuss, and to cherish.” —R. J. Palacio,
author of Wonder
"Grief is complicated for adults and even more so for
children. Julia Alvarez's stunning picture book, Where Do They
Go?, uses simple yet lyrical language to
explore death in all its nuanced aspects, while bringing
comfort to us all, both adults and children alike. Where
Do They Go? is a must read for those who are grieving and
those who have ever grieved. That is, it is a perfect book for
everyone." —Edwidge Danticat, author of Mama's
Nightingale
"This lyrical, thoughtful, and affecting book about the many facets
of the grieving and healing process is one both children and adults
can appreciate." —Booklist
"With a sad, gentle voice, Julia Alvarez addresses death with the
beautiful language I’ve come to expect from her. She uses poetry to
meditate on the questions we’ve all had about loss: 'When somebody
dies, where do they go? / Do they go where the wind goes when it
blows? … Do they wink back at me when I wish on a star? Do they
whisper, You’re perfect, just as you are?' These haunting,
poignant words go well with Field’s simple, yet beautiful
artwork." —BookRiot
"Two gifted Vermonters join forces to tackle the mysteries of death
head-on. A timeless question asked by children and adults alike
brings together the voluminous talents of novelist, poet, and
children's author Alvarez and renowned woodblock artist Field. ...
Especially moving are Field's depictions of the departed in
near-featureless blank white or black profile, vividly contrasting
with the colorful, animated children longing to fill the absence of
the missing loved ones. The text is laid out over and around the
illustrations; calming horizontal lines of text and image
complement one another on some pages, while on others the text is
actively incorporated into the pictures. Without ever venturing an
explicit explanation, Alvarez offers many tempting suggestions for
those adapting to what remains and posits a wonderfully calming
conclusion to a 'small puzzle' that can sometimes prove large
enough to unmoor those beset by loss of a loved one, especially for
the first time. Alvarez and Field's remarkable synthesis of word
and image here makes for a seamless, powerfully evocative
contemplation of grief." —Kirkus Reviews
"This is a stunningly beautiful all-ages book about grieving that
can accommodate varied belief systems. It ultimately provides the
comforting message that we carry the people we love in our heart
and that they are always with us in some way. There really aren’t
any books that address loss like this one. I find it very
comforting." —Kelly at Fountain Bookstore, Richmond, VA.
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