When My Dad Went to the Jungle

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

Available June 16, 2020!

A young boy shares exciting facts and stories about the peoples, plants, and animals who inhabit the Amazon rainforest.

In this original, uplifting book from one of Argentina’s most acclaimed children’s writers, a young boy records his dad’s stories of the in his journal. As he does, he can’t help but compare his own life. When you visit the rainforest, you should ask the Sápara peoples for permission and be respectful, just like when you visit your neighbor in the city. Smoked fish is delicious in the rainforest—but hard to make in your bedroom. The rainforest is like a great big house for plants, animals, and spirits, but it’s disappearing, little by little. Filling his journal with imaginative drawings and words, the boy decides what he would do if he visited the rainforest: Invite the spirits for donuts and hot cocoa!

Inspired by the author’s volunteer efforts to assist the Sápara peoples in protecting an endangered bird, When My Dad Went to the Jungle portrays a young boy exploring big ideas about the natural world. As he journals, the young boy realizes that, even though life for the Sápara peoples is very different from his own, a little bit of the rainforest lives inside of all of us. If we let it grow, then we will always respect the lands we walk, gather, and play on.

An Aldana Libros Book, Greystone Kids

Gusti (the pseudonym for Gustavo Rosemffet) is a musician, ornithologist, illustrator and author. He is one of the most important illustrators in the Spanish speaking world and has won several awards. His book about his life with his son, who has Down Syndrome—Mallko y Papá—won the Bologna Ragazzi Prize for the best book on a child with a disability. His works have been translated into Japanese, English, French, German, Greek Korean, Portuguese, Hebrew and Catalan. He was born in Argentina and lives in Barcelona, Spain, with his wife, Anne Decis, and two sons.

Anne Decis is a French author and illustrator who lives in Barcelona with her husband, Gusti, and their two children.