The Balancing Act

The child takes the pencil
and the amazing show
of festive writing
begins immediately
Over the lines of the notebook
the balancing letters go,
on the tip of a pencil they walk
tremblingly and in no hurry.

The notebook opens and the balancing letters appear in the hand of the child, a great conjurer and tightrope walker. Letters that tremble, straighten, play and get confused in their contortions from the tip of the pencil.
Because writing is a marvellous spectacle, this book celebrates this fundamental learning with tenderness, humour and creativity of the hand, the mind and the heart.

Key points

• The alphabet as a game and a new window on the world.
• A simple, classical and elegant aesthetic for the art of writing.
• An interpretation of writing as a beautiful circus act.

Paulina Jara Straussmann

2024 – Selected for The BRAW Amazing Bookshelf, Bologna Children’s Book Fair
2023 – Finalist in IBBY Chile Award
2021 – Cuatrogatos Foundation, 100 Recommended Books
2018 – Finalist in Santiago Municipal Literature Award

Fátima Ordinola

2024 – Selected in the Illustrators Exhibition in Bologna Children’s Book Fair
2023 – Cuatrogatos Foundation, 100 Recommended Books