Book Description
for From My Window by Otávio Júnior and Vanina Starkoff
From The United States Board on Books for Young People (USBBY)
The author Otavio Junior grew up in a Rio de Janeiro, one of Brazil's largest cities in a favela. A favela is a district not managed by the government but by the people who live there. In From My Window Junior shares his childhood with readers in a treasured book just as he shared treasured books with the people of his favela by opening the first library! From the vantage point of his window he sees, absorbs and shares countless sights and sounds. Some are ominous but, most are colorful, joyous, full of hope and wonderous to behold. Children string tin can “telephones” to talk, enjoy music, rhymes and poetry. The illustrations are an inviting patchwork of vibrant life. The impoverished favela does have rainy days, leaky roofs and startling sounds at times but, it is full of caring neighbors, rainbows and voices seeking each other out. #ownvoicesstory
Cybil Award Nominee 2021, A Junior Library Guild Selection 2020, Outstanding International Books List 2021, Américas Award commended title, 2021.
Author lives in Brazil.
Brazil. Originally published in Portuguese as Da minha janela by Stephanie Barrouillet, S.B. Rights Agency in 2018. English translation by Beatriz C Dias published in the United States by Barefoot Books in 2018.
© USBBY, 2022. Used with permission.