CHILDREN AND YA HIGHLIGHTS 2014

children and YA highlights 2014
THE MACHINE
Explanation Freak
A Máquina
MANIA DE EXPLICAÇÃO
Adriana Falcão
Salamandra, new edition 2013
Adriana Falcão
Salamandra, new edition 2013
Nordestina is a place where no one wants to stay anymore. The
only thing that can be counted in this land without future is the
void left by those who want to go to the other side of the line,
where the world must be happening. And is exactly in this little
town - forgotten even by the Lord - that the love between Antônio and Karina happens. With
a precise and poetic prose, the author constructs a story capable of stopping time and
changing the course of this tale and others that Antônio began to tell after he looked at his
Karina, who, by then, had a look of good-bye, and promised: “Is it the world that you want?
I’ll bring it to you, then”. “The machine” is a fable about love and time. A love story as big
as the world.
“Loneliness is an island that longs for the boats”. The sentence,
filled with poetry, is one of many that Adriana Falcão has sculpted
with sensibility and included in Explanation Freak. The book is
dedicated to her nine year old daughter Isabel, who, like all
children that age, doesn’t miss the chance of asking “why?” or “what is this?” when
something is not clear. And, page after page, Adriana “explains” some words that may
be of difficult comprehension for those who are beginning to understand the world. Some
examples: “Anguish is a very tight knot right in de middle of your peace” or “Success is
when you do what you do well, only everyone notices”.
Explanation Freak delights young readers, who lose themselves, literally, in its pages;
after all, they are not numbered. And, in this game of coming and going in search of an
explanation for some word, children plunge further into the spirit of the book, which is to
satiate curiosity. The didacticism of putting the words in alphabetical order did not occur to
Adriana Facão, though. “Homesick” comes before “a lot” that comes before “desperation”
that comes before “before”.
Sold to: Portugal (Vogais & Companhia), Mexico (Fondo de Cultura)
Award: Ofelia Fontes Award – The best for children, by the National Foundation of Children
and YA Book (2001)
MURURU IN THE AMAZON
LUNA CLARA & APOLLO ELEVEN
Flavia Lins e Silva
Manati, 2010
Adriana Falcão
Salamandra, new edition 2013
LUNA CLARA & APOLLO ONZE
Mururu No Amazonas
“What makes each love story is precisely it’s coincidences, it’s setbacks, loose events, it’s
hopes, it’s winds, it’s time. Who knows what would have been of the story of Adventure
and Hanceforth, had it happened any other way?” (pg. 251)
Sold to: Serbia (Carabina Knjiga)
Awards: João-de-Barro Award, for YA literature (2006), Highly Recommend for Young Adults,
by the National Foundation of Children and YA Book (2011).
Everything takes place in the region of Northern Folly. This
is the story of Luna Clara and Apollo Eleven, but it’s also
the story of Henceforth and Adventure, of Unforseen and
Bychance, of coincidences and mismatches, of good and
bad luck...but it could be your story too. A story of astounding
creativity, a simple plot with a sophisticated structure, about
love’s comings and goings.
Mururu is a little tree trunk, a boat for just one person, that sails like
a loose leaf in the vastness of the Amazon waters. Mururu is the
little tree trunk of a young girl that presents herself being just like
her name — Andorinha. Dorinha leaves her mother and her floating
house to search for her father, but finds Piú instead, a half-indian, a young man that tastes
like fruit and smells like earth. Dorinha crosses the junction of the crystal waters of the Rio
Negro with the muddy broth of the Solimões and becomes a woman.
THE PILAR SERIES
FLAVIA LINS E SILVA
Zahar
Flavia’s most famous character is Pilar, a curious girl that loves to travel and discover
myths and stories from several different cultures. Pilar has been in adventures in places
like Egypt, Greece, Amazonas (Brazil), and Machu Pichu (Peru). Her books have been sold
to Germany, France, Latin America and China.
Books from the series:
PILAR’S DIARY OF GREECE (2010)
Pilar loves travelling. Her series of books is well known in Brazil. Now she keeps a diary,
describing every moment of her first adventure. She grew up without her dad, in her
grandpa’s house. When Pilar’s grandpa goes to Greece and she hears that he is never
coming back, she cannot accept it and wishes she could go after him. With a magic
hammock, she and her best friend Breno travel to Greece and meet several gods along
the way. But life among them isn’t easy and no one will ever be the same after this
adventure.
PILAR’S DIARY IN EGYPT (2012)
Pilar enters her magic hammock and travels with Breno and her cat Samba to Egypt,
where they will try to help young Tutancamon to get his throne back. They fly together
over the desert with a Phoenix, they sail on the Nile river escaping from crocodiles, they
meet goddess Isis and god Horus who give them a special help and, most important of all,
Pilar claim the right to learn hieroglyphs! Although the school was only for royal family or
for boys, Pilar manages to prove that she also deserves to know how to write hieroglyphs.
PILAR’S DIARY IN THE AMAZON (2011)
On the second book, Pilar travels to the Amazon, searching for her father,
an anthropologist that might be lost in the Jungle. There, Pilar and Breno meet Maiara, a
local girl who has never seen the sea. During the trip over the Amazon river, they see people
cuting trees ilegaly, they scape from a huge snake, they save a baby sloth, meet Iara - the
Siren of the river - and arrive to the ocean, where Maiara can finally experience the salty
water full of waves.
