Una pelicula en mi almohada - A Movie in My Pillow, Del Sol Books

Américas Award for Latin American literature
Skipping Stones Honor Award for Multicultural Literature
IPPY Award for Multicultural Fiction for Juveniles

Young Jorgito has come to live in the Mission District of San Francisco, but he hasn't forgotten the unique beauty of El Salvador. In his first collection of poems for children, poet Jorge Argueta evokes the wonder of his childhood in rural El Salvador, a touching relationship with a caring father, and his confusion and delight in his new urban home. We glimpse the richness of Jorgito's inner world and dreams — the movie in his pillow. This groundbreaking book is the first to address immigration during the Salvadoran civil war from a child's perspective. Elizabeth Gómez, a renowned Mexican painter, provides vivid, fantastical images that complement each poem.

Listen to Vienna Rose read A Movie in My Pillow to you. A marvelous example of the magical encounter between a child and books that we wish for all children.

"A moving personal testimony of a poet who escaped the civil war in El Salvador — an experience shared by thousands of children and their families. These poems are like the tropical fruits of Jorge Argueta's native land. They are full of surprises, but ultimately they leave us with the reassuring taste of sweet tenderness." —Francisco X. Alarcón

Publishers Weekly : Grade 3-6-Poems in Spanish and in English communicate the poet's memories of being a boy in El Salvador and in San Francisco. "Here chickens come/ in plastic bags/ Over there/ they slept beside me." The lines capture the pleasures and difficulties of living in each country, but mostly, they capture the sense of being a child in the city. "My bicycle/ is a dragon/ dancing/ cumbias/ all the way/ to El Salvador." Small notes next to the poems explain potentially unfamiliar terms (the cumbia is a Latin dance). Argueta has published several books of poetry, but this is his first for children. G omez's rich, bright paintings fill every spread with the same joy and literal humor that she used in Juan Felipe Herrera's The Upside Down Boy/El nino de cabeza (Children's Book, 2000). The style is almost primitive, and combines with the "handwritten" typeface to make the book feel immediate and comfortable. The author's introduction and the artist's title-page map of North America give context to the poet's experiences, making this an appealing choice to fill the need for books about Salvadorenos, as well as an excellent addition to any poetry collection. Appropriate for all collections and bookstores.

School Library Journal : Gr 3-6-Poems in Spanish and in English communicate the poet's memories of being a boy in El Salvador and in San Francisco. "Here chickens come/in plastic bags/Over there/they slept beside me." The lines capture the pleasures and difficulties of living in each country, but mostly, they capture the sense of being a child in the city. "My bicycle/is a dragon/dancing/cumbias/all the way/to El Salvador." Small notes next to the poems explain potentially unfamiliar terms (the cumbia is a Latin dance). Argueta has published several books of poetry, but this is his first for children. G-mez's rich and bright paintings fill every spread with the same joy and literal humor that she used in Juan Felipe Herrera's The Upside Down Boy/El ni-o de cabeza (Children's Book, 2000). The style is almost primitive, and combines with the "handwritten" typeface to make the book feel immediate and comfortable. The author's introduction and the artist's title-page map of North America give context to the poet's experiences, making this an appealing choice to fill the need for books about Salvadore-os, as well as an excellent addition to any poetry collection.-Nina Lindsay

Booklist : Gr. 4-8. Along with an estimated 500,000 Salvadorans who immigrated to the U.S. in the 1980s, the poet Jorge Argueta and his family fled the civil war in El Salvador and came to live in America. These 21 poems recount his childhood experiences of being an immigrant and having dual homelands, with roots in El Salvador and a new life in San Francisco's Mission District. In a format very similar to that of Chicano poet Francisco X. Alarcon's award-winning bilingual poetry collections, each poem is closely twinned on the page with its translation and embraced by Gomez's illustrations, which flood each spread with a rich rainbow of colors, rippling with vibrant images of magic realism. Argueta's first book for children will add multicultural depth and historical authenticity to any poetry collection. Annie Ayres