![]() ![]() ![]() ![]() As in Napí’s previous two appearances ( Napí Goes to the Mountain, 2006, etc.), the author and illustrator, who are human-rights activists, build in a subtle political subtext, but children will respond most readily to Napí’s guileless optimism. The Spanish and English texts are placed well apart on facing pages beneath the full-spread illustrations. Because the new dam will flood their old San Pedro Ixcatlán, a vanguard of Mazatecan families travels ahead to clear and plant rice fields for a “Nuevo Ixcatlán.” In buoyant tones, young Napí records the journey, sighting a jaguar, how burning off the underbrush for the new settlement left everything-including her little brother Niclé-ashy grey and finally a dream that combines these and other memories in the wake of a scary accident to her Namí (father). As brilliant as backlit stained glass, Domi’s big, naïve watercolors create a lush country setting for this child’s account of her village’s relocation. ![]()
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