PILAR’S DIARY OF MACHU PICCHU (April, 2014)
Travelling with the magic hammock, Pilar and her friend Breno arrive in Cusco, in Peru,
searching for Pilar’s cat named Samba. There, they meet Yma, a beautiful girl which is
taken to Machu Picchu to serve the inca Emperor as one of the daughter’s of the sun. To
save Yma and the cat, Pilar and Breno enter the Sacred City with no one noticing. There,
they witness several sacred rituals and will need a lot of creativity to scape such a guarded
fortress hidden in the middle of the forest.
www.agenciariff.com.br
children and YA highlights 2014
Children & YA Authors
Adélia PRADO
Adriana FALCÃO
Adriana LISBOA
Antonio PRATA
Carol SABAR
Cecília VASCONCELLOS
Cíntia MOSCOVICH
Emilio FRAIA
Flávia LINS E SILVA
Flávio CARNEIRO
João Luiz Anzanello CARRASCOZA
Kledir RAMIL
Leticia WIERZCHOWSKI
Livia GARCIA-ROZA
Lucrécia ZAPPI
Luis Fernando VERÍSSIMO
Luiz Claudio CARDOSO
Lya LUFT
Lygia Fagundes TELLES
Marcelo PIRES
Marcio VASSALLO
Maria Valéria REZENDE
Mariana VERÍSSIMO
ONDJAKI
Ricardo LÍSIAS
Rodrigo LACERDA
Rosa Amanda STRAUSZ
Socorro ACIOLI
Suzana VARGAS
Tércia MONTENEGRO
Tony BELLOTTO
Vanessa BARBARA
Vitor RAMIL
CLASSIC AUTHORS
Caio Fernando ABREU
Carlos DRUMMOND DE ANDRADE
Érico VERÍSSIMO
MILLÔR Fernandes
Mario QUINTANA
Moacyr SCLIAR
Rachel de QUEIROZ
Ricardo RAMOS
Sylvia ORTHOF
Marina COLASANTI
Lucia Riff . lucia@agenciariff.com.br
children and YA highlights 2014
THE MAKER OF OLD PEOPLE
Coffee with Milk & Beans with rice
MORE OR LESS NORMAL
MY AFRICAN PRINCESS
O FAZEDOR DE VELHOS
Café-com-leite & feijão-com-arroz
Mais ou menos normal
MINHA PRINCESSA AFRICANA
All that water
FAMILY DRAFT
THE LOST BAG
SEVEN BONES AND A CURSE
RASCUNHO DE FAMÍLIA
A SACOLA PERDIDA
Sete ossos e uma maldição
ALMOST COMPLETELY HAPPILY EVER AFTER
SHORT STORY OF A TINY LOVE
FIVE TIME FIVE CYPRESSES
RODRIGO LACERDA
Cosac Naify, 2008
Every teenager feels that “there is nothing worst than being
treated as a child when you’re sixteen.” On the other hand,
as adults we regret the years that have passed, carrying the
burden of responsabilities. The common fact between those two stages of life is that time
overwhelms us all; nothing can bring back certain moments of our lives – nor anticipate
them. To face the passing of time the best way is to keep yourself emotionally sharp, always
ready to be moved. In The Maker of Old People, the author Rodrigo Lacerda shows us
the main character, Pedro, evolving into adulthood. As in the best classic novels, Pedro
learns that life may be not so sweet as a first kiss, but he finds in literature, and in love,
the answers he needs. This is a tale of tenderness and affection, and the author’s ability to
recreate these feelings makes his work an emotional revelation. Rodrigo Lacerda’s prose,
at times funny, other times moving, captures readers of all ages.
Awards: Highly recommended for Young Adults in 2009, by the National Foundation of
Children and YA Book, Jabuti Award, Glória Pondé Award by the National Library Foundation,
White Ravens Catalogue 2008
Sold to: Switzerland (Joie de Lire), Mexico (Macmillan)
JOÃO ANZANELLO CARRASCOZA
Cosac Naify, 2012
Aquela água toda
The eleven stories of All that Water gather accounts of first
experiences or life-altering moments — the first love, the first
disappointment with a friend, seeing the ocean, moving away
from home. Taking place almost always within the family, they
involve the delicate — and sometimes troubled — coexistence between fathers, mothers,
children, uncles and aunts, their findings, weaknesses, sorrows, and surprises.
Awards: Highly recommended for Young Adults in 2013, by the National Foundation of
Children and YA Book; 2º place in the Jabuti Award 2013 (Short story); São Paulo’s Arts
Critics Association Award 2012 (Short story); White Ravens Catalogue 2013
Sold to: Switzerland (Joie de Lire)
NAKED IN BOOTS
Antonio Prata
Companhia das Letras, October 2013
Nu de botas
Alberto Martins
Companhia das Letras, 2004
From the wild, but family protected, soccer games played at the
backyard of the house everyday after school, under a blazing
sun or a heavy pouring rain, to the open field matches disputed
among strangers in the sandy beaches of Santos. In this book,
writer Alberto Martins intertwines his soccer childhood memories
with the excitement of growing up in the city of Pelé in the Sixties, at the height of the Santos
Football Club, the incredible team that “played by music” and even stopped a war between
two countries! The result is a delicious book that blends hilariously funny passages and a
moving understanding of the world, appealing to readers of all ages.
Alberto Martins was born in Santos, Brazil, in 1958. His latest book, “Lívia and the African
Graveyard”, was considered best novel of the year by the APCA 2013 Award.
