FROM MY WINDOW

From My Window by Otávio Júnior and Vanina Starkoff chronicles Otávio's personal experiences of growing up in a favela in Rio de Janeiro.

From his window, our young narrator experiences many things: he sees people cooling off on hot days, he hears sounds of violence that make him sad, and he imagines filling his local Maracanã Stadium with players and spectators for football matches. The young boy drinks in everything around him, showing readers how special and beautiful his home in Brazil is despite its complicated history.

The illustrations feature patchwork-style blocks of color and overlapping textures that extend beyond the borders of the pages. With this feeling of being at capacity and very few shots of a crisp blue sky, each spread feels like its own small Brazilian favela, full of movement and energy that cannot be bound by the covers of the book. The text is also very playful and sits nicely on each spread, alternating between black and white and often placed smack-dab in the middle of the action. 

From My Window published from Barefoot Books earlier this year.

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