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PICTURE BOOKS
Fuentes S., Claudio

A Small History of a Disagreement

56 pp. | Greystone Kids | October, 2020 | Trade ISBN 978-1-77164-707-6 $18.95
(2) K-3 Translated by Elisa Amado. Illustrated by Gabriella Lyon. Students arrive back at school from vacation to find that plans to construct a new science building necessitate the removal of a monkey puzzle tree. The story of the ensuing protests, debates, split vote, and resolution is a lesson both in democracy and community engagement and a hopeful message about the ability of disparate groups to come together in creating solutions. This sophisticated picture book is narrated by one of the students, but not as an individual, rather a part of the collective "we," as in "we sat down to talk and think in small groups." Illustrations also emphasize the collective; it is impossible to pick out the narrator. A multi-ethnic, ever-changing group of students hangs signs on the endangered tree; some (known as "Millennials") protest the building plans; some (called "Developers") picket in support of the project; all attend school assemblies on the topic. Student activists will see themselves in the passionate, outspoken crowd, and all will close the book with a sense of the possibility for problem-solving. Lyon's illustrations resemble a sketchbook, with a limited palette of blue and brown setting off the loose drawings. An afterword gives readers background about the endangered monkey puzzle tree (native to southern Chile and western Argentina). Where agreement seems elusive in our contemporary world, an engaging and visually satisfying picture book about problem-solving deserves attention.
Reviewer: Maeve Visser Knoth | Horn Book Magazine Issue: January, 2021

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