JOÃO ANZANELLO CARRASCOZA
DSOP, Abril, 2014
Maria and José are foragers in different parts of a big landfill
and, at the end of each day, they meet at the shack where they
live nearby to share the valuables they have found among the
dunghills. And also to make plans — like getting a decent job,
build a little brick house, bear a child. The two beings, in draft,
search to write for themselves a better and more definite text, dreaming of a written out
life. At the end of one day, during which the whole story is told, both of them, each one on
their own part of the landfill, find something that they would never dream of finding in the
garbage — showing a transformation in the society in which they are forgotten. A narrative
in which poetry looms from the rubbish, taking the two creatures out of the draft to lift them
to the sublime condition of the human.
Antonio Prata
Editora 34, 2012
CIntia Moscovich
FTD, new edition, April 2014
Everything is more or less normal — and more or less extraordinary
— in the lives of those who dwell in the city of Porto Alegre.
Gaia, for example, the girl who tells this story, is an almost normal
teenager. “Almost” because in her house no one watches TV,
drinks soda or eat meat or anything that’s industrialized. Gaia’s
mother works reading people’s future on Tarot cards, and Gaia’s father doesn’t really like
to work. In school, her only friend is Marcelo, a lonely boy that is always surrounded by
bodyguards. To explain it better: Marcelo is the son of a Secretary of State that fights drug
dealing at the international borders of Brazil and against whom is devised a plot of crimes
and murders that involves all the characters. To top it off, Gaia discovers that she may or
may not have been adopted. The city of Porto Alegre, inventively and tenderly recreated
by one of its main writers, is the stage for a lot of action, like kidnappings, car chases and
shootouts. But it is also the environment where peaceful values like loyalty to friends, the
love for your family and this beautiful gesture that is adopting children are asserted.
Cintia was born in Porto Alegre, and her latest book, “Such a Brilliant Thing, The Rain” won
the Portugal Telecom Award in the short story category.
RICARDO LÍSIAS
DSOP, April 2014
The Lost Bag tells the story of a group of children who decide
to find out who has forgotten the groceries at the stairs during a
power outage. With a deft and fun narrative, little by little the text
shows the dynamics of the building, its residents, and how the
children understand and solve the problems with which they are faced. The text discusses
the problem of energy waste and tries to present solutions, always through the children’s
perspective, and based on the need of living together. The kids become detectives that
investigate not only the mystery of the missing bag, but in truth how can we find practical
solutions for some very serious ecological issues. The building turns out to be a sort of
miniature world. The end of the book holds yet another surprise: the writing of the book
itself is a mystery that the children will have to solve!
Marina Colasati
FTD, 2013
MARCIO VASSALO
(Abacatte, 2011)
“Minha princesa africana” tells a love story made of endless
letters and phone calls from across the ocean. “Her name was
Marinela. No one believed that my girlfriend was a princess.
Some people didn’t even know there were princesses in Africa.
But mine was from there, from Angola. Marinela was very white and had more freckles than
the sky of Luanda. Actually, we had seen each other only once in our lives, and every day
we awaited for the day when we would see each other again. While the day didn’t arrive,
Marinela called me every night and we would talk until she had fallen asleep. With her
Portuguese accent, the princess would tell me that she could only sleep after hearing my
voice. Or was it me that could only sleep after talking in her ear? Oh, my letters to Marinela
were even longer than the hours we would spend listening to one another, and the hours we
spent listening to one another were longer than the Nile”. With papier maché illustrations
by artist Carol W., who has created exclusive pieces for the story, “Minha princesa africana”
makes us want to love without haste, but with the deepest urgency to be happy.
Rosa Amanda StrausZ
Global, new edition 2013
In this book of horror stories, Rosa Amanda Strausz constructs
apparently common stories that, through an expertly crafted
suspense, become horrifying narratives. But, in this case, the
fear doesn’t paralyze, on the contrary, it only increases the desire
to get to the next page, something that requires strength. In “Seven bones and a curse”
there’s no blood dripping or splattered brains, as is informed in the dust jacket. Nothing
explicit or distasteful. In it, the reader’s imagination is in charge of creating the macabre
scenes forged through an elegant text. And it is exactly this suggestion of terror, fantastic
literature of the best kind, that makes it so compelling.
Marina Colasanti
Forthcoming - Global, 2015
In “Naked in boots”, Antonio Prata revisits the most memorable
events of his childhood. The memoirs are illuminations about the
first years of the author’s life, told with the precision and humor
to which his thousands of readers have become accustomed in
Folha de São Paulo, newspaper in which Prata has a weekly column since 2010. The first
memories of his backyard, the neighbourhood friends, the vacations at the beach, the
divorce of his parents, the Halley comet, Bozo and SBT cartoons, the first love, the sex
discovered in porn magazines — all the sentimental education of a middle-class boy from
São Paulo, born in the 1970s, is shown in “Naked in boots”. What is striking, however, is
the peculiarity of his perspective. The texts are not the memories of the adult looking back
and reviewing his journey with nostalgia or detachment. On the contrary, the author returns
to the point of view of the child, who is amazed by the world and gives a very particular
sense to it — a funny, mysterious, lyric, and enchanted one.
Everybody knows that a good fairy tale ends with the
princess and her prince charming living happily ever after.
But what few people know is what happens or does not
happen when the story ends. Antonio Prata and the renowned Brazilian cartoonist Laerte
show here, in delicious detail, how this so called perfect life is, and how “happily ever after”
can become a big problem. And they prove, with lots of fun, that even in the enchanted
world a little unhappiness now and then doesn’t hurt anyone. (English & Spanish
translations available).
