Ayobami and the Names of the Animals

by Pilar López Ávila, Mar Azabal (Illustrator)

Overview

Winner of the 2018 International Latino Book Awards

“In this beautiful gem about a girl who wants to learn to read, letters burst forth from imagery done in cut-paper collage and a rainbow of color, each page telling its own story with a quiet, understated voice.” — B.C. (New York Times)

The war is over and little Ayobami can finally go to school. Everyone is extremely happy, and joy is all over the town. The children are excited to go to school and have a great time, but Ayobami is so impatient that she cannot wait for the other kids and decides to go to class alone.

To keep her from getting lost, Ayobami’s father builds a paper boat and pushes it out into the river, telling her, "If you follow it downstream, you will arrive at the schoolhouse.” But when the ship sinks, Ayobami must find another way to school through the winding paths of the jungle.

With only the help of a paper and a spent pencil, Ayobami sets off on an exciting journey with a fundamental objective: to learn to read and write. Will the wild animals from the jungle allow her to reach her destination safely?

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9788416733422
Publisher:	Cuento de Luz
Publication date:	04/01/2018
Pages:	30
Product dimensions:	8.40(w) x 10.40(h) x 0.50(d)
Age Range:	5 - 8 Years

About the Author

María del Pilar López Ávila (Cartagena, Spain 1969) is an award-winning writer of children’s stories. Her passion for children's literature began when she was very young, and at the age of nine, she was already writing children's stories. In December 2010, she was awarded the third position in the Joaquín Sama Awards for Educational Innovation in the category “A More Civic and Caring Cchool,” for the project entitled, “Use of Waste Materials.” She has published Ayobami and the Names of Animals (2017), winner of the International Latino Book Awards in 2018, and The Kite of Dreams (2019) with Cuento de Luz.

Ávila is married and the mother of 3 children. She has a Ph.D. in Veterinary Medicine, currently working as a Biology and Geology teacher at a high school in Cáceres. She is also the director of the Teatro Paraíso.

Mar Azabal is a graduate in Geography, specializing in Administration and archive conservation. Her real dream was to create stories through drawing and illustration. She currently lives in Toledo, Spain, and spends her time teaching illustration courses for children, creating stories and enjoying raising her little child. In 2018, he illustrated the picture book Ayobami and the Names of the Animals (Cuento de luz, 2018), which won the Silver Medal at the 2018 Moonbeam Children’s Book Awards and Gold Medal at the International Latino Book Awards.

Editorial Reviews

"Sandwiched between endpapers of yellow-lined paper showing the upper- and lowercase cursive alphabet, this quiet story shouts the pricelessness of literacy.(...)
A marvelous tale of one girl’s passion for reading, writing, and learning." ~ Kirkus Starred Review

“ (…) Younger children will likely relate to and enjoy Ayobami’s perseverance to attend class. The framework of “naming” animals will also likely appeal to early elementary school–aged children, particularly as they themselves are learning about—and how to write the names of—various animals (…) A solid purchase for elementary school libraries.” ~ School Library Journal

"With the feel of an Aesop’s fable, this story is both empowering and reflective of the joy school can bring to children whose lives have been disrupted by war. Beautiful illustrations in graphite, watercolor, and colored pencil lend an ethereal, magical quality to this unnamed place, where dangerous creatures have endearing faces, and letters of the alphabet flutter around Ayobami like protective stardust." ~ Booklist

From the Publisher

03/01/2018
K-Gr 3—In an unnamed country recovering from a long war, Ayobami is excited to finally return to school. But when she gets lost along the way, and must travel through the jungle, she meets many animals whose names she must learn to write in school. This title is a sweet, if slightly too sweet, modern fairy tale set against the backdrop of very real conflict. At times, the light tone comes across as slightly cloying. But the story certainly entertains, and is complemented well by Azabal's bright, lovely illustrations. Younger children will likely relate to and enjoy Ayobami's perseverance to attend class. The framework of "naming" animals will also likely appeal to early elementary school—aged children, particularly as they themselves are learning about—and how to write the names of—various animals. The book would make for a good discussion starter. VERDICT A solid purchase for elementary school libraries.—Maryanne Olson, Queens Borough Public Library, NY

School Library Journal

★ 2018-02-03
Sandwiched between endpapers of yellow-lined paper showing the upper- and lowercase cursive alphabet, this quiet story shouts the pricelessness of literacy.In an unnamed rural country, three brown-skinned children dance in the streets because the war has ended and they can finally return to school. No one feels more excited than Ayobami, the young protagonist wearing a checkered blue-and-white dress and with cornrowed, beaded hair. On her way to school, clever Ayobami negotiates her way out of becoming breakfast for a hippo, a crocodile, a leopard, a snake, a spider, and a mosquito by promising each she'll give them their names on paper when she returns from school. She delivers on her promise, but, having given away all evidence of her newly acquired literacy, she has nothing to show her disappointed father at home—but the wind's magic reveals Ayobami's accomplishments. The book's surreal illustration style varies widely throughout, keeping readers engaged with shifting colors, patterns, moods, and textures. Paced differently from most American picture books, this one also has hefty, durable "stone paper" pages that are "waterproof and tear resistant" and "produced without water…trees and…bleach," making the book a green choice. Letters appear in unlikely places throughout this story—among the leopard's spots; in the spider's web—emphasizing that reading can always help expand our understanding.A marvelous tale of one girl's passion for reading, writing, and learning. (Picture book. 4-8)

Kirkus Reviews