Diary of a Witness

The Canyon's Edge

Crossing Ebenezer Creek

West of the Moon

How I Discovered Poetry

Aleutian Sparrow

My Name Is Not Easy

The Closest I've Come

The Butterfly Hill Series

An eleven-year-old’s world is upended by political turmoil in this “lyrically ambitious tale of exile and reunification” ( Kirkus Reviews ) from an award-winning poet, based on true events in Chile.

Celeste Marconi is a dreamer. She lives peacefully among friends and neighbors and family in the idyllic town of Valparaiso, Chile—until one day when warships are spotted in the harbor and schoolmates start disappearing from class without a word. Celeste doesn’t quite know what is happening, but one thing is no one is safe, not anymore.

The country has been taken over by a government that declares artists, protestors, and anyone who helps the needy to be considered “subversive” and dangerous to Chile’s future. So Celeste’s parents—her educated, generous, kind parents—must go into hiding before they, too, “disappear.” Before they do, however, they send Celeste to America to protect her.

As Celeste adapts to her new life in Maine, she never stops dreaming of Chile. But even after democracy is restored to her home country, questions Will her parents reemerge from hiding? Will she ever be truly safe again?

Accented with interior artwork, steeped in the history of Pinochet’s catastrophic takeover of Chile, and based on many true events, this multicultural ode to the power of revolution, words, and love is both indelibly brave and heartwrenchingly graceful.

Discover Your Child's Next Read

Diary of a Witness

Catherine Ryan Hyde, 2009

The Canyon's Edge

Dusti Bowling, 2020

Crossing Ebenezer Creek

Tonya Bolden, 2017

West of the Moon

Margi Preus, 2014

How I Discovered Poetry

Marilyn Nelson, Hadley Hooper, 2014

Aleutian Sparrow

Karen Hesse, Evon Zerbetz, Kim McGillivray, 2003

My Name Is Not Easy

Debby Dahl Edwardson, 2011

The Closest I've Come

Fred Aceves, 2017