Awards: Finalist of the Jabuti Award 2013 (Children’s Book)
Felizes Quase Sempre
Breve História De Um Pequeno Amor
CINCO VEZES CINCO CIPRESTES
THE SUMMER OF CHIBO
A WILD ADVENTURE
MORE THAN A HUNDRED STORIES
WANT ADS AND NOT SO MUCH
Uma Aventura Animal
MAIS DE 100 HISTÓRIAS
Classificados e nem tanto
Vanessa Barbara e Emilio Fraia
Alfaguara, 2008
O verão do Chibo
In The Summer of Chibo, written in partnership between Vanessa
Barbara and Emilio Fraia, a boy no more than seven years old,
immersed in a very singular universe, describes his adventures
during his summer vacation, in the middle of a corn field in the
company of his friends. But this is a different summer. Because Chibo, his older brother,
mysteriously disappears, and all the other boys seem to do the same.
This is a subtle work, often humorous, other times touching, about the mysteries that
surround growing up. It was a finalist in the Prêmio São Paulo de Literatura. (English
sample available)
“A little gem about the mysteries that surround becoming a grown-up.”
O Estado de S. Paulo
“Another world in miniature, with lyricism and absurdity to match the fantasies and
traumas of childhood.” Folha de S. Paulo
MARIA VALÉRIA REZENDE
DSOP, April 2014
Four teenagers meet in the Amazonian city of Porto Velho,
Rondônia, Brazil. Each one of them has reasons to feel lonely
and suffer: Anderson is too shy, he hides behind his sketchbook
and expresses himself only through drawings; Gabriela is so small
that she is taken for a child and mocked by her schoolmates; Gil
lost his mother and, when he is not at school, lives almost alone with his skateboard, as his
father is always away, working; and Cláudio is isolated, seen as a boring nerd. They discover
a gang planning to traffic wild animals illegally in the region, threatening cruelly the life of
many species and the ecological balance in that part of the Amazon. They feel responsible
for doing something against it, but what can a small group of fourteen year old school kids
do? No adult would give any attention to them unless they can prove their accusation. They
decide to investigate and collect information and evidence. This leads them to frightening
but successful adventures, in which they discover how the facts that make them feel weak
in everyday life become superpowers when put together at the service of a worthy cause.
The water that seeps into the office through a broken roof tile
initiates an encounter of love. The author, owner of that office,
finds herself confronted by the need of saving a life, the one of
the baby pigeon abandoned in the nest beneath the tiles. She will have to improvise as a
mother, since she knows nothing about the needs of those birds. And the pigeon will have
to improvise as a son, since he knows nothing about the one who protects and cares for
him. Like in all loving relationships, both of them progress slowly, paying attention to one
another while they seek to understand. They don’t speak the same language, and they
are not of the same species, but it doesn’t matter much, because affection knows other
ways to get to comprehension. And it is about affection when she tries to teach him to fly,
or when he, free, answers her call. Gently, the differences between them are overcome at
each new stage of development, at each new victory. Until the completion of this cycle of
goodwill that, being brief, becomes unforgettable. (English sample translation available)
Marina Colasanti
Forthcoming - Global, 2015
As a poet gathers his poems in his Complete Works, so does
Marina Colasanti. In this book, she gathers the fairy tales that
represent a milestone in her creative trajectory. There are 116
original narratives that, although situated in the realm of the
imaginary, exude modernity. Or aren’t love, fear of death, the struggle for power, solidarity
and loneliness, greed and compassion, the never-ending search for answers modern?
This is not about imitating the past, nor recreating the genre using its key-elements. It’s
about plunging into the unconscious and, like the mythical narrators did, harvest the
stories that it tells.
With verbal economy and refined language, these surprising stories take readers of any
age by the hand and lead them, not only to the unexpected ending, but to an emotional
meeting with their own self.
He wasn’t a rich man, nor was he a poor man, he was just a
man, and this man had a dream. Thus begins the first short story
of this book. And thus begin the other four, in a narrative game
in which, from the same starting point, we are led through five
different paths towards unexpected endings.
We’ve always known that a story, any story, is both the seed for other narratives and soil
where they grow. Narrating is a continuum in diversity. Driven by this conviction, Marina
Colasanti took the creative challenge of touching the sensibility of readers of any age
through five stories that, although different, are the same story. In these little literary jewels
we are faced with the reunion of dream and destiny, and follow the great symbolic journey
of the man that answers his call.
Marina Colasanti
Galera Record, 2010
With a body of work that includes prose, poetry, chronicles,
short stories and books for children and young people, the
author now returns to the children’s universe with a lovely
book of poetry for the little ones. “There are people that search the classified ads looking
for a well-located apartment, a new car, a dog with a pedigree. But there are people that
search for a flying carpet, the key to which they already lost the keyhole, the imaginary
friend’s address, the wake of the shooting star. This book is for them”, explains the author.
In the classified ads that Grandpa reads in the paper, they sell cat, car, cushion or couch.
They sell brush, bicycle, county fair or soda-pop. But, when you have imagination, there
are not enough boundaries: in three or four lines we find chilly mermaids, shooting stars,
graffiti without walls and even a ripe pineapple.
Want Ads and Not So Much gathers 80 little short poems, “nutty”, illustrated by beautiful
xylographs by artist Rubem Grilo. If you look for things that are hard to find, you just have to
open this book and find whatever your imagination tells you to.
