Awards

• It is a beautifully written, beautifully translated book. It's strange, it's charming, and shows all at once, how similar but also how different, lives can be for children all around the world.
• Nominated for Carnegie Medal for Illustration 2024 (UK)
• Short-listed for The Week Junior Book Awards 2024 (UK)
• Winner of English PEN Award 2023 (UK)

Overview

Meet Balam, a boy who could be a cat. Meet Lluvia, a girl who could be the dawn. Balam and Lluvia are siblings who catch fireflies, bid farewell to their pet fish in the bathroom, and wait for Raton Perez to collect their teeth. In Balam and Lluvia's House, the secret tastes and sounds of the everyday are waiting to be found. From the smell of crushed laurel leaves to the whispers of the peach tree in their back garden, every day is a day of discovery. Full of lively and reflective poems, this book invites the reader to run alongside Balam and Lluvia captivated by the world that surrounds them. Lawrence Schimel's translation brings the work of acclaimed Guatemalan author and playwright Julio Serrano Echeverria into English for the first time.

Full Product Details

9781915628114

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Reviews

"""A real feast for the senses and balm for the soul"" -- Juliette Saumande * The Irish Independent * ""A sweet reflection on the playfulness and richness in everyday life."" - Best Kids Books of 2023 * Five Books *"

Author Information

Julio Serrano Echeverria is a Guatemalan writer, poet, filmmaker and multidisciplinary artist of mixed African and Mayan descent. He has held fellowships from the Fundacion Carolina, the Iberoamerican Artists Residence FONCA-AECID and the University of Colorado at Colorado Springs. His poetry collections include Antes del mar, Estados de la materia, Central America, Fractal, Actos de Magia and Las palabras y los dias, and his children's books include En botas de astronauta and Dos cabezas para meter un gol. He was one of the founders of the Quetzaltenango International Poetry Festival. He is co-founder and creative coordinator of Agencia Ocote, an interdisciplinary Guatemalan digital media outlet that views journalism in dialogue with art to grapple with, among other subjects, historic memory, transitional justice and women's rights. He has participated in many international poetry festivals, and his work is also translated into Italian and Bengali. Lawrence Schimel is a bilingual author and literary translator working in and between English and Spanish. He has published over 100 books as author or anthologist, including poetry pamphlet Fairy Tales for Writers (A Midsummer Night's Press), Will You Read My Book With Me? (Epigram), Let's Go See Papa! (Groundwood), and others. His many awards include a Golden Kite from the Society of Children's Book Writers and Illustrators, a White Raven from the International Youth Library, IBBY Outstanding Books for Youth with Disabilities (twice), and other honours. He is also a prolific literary translator. Recent translations include the middle grade novel The Wild Book by Juan Villoro (Hope Road), picture books The Band and Under the Water, both written and illustrated by Carles Porta (Flying Eye), and adult poetry collections We Were Not There by Jordi Doce and Bomarzo by Elsa Cross (both Shearsman). He has lived in Madrid, Spain for the past 20 years.

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