Margarito’s Forest / El Bosque de don Margarito by Andy Carter
Margarito’s Forest / El Bosque de don Margarito
Written by: Andy Carter
Illustrated by: Allison Havens
Originally Published in: 2016
This story is set in Saq Ja', a small, remote village in the mountains of central Guatemala. It is the true story of Don Margarito Esteban Álvarez Velázquez but told from the perspective of his daughter, Doña Maria Guadalupe. Doña Maria tells the story of her father to her grandson, as oral storytelling is a large part of their culture. The people indigenous to these lands are descendants of the Mayan civilization. Doña Maria explains that Don Margarito loved the forest and devoted his life to preserving the forest near their village when deforestation begins to occur. He did this when no one else would, as people were enduring the effects of a “dirty war” where the government military forces were deployed against citizens, Don Margarito was killed in a raid by Guatemalan forces.
This book is probably targeted towards grades kindergarten-5th grade. This book not only brings up the conversation of climate change and deforestation, but the war that was waged against the Guatemalan people by their government. I think this would bring up a lot of questions from students, as they've probably been taught that the government tries to help its people (most of the time). This book and the struggles the people in the village faced may be something that some of your students may relate to, as maybe their grandparents, parents, or maybe even themselves came to the U.S. as refugees. This book is also a bilingual book, as there are excerpts in K’iche’, the native language of the Mayan people. This can begin the conversation that not all people who live in Central or South America speak Spanish as their primary language (and some do not speak Spanish at all). As there are other languages that are still spoken due to native people native peoples' heritage.
Other information:
Carter, A., Havens, A. (2016). Margarito’s Forest / El Bosque de don Margarito. Hard Ball Press.
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