Sold to: Spain (El Jinete Azul)
children and YA highlights 2014
THE MAKER OF OLD PEOPLE
Coffee with Milk & Beans with rice
MORE OR LESS NORMAL
MY AFRICAN PRINCESS
O FAZEDOR DE VELHOS
Café-com-leite & feijão-com-arroz
Mais ou menos normal
MINHA PRINCESSA AFRICANA
All that water
FAMILY DRAFT
THE LOST BAG
SEVEN BONES AND A CURSE
RASCUNHO DE FAMÍLIA
A SACOLA PERDIDA
Sete ossos e uma maldição
ALMOST COMPLETELY HAPPILY EVER AFTER
SHORT STORY OF A TINY LOVE
FIVE TIME FIVE CYPRESSES
RODRIGO LACERDA
Cosac Naify, 2008
Every teenager feels that “there is nothing worst than being
treated as a child when you’re sixteen.” On the other hand,
as adults we regret the years that have passed, carrying the
burden of responsabilities. The common fact between those two stages of life is that time
overwhelms us all; nothing can bring back certain moments of our lives – nor anticipate
them. To face the passing of time the best way is to keep yourself emotionally sharp, always
ready to be moved. In The Maker of Old People, the author Rodrigo Lacerda shows us
the main character, Pedro, evolving into adulthood. As in the best classic novels, Pedro
learns that life may be not so sweet as a first kiss, but he finds in literature, and in love,
the answers he needs. This is a tale of tenderness and affection, and the author’s ability to
recreate these feelings makes his work an emotional revelation. Rodrigo Lacerda’s prose,
at times funny, other times moving, captures readers of all ages.
Awards: Highly recommended for Young Adults in 2009, by the National Foundation of
Children and YA Book, Jabuti Award, Glória Pondé Award by the National Library Foundation,
White Ravens Catalogue 2008
Sold to: Switzerland (Joie de Lire), Mexico (Macmillan)
JOÃO ANZANELLO CARRASCOZA
Cosac Naify, 2012
Aquela água toda
The eleven stories of All that Water gather accounts of first
experiences or life-altering moments — the first love, the first
disappointment with a friend, seeing the ocean, moving away
from home. Taking place almost always within the family, they
involve the delicate — and sometimes troubled — coexistence between fathers, mothers,
children, uncles and aunts, their findings, weaknesses, sorrows, and surprises.
Awards: Highly recommended for Young Adults in 2013, by the National Foundation of
Children and YA Book; 2º place in the Jabuti Award 2013 (Short story); São Paulo’s Arts
Critics Association Award 2012 (Short story); White Ravens Catalogue 2013
Sold to: Switzerland (Joie de Lire)
NAKED IN BOOTS
Antonio Prata
Companhia das Letras, October 2013
Nu de botas
Alberto Martins
Companhia das Letras, 2004
From the wild, but family protected, soccer games played at the
backyard of the house everyday after school, under a blazing
sun or a heavy pouring rain, to the open field matches disputed
among strangers in the sandy beaches of Santos. In this book,
writer Alberto Martins intertwines his soccer childhood memories
with the excitement of growing up in the city of Pelé in the Sixties, at the height of the Santos
Football Club, the incredible team that “played by music” and even stopped a war between
two countries! The result is a delicious book that blends hilariously funny passages and a
moving understanding of the world, appealing to readers of all ages.
Alberto Martins was born in Santos, Brazil, in 1958. His latest book, “Lívia and the African
Graveyard”, was considered best novel of the year by the APCA 2013 Award.
JOÃO ANZANELLO CARRASCOZA
DSOP, Abril, 2014
Maria and José are foragers in different parts of a big landfill
and, at the end of each day, they meet at the shack where they
live nearby to share the valuables they have found among the
dunghills. And also to make plans — like getting a decent job,
build a little brick house, bear a child. The two beings, in draft,
search to write for themselves a better and more definite text, dreaming of a written out
life. At the end of one day, during which the whole story is told, both of them, each one on
their own part of the landfill, find something that they would never dream of finding in the
garbage — showing a transformation in the society in which they are forgotten. A narrative
in which poetry looms from the rubbish, taking the two creatures out of the draft to lift them
to the sublime condition of the human.
Antonio Prata
Editora 34, 2012
CIntia Moscovich
FTD, new edition, April 2014
Everything is more or less normal — and more or less extraordinary
— in the lives of those who dwell in the city of Porto Alegre.
Gaia, for example, the girl who tells this story, is an almost normal
teenager. “Almost” because in her house no one watches TV,
drinks soda or eat meat or anything that’s industrialized. Gaia’s
mother works reading people’s future on Tarot cards, and Gaia’s father doesn’t really like
to work. In school, her only friend is Marcelo, a lonely boy that is always surrounded by
bodyguards. To explain it better: Marcelo is the son of a Secretary of State that fights drug
dealing at the international borders of Brazil and against whom is devised a plot of crimes
and murders that involves all the characters. To top it off, Gaia discovers that she may or
may not have been adopted. The city of Porto Alegre, inventively and tenderly recreated
by one of its main writers, is the stage for a lot of action, like kidnappings, car chases and
shootouts. But it is also the environment where peaceful values like loyalty to friends, the
love for your family and this beautiful gesture that is adopting children are asserted.
Cintia was born in Porto Alegre, and her latest book, “Such a Brilliant Thing, The Rain” won
the Portugal Telecom Award in the short story category.
