Spanish / Argentina
Cosas pequeñas y extraordinarias
(Small and extraordinary things)
Arroio, Daniela
(text)
Gramajo, Micaela
(text)
Pautasso, Nono
(illus.)
Buenos Aires: Limonero, 2024. – [60] p.
ISBN 978-631-90241-3-5
Migration | Picture book | Refugee | Exile | Being at home | Authoritarian regime
Reading age: 7+
White Ravens issue: 2025
This picture book, which was adapted from a play by the authors, depicts emigration and exile from the perspective of eight-year-old Ema. As her homeland becomes a dictatorship, her family pack their bags and flee to another country. There, very slowly, Ema finds her footing, makes friends, and feels at home. What she has experienced is symbolized in her »Museum of Small and Extraordinary Things«, which she had to leave behind. It was full of little found objects and personal memories, and now, without it, the world is grey and lifeless. It will take her time to create and fill a new museum. Through hints – the »disappeared« uncle or the grandmother who fights for justice and against forgetting – Ema’s homeland can be identified as Argentina. But the new home could be anywhere and is simply a place that represents exile and new beginnings. In text and images, the girl’s range of feelings – grief, pain, loneliness, happiness, and a sense of security – is conveyed tangibly and with great sensitivity. [JW]