The Migrants

At the very moment when teacher Alicia
said that two migrants were going to come,
the bell rang and we ran out of the classroom.

We wanted to get home as soon as possible.
Grandma had made rice pudding. And we love it.
We could eat that dessert forever and never get tired of it.
But teacher Alicia’s announcement kept going round and round in our heads.

Pauli and his brother found out that two migrants would be arriving in class the next day. The children went home very excited to find out what they would look like and what they would be like, because they had never heard of them before. Would they be a kind of cake? Would they be pets they could play with? Or would they be as strange and frightening as ghosts?
A beautiful and simple story whose central theme is the way in which children approach naturally, without prejudice, the encounter with people who are different, from other cultures. A book about facing the unknown, about inclusion, friendship and curiosity told through the curious and innocent gaze of childhood, a gaze without bias or discrimination in a society that tends to do just the opposite.

Key points

The current theme of immigration developed with a sense of humour, warmth and simplicity.
It addresses concepts related to prejudice, social inclusion, curiosity, friendship, family and school.

Marcelo Simonetti

2024 – Cuatrogatos Foundation Award
2023, 2020 – IBBY Chile Award, Children/Young Adults Poetry
2014 – Best Literary Works Award, Best Unpublished Storybook
2003 – Santiago Municipal Literature Award

Maria Girón

2024 – XVII Compostela Prize for Picture Books
2023, 2018 – Cuatrogatos Foundation, 100 Recommended Books
2022 – IBBY Honour List
2021 – Cuatrogatos Foundation Award
2010 – Selected for group exhibition, Bologna Children’s Book Fair