RICARDO LÍSIAS
DSOP, April 2014
The Lost Bag tells the story of a group of children who decide
to find out who has forgotten the groceries at the stairs during a
power outage. With a deft and fun narrative, little by little the text
shows the dynamics of the building, its residents, and how the
children understand and solve the problems with which they are faced. The text discusses
the problem of energy waste and tries to present solutions, always through the children’s
perspective, and based on the need of living together. The kids become detectives that
investigate not only the mystery of the missing bag, but in truth how can we find practical
solutions for some very serious ecological issues. The building turns out to be a sort of
miniature world. The end of the book holds yet another surprise: the writing of the book
itself is a mystery that the children will have to solve!
Marina Colasati
FTD, 2013
MARCIO VASSALO
(Abacatte, 2011)
“Minha princesa africana” tells a love story made of endless
letters and phone calls from across the ocean. “Her name was
Marinela. No one believed that my girlfriend was a princess.
Some people didn’t even know there were princesses in Africa.
But mine was from there, from Angola. Marinela was very white and had more freckles than
the sky of Luanda. Actually, we had seen each other only once in our lives, and every day
we awaited for the day when we would see each other again. While the day didn’t arrive,
Marinela called me every night and we would talk until she had fallen asleep. With her
Portuguese accent, the princess would tell me that she could only sleep after hearing my
voice. Or was it me that could only sleep after talking in her ear? Oh, my letters to Marinela
were even longer than the hours we would spend listening to one another, and the hours we
spent listening to one another were longer than the Nile”. With papier maché illustrations
by artist Carol W., who has created exclusive pieces for the story, “Minha princesa africana”
makes us want to love without haste, but with the deepest urgency to be happy.
Rosa Amanda StrausZ
Global, new edition 2013
In this book of horror stories, Rosa Amanda Strausz constructs
apparently common stories that, through an expertly crafted
suspense, become horrifying narratives. But, in this case, the
fear doesn’t paralyze, on the contrary, it only increases the desire
to get to the next page, something that requires strength. In “Seven bones and a curse”
there’s no blood dripping or splattered brains, as is informed in the dust jacket. Nothing
explicit or distasteful. In it, the reader’s imagination is in charge of creating the macabre
scenes forged through an elegant text. And it is exactly this suggestion of terror, fantastic
literature of the best kind, that makes it so compelling.
Marina Colasanti
Forthcoming - Global, 2015
In “Naked in boots”, Antonio Prata revisits the most memorable
events of his childhood. The memoirs are illuminations about the
first years of the author’s life, told with the precision and humor
to which his thousands of readers have become accustomed in
Folha de São Paulo, newspaper in which Prata has a weekly column since 2010. The first
memories of his backyard, the neighbourhood friends, the vacations at the beach, the
divorce of his parents, the Halley comet, Bozo and SBT cartoons, the first love, the sex
discovered in porn magazines — all the sentimental education of a middle-class boy from
São Paulo, born in the 1970s, is shown in “Naked in boots”. What is striking, however, is
the peculiarity of his perspective. The texts are not the memories of the adult looking back
and reviewing his journey with nostalgia or detachment. On the contrary, the author returns
to the point of view of the child, who is amazed by the world and gives a very particular
sense to it — a funny, mysterious, lyric, and enchanted one.
Everybody knows that a good fairy tale ends with the
princess and her prince charming living happily ever after.
But what few people know is what happens or does not
happen when the story ends. Antonio Prata and the renowned Brazilian cartoonist Laerte
show here, in delicious detail, how this so called perfect life is, and how “happily ever after”
can become a big problem. And they prove, with lots of fun, that even in the enchanted
world a little unhappiness now and then doesn’t hurt anyone. (English & Spanish
translations available).
Awards: Finalist of the Jabuti Award 2013 (Children’s Book)
Felizes Quase Sempre
Breve História De Um Pequeno Amor
CINCO VEZES CINCO CIPRESTES
THE SUMMER OF CHIBO
A WILD ADVENTURE
MORE THAN A HUNDRED STORIES
WANT ADS AND NOT SO MUCH
Uma Aventura Animal
MAIS DE 100 HISTÓRIAS
Classificados e nem tanto
Vanessa Barbara e Emilio Fraia
Alfaguara, 2008
O verão do Chibo
In The Summer of Chibo, written in partnership between Vanessa
Barbara and Emilio Fraia, a boy no more than seven years old,
immersed in a very singular universe, describes his adventures
during his summer vacation, in the middle of a corn field in the
company of his friends. But this is a different summer. Because Chibo, his older brother,
mysteriously disappears, and all the other boys seem to do the same.
This is a subtle work, often humorous, other times touching, about the mysteries that
surround growing up. It was a finalist in the Prêmio São Paulo de Literatura. (English
sample available)
“A little gem about the mysteries that surround becoming a grown-up.”
O Estado de S. Paulo
“Another world in miniature, with lyricism and absurdity to match the fantasies and
traumas of childhood.” Folha de S. Paulo
MARIA VALÉRIA REZENDE
DSOP, April 2014
Four teenagers meet in the Amazonian city of Porto Velho,
Rondônia, Brazil. Each one of them has reasons to feel lonely
and suffer: Anderson is too shy, he hides behind his sketchbook
and expresses himself only through drawings; Gabriela is so small
that she is taken for a child and mocked by her schoolmates; Gil
lost his mother and, when he is not at school, lives almost alone with his skateboard, as his
father is always away, working; and Cláudio is isolated, seen as a boring nerd. They discover
a gang planning to traffic wild animals illegally in the region, threatening cruelly the life of
many species and the ecological balance in that part of the Amazon. They feel responsible
for doing something against it, but what can a small group of fourteen year old school kids
do? No adult would give any attention to them unless they can prove their accusation. They
decide to investigate and collect information and evidence. This leads them to frightening
but successful adventures, in which they discover how the facts that make them feel weak
in everyday life become superpowers when put together at the service of a worthy cause.
