Spanish / Chile
9 kilómetros
(9 kilometres)
Aguilera, Claudio
(text)
Lyon, Gabriela
(illus.)
Santiago de Chile: Ekaré Sur, 2020. – 49 p.
ISBN 978-956-6070-16-0
School | Way to school | Chile | Nature | Picture book
Reading age: 7+
White Ravens issue: 2021
“9 kilometres are almost 15,000 steps. Maybe more, since there are days when 9 kilometres feel like a rock in a worn-out shoe. But on other days they are as sweet as a handful of blackberries or a ripe apple, and they flit by as fast as a shadow”. This picture book accompanies a boy on his daily school route somewhere in southern Chile, from the pre-dawn morning, through forests, under fences, along cow pastures, across a river, come rain or shine. The walk is long and tiring, but it also offers time and space to enjoy nature’s lushness – butterflies in the air, birds in the branches, animal tracks on the ground, the play of light and shadow as the sun rises. With a brief, picturesque, memorable text and calm, atmospheric landscape pictures, this book is also an homage to children in the most remote regions of the world who pursue their right to an education by treading many steps daily. [JW]