By Mariana Ruiz

Works in translation from Latin America are slowly making their way into the American market. Perhaps not by the hundreds, but there are now dozens of books available, written by reputable authors with considerable recognition in their home countries.

Here, I’d like to discuss three books newly translated into English from award-winning authors in three different countries: Peru, Argentina, and Mexico. Each displays a unique point of view about the world, from the subjective to the highly surreal. It makes me proud to be part of such a diverse and powerful continent of stories.

Cristina Plays

Micaela Chirif is a Peruvian author of children’s books and poetry. Her books have the distinction of being featured by the International Youth Library in “The White Ravens” catalogue of notable new children’s books and has won several picture book awards in Spanish.

Chirif holds degrees in philosophy (Pontifical Catholic University of Peru) and in the field of books and children’s literature (Autonomous University of Barcelona). That interesting combination makes her books appear beautiful and simple on the surface, yet her interest in thought, poetry, and language gives her picture books hidden depths.

In this board book, meant for early readers, Cristina plays with a doll house that has a rabbit doll inside of it. Once she is finished playing, Cristina goes to bed and starts to dream. In her dream, Cristina changes places with the doll and finds herself living inside the doll’s house. This vivid dream displays the scope of her imagination, and Chirif’s book dwells, in a poetic way, on what children feel when they participate in representational play.

How to Reach the Moon

Nicolás Schuff is an Argentinian author of numerous picture books for children. He has worked as a librarian, leads literature workshops for school children, and runs the podcast El Pájaro Fantasma (The Ghost Bird). You can follow him on his Instagram @pajarofantasma.

How to Reach the Moon was originally published in Spanish in 2022 as Cómo llegar a la luna and was selected by the New York Public Library as one of the best children’s books in Spanish that year. In the book we find a great friendship between Emilio and Abuelo, his grandpa, which is a joy to witness. Emilio enjoys his vacation in the forest at Abuelo’s house. They dine outside by the light of a lantern every night and tell stories.

On a clear full moon night, Abuelo suggests they go and meet the moon. But how? The book asks, what is it like to travel across the forest, looking at night creatures, and where does the journey end? A loving tribute to adventures and the nighttime, far from screens. The ending will make you want to reach for the moon itself, as grandfather and grandson did.

Pilgrim Codex

This unique picture book draws on Mesoamerican mythology and symbolism, and is presented in the style of an ancient codex. Here, the Vargas Ramírez family explains, through powerful imagery, their journey towards the north on a route many have bravely taken.

They start in a place north of Tenochtitlan called Iztapalapa, Land of Clay Upon Water. Heading north, for a better life, friends, kids, mothers and sons start their journey and encounter adverse places, such as Land of the Frogs and The Place Where Feet Cry and, of course, the River Where the Waters Tangle. Not everybody will make it.

This book presents the idea that if you believe you belong to one place because for three generations you have been in the same place, you are very much mistaken. People travel, they marry, and they will always be on the lookout for a better chance, a better place, a better life.

About Mariana Ruiz

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