The water that seeps into the office through a broken roof tile
initiates an encounter of love. The author, owner of that office,
finds herself confronted by the need of saving a life, the one of
the baby pigeon abandoned in the nest beneath the tiles. She will have to improvise as a
mother, since she knows nothing about the needs of those birds. And the pigeon will have
to improvise as a son, since he knows nothing about the one who protects and cares for
him. Like in all loving relationships, both of them progress slowly, paying attention to one
another while they seek to understand. They don’t speak the same language, and they
are not of the same species, but it doesn’t matter much, because affection knows other
ways to get to comprehension. And it is about affection when she tries to teach him to fly,
or when he, free, answers her call. Gently, the differences between them are overcome at
each new stage of development, at each new victory. Until the completion of this cycle of
goodwill that, being brief, becomes unforgettable. (English sample translation available)
Marina Colasanti
Forthcoming - Global, 2015
As a poet gathers his poems in his Complete Works, so does
Marina Colasanti. In this book, she gathers the fairy tales that
represent a milestone in her creative trajectory. There are 116
original narratives that, although situated in the realm of the
imaginary, exude modernity. Or aren’t love, fear of death, the struggle for power, solidarity
and loneliness, greed and compassion, the never-ending search for answers modern?
This is not about imitating the past, nor recreating the genre using its key-elements. It’s
about plunging into the unconscious and, like the mythical narrators did, harvest the
stories that it tells.
With verbal economy and refined language, these surprising stories take readers of any
age by the hand and lead them, not only to the unexpected ending, but to an emotional
meeting with their own self.
He wasn’t a rich man, nor was he a poor man, he was just a
man, and this man had a dream. Thus begins the first short story
of this book. And thus begin the other four, in a narrative game
in which, from the same starting point, we are led through five
different paths towards unexpected endings.
We’ve always known that a story, any story, is both the seed for other narratives and soil
where they grow. Narrating is a continuum in diversity. Driven by this conviction, Marina
Colasanti took the creative challenge of touching the sensibility of readers of any age
through five stories that, although different, are the same story. In these little literary jewels
we are faced with the reunion of dream and destiny, and follow the great symbolic journey
of the man that answers his call.
Marina Colasanti
Galera Record, 2010
With a body of work that includes prose, poetry, chronicles,
short stories and books for children and young people, the
author now returns to the children’s universe with a lovely
book of poetry for the little ones. “There are people that search the classified ads looking
for a well-located apartment, a new car, a dog with a pedigree. But there are people that
search for a flying carpet, the key to which they already lost the keyhole, the imaginary
friend’s address, the wake of the shooting star. This book is for them”, explains the author.
In the classified ads that Grandpa reads in the paper, they sell cat, car, cushion or couch.
They sell brush, bicycle, county fair or soda-pop. But, when you have imagination, there
are not enough boundaries: in three or four lines we find chilly mermaids, shooting stars,
graffiti without walls and even a ripe pineapple.
Want Ads and Not So Much gathers 80 little short poems, “nutty”, illustrated by beautiful
xylographs by artist Rubem Grilo. If you look for things that are hard to find, you just have to
open this book and find whatever your imagination tells you to.
Sold to: Spain (El Jinete Azul)
children and YA highlights 2014
THE MACHINE
Explanation Freak
A Máquina
MANIA DE EXPLICAÇÃO
Adriana Falcão
Salamandra, new edition 2013
Adriana Falcão
Salamandra, new edition 2013
Nordestina is a place where no one wants to stay anymore. The
only thing that can be counted in this land without future is the
void left by those who want to go to the other side of the line,
where the world must be happening. And is exactly in this little
town - forgotten even by the Lord - that the love between Antônio and Karina happens. With
a precise and poetic prose, the author constructs a story capable of stopping time and
changing the course of this tale and others that Antônio began to tell after he looked at his
Karina, who, by then, had a look of good-bye, and promised: “Is it the world that you want?
I’ll bring it to you, then”. “The machine” is a fable about love and time. A love story as big
as the world.
“Loneliness is an island that longs for the boats”. The sentence,
filled with poetry, is one of many that Adriana Falcão has sculpted
with sensibility and included in Explanation Freak. The book is
dedicated to her nine year old daughter Isabel, who, like all
children that age, doesn’t miss the chance of asking “why?” or “what is this?” when
something is not clear. And, page after page, Adriana “explains” some words that may
be of difficult comprehension for those who are beginning to understand the world. Some
examples: “Anguish is a very tight knot right in de middle of your peace” or “Success is
when you do what you do well, only everyone notices”.
Explanation Freak delights young readers, who lose themselves, literally, in its pages;
after all, they are not numbered. And, in this game of coming and going in search of an
explanation for some word, children plunge further into the spirit of the book, which is to
satiate curiosity. The didacticism of putting the words in alphabetical order did not occur to
Adriana Facão, though. “Homesick” comes before “a lot” that comes before “desperation”
that comes before “before”.
