The Youngest Sister

Curriculum Guide for Teachers and Parents Available (Download/See All)

In the Andean foothills, a five-year-old Quechua girl is entrusted with a big job: to collect a marrow bone from the neighbor for the family soup. A stunning debut from Indigenous author Suniyay Moreno.

Picu’s family is very poor. In the dry Andean foothills, her mother must feed fourteen people—her kids, her relatives’ kids, and the hired hand’s kids—every day. One morning, Picu, the youngest sister, is sent to get a marrow bone from a neighbor. The bone will add flavor and nutrition to the lunchtime soup. Her mother warns her not to dawdle on the two-hour walk, each way, through the wild landscape.

But Picu can’t help it! She marvels at the butterflies, samples the cactus fruit, and daydreams about using the marrow bone as a football. Will the neighbor let her family keep the bone after the soup is made? Will her mother let her play with it? And will she be punished for being so late?

Picu is a child of joie de vivre and resourcefulness. This story, like Picu herself, is tough, hard, and honest. And moving. And fun. 

The Youngest Sister features a glossary of Quechuan terms that are used throughout the story.

An Aldana Libros Book, Greystone Kids

Suniyay Moreno received her name from her Quechua grandmother. She was born and lived in the mountains above Santiago de Chile where she loved to climb trees barefoot, run after baby goats, and sing songs and make riddles in Quechua, her mother tongue. As a grown up she became a librarian so she could climb around in the stacks over piles of books and children. She lives in Buenos Aires, and this is her first book.

Mariana Chiesa is the author of Migrants and No Time to Play, which have won prizes and arepublished internationally. Her best known books are Migrando and No hay tiempo para jugar which are published and prize winning in many countries but not in English. In 2014 she won the Latin American Illustration Prize given by the University of Palermo. The Youngest Sister is her first book available in English.