Why a Booktrail?
From 1904: The story of Pablo Neruda as a young boy.
Pablo Neruda: Poet of the People
What you need to know before your trail
Once there was a little boy named Neftalí who loved to explore the world around him. He was a quiet and quite introverted child but he loved words and writing. He started to write poetry in his maths book at school for it was words which brought the world to life for him and not numbers.
He love people above all else and wrote about them as he did the landscape of where he lived in Chile.
Travel Guide
“Once there was a little boy named Neftali, who loved wild things wildly and quiet things quietly”
And so begins the story of Pablo Neruda. In a mixture of Spanish and English, the story traces his early life from when he was a young boy to life as an adult. He loved the people around him and included them in his poems and his life. He didn’t just write about them however but took time to help fight injustice in Chile and took part in many protests for local miners rights for example.
The images showcase the landscape and the world of inspiration that Pablo Neruda lived in –
“From the moment he could talk, Neftali surrounded himself with words that whirled and swirled…”.
Words in both Spanish and English words swirl around the illustrations to show the essence of Pablo’s world – the colour, the rhythm and the vibrancy of the world he helped create. The green, blue and red brushstrokes evoke the beauty of the poetry he would eventually write.
Pablo became the man he was because of his determination to succeed and his ability to transcend the time and place he was born. He was encouraged by one parent and discouraged buy another yet his creativity shone through.
This book showcases Pablo’s entire early world and evokes the essence of the man and his work.
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