Sold to: Portugal (Vogais & Companhia), Mexico (Fondo de Cultura)
Award: Ofelia Fontes Award – The best for children, by the National Foundation of Children
and YA Book (2001)
MURURU IN THE AMAZON
LUNA CLARA & APOLLO ELEVEN
Flavia Lins e Silva
Manati, 2010
Adriana Falcão
Salamandra, new edition 2013
LUNA CLARA & APOLLO ONZE
Mururu No Amazonas
“What makes each love story is precisely it’s coincidences, it’s setbacks, loose events, it’s
hopes, it’s winds, it’s time. Who knows what would have been of the story of Adventure
and Hanceforth, had it happened any other way?” (pg. 251)
Sold to: Serbia (Carabina Knjiga)
Awards: João-de-Barro Award, for YA literature (2006), Highly Recommend for Young Adults,
by the National Foundation of Children and YA Book (2011).
Everything takes place in the region of Northern Folly. This
is the story of Luna Clara and Apollo Eleven, but it’s also
the story of Henceforth and Adventure, of Unforseen and
Bychance, of coincidences and mismatches, of good and
bad luck...but it could be your story too. A story of astounding
creativity, a simple plot with a sophisticated structure, about
love’s comings and goings.
Mururu is a little tree trunk, a boat for just one person, that sails like
a loose leaf in the vastness of the Amazon waters. Mururu is the
little tree trunk of a young girl that presents herself being just like
her name — Andorinha. Dorinha leaves her mother and her floating
house to search for her father, but finds Piú instead, a half-indian, a young man that tastes
like fruit and smells like earth. Dorinha crosses the junction of the crystal waters of the Rio
Negro with the muddy broth of the Solimões and becomes a woman.
THE PILAR SERIES
FLAVIA LINS E SILVA
Zahar
Flavia’s most famous character is Pilar, a curious girl that loves to travel and discover
myths and stories from several different cultures. Pilar has been in adventures in places
like Egypt, Greece, Amazonas (Brazil), and Machu Pichu (Peru). Her books have been sold
to Germany, France, Latin America and China.
Books from the series:
PILAR’S DIARY OF GREECE (2010)
Pilar loves travelling. Her series of books is well known in Brazil. Now she keeps a diary,
describing every moment of her first adventure. She grew up without her dad, in her
grandpa’s house. When Pilar’s grandpa goes to Greece and she hears that he is never
coming back, she cannot accept it and wishes she could go after him. With a magic
hammock, she and her best friend Breno travel to Greece and meet several gods along
the way. But life among them isn’t easy and no one will ever be the same after this
adventure.
PILAR’S DIARY IN EGYPT (2012)
Pilar enters her magic hammock and travels with Breno and her cat Samba to Egypt,
where they will try to help young Tutancamon to get his throne back. They fly together
over the desert with a Phoenix, they sail on the Nile river escaping from crocodiles, they
meet goddess Isis and god Horus who give them a special help and, most important of all,
Pilar claim the right to learn hieroglyphs! Although the school was only for royal family or
for boys, Pilar manages to prove that she also deserves to know how to write hieroglyphs.
PILAR’S DIARY IN THE AMAZON (2011)
On the second book, Pilar travels to the Amazon, searching for her father,
an anthropologist that might be lost in the Jungle. There, Pilar and Breno meet Maiara, a
local girl who has never seen the sea. During the trip over the Amazon river, they see people
cuting trees ilegaly, they scape from a huge snake, they save a baby sloth, meet Iara - the
Siren of the river - and arrive to the ocean, where Maiara can finally experience the salty
water full of waves.
PILAR’S DIARY OF MACHU PICCHU (April, 2014)
Travelling with the magic hammock, Pilar and her friend Breno arrive in Cusco, in Peru,
searching for Pilar’s cat named Samba. There, they meet Yma, a beautiful girl which is
taken to Machu Picchu to serve the inca Emperor as one of the daughter’s of the sun. To
save Yma and the cat, Pilar and Breno enter the Sacred City with no one noticing. There,
they witness several sacred rituals and will need a lot of creativity to scape such a guarded
fortress hidden in the middle of the forest.
www.agenciariff.com.br
children and YA highlights 2014
Children & YA Authors
Adélia PRADO
Adriana FALCÃO
Adriana LISBOA
Antonio PRATA
Carol SABAR
Cecília VASCONCELLOS
Cíntia MOSCOVICH
Emilio FRAIA
Flávia LINS E SILVA
Flávio CARNEIRO
João Luiz Anzanello CARRASCOZA
Kledir RAMIL
Leticia WIERZCHOWSKI
Livia GARCIA-ROZA
Lucrécia ZAPPI
Luis Fernando VERÍSSIMO
Luiz Claudio CARDOSO
Lya LUFT
Lygia Fagundes TELLES
Marcelo PIRES
Marcio VASSALLO
Maria Valéria REZENDE
Mariana VERÍSSIMO
ONDJAKI
Ricardo LÍSIAS
Rodrigo LACERDA
Rosa Amanda STRAUSZ
Socorro ACIOLI
Suzana VARGAS
Tércia MONTENEGRO
Tony BELLOTTO
Vanessa BARBARA
Vitor RAMIL
CLASSIC AUTHORS
Caio Fernando ABREU
Carlos DRUMMOND DE ANDRADE
Érico VERÍSSIMO
MILLÔR Fernandes
Mario QUINTANA
Moacyr SCLIAR
Rachel de QUEIROZ
Ricardo RAMOS
Sylvia ORTHOF
Marina COLASANTI
Lucia Riff . lucia@agenciariff.com.br