MIA’S STORY

Mixing small, intimate drawings captioned in pencil with larger-scale landscape watercolors, Foreman crafts a sketchy, touching original tale inspired by a family he met in a Chilean waste dump. Driving into the city each day with reclaimed junk to sell, Mia’s father dreams of one day building a brick house to replace his family’s shanty. That dream edges closer to reality when Mia, out searching for her lost puppy, brings home instead a clump of beautiful wildflowers. The flowers take so well to their new home that soon she and her father both are selling them full time in the city marketplace. Telling the story with an underlying tone of respect rather than outrage or pity, and expertly capturing the Andean setting and characters, Foreman will leave readers impressed by the resourcefulness of Mia and her community, and hoping along with them for a brighter future. (Picture book. 7-9)