Children's Fiction Death & Dying
My Uncle Is Coming Tomorrow
- Publisher
- Greystone Books Ltd
- Initial publish date
- Aug 2022
- Category
- Death & Dying, Multigenerational, Caribbean & Latin America, Violence
-
Hardback
- ISBN
- 9781778400063
- Publish Date
- Aug 2022
- List Price
- $19.95
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Where to buy it
Recommended Age, Grade, and Reading Levels
- Age: 10 to 18
- Grade: 5 to 12
Description
This "heartbreaking... powerful work" (School Library Journal STARRED Review) introduces the contemporary issue of forced disappearances to readers 10 and up—with "deceptively simple black line drawings" that "allow for no meandering of attention" (Kirkus STARRED Review).
By a closed door, a child waits for his uncle, who is coming to stay. As he waits, he imagines all the fun things they'll do when he arrives: his uncle can teach him how to block a penalty shot and the boy can show him how well he is doing in school. But his uncle never arrives. Page by page, the boy grows older sitting in the same position, waiting to show his uncle his degree, his son, and eventually, his granddaughter. And still, his uncle does not come.
My Uncle Is Coming Tomorrow is dedicated to the forcibly disappeared who were never able to come home, and depicts the devastating impact on their loved ones who are left behind.
An excellent resource for learning about the history of forced disappearances, this gentle but effective book includes an afterword that explains the act of "disappearing people": how it developed over the course of the twentieth century as a tool of political terror, and how people continue to be disappeared today.
An Aldana Libros Book, Greystone Kids
About the authors
Contributor Notes
Sebastián Santana Camargo is an illustrator, graphic designer, animator and visual artist who has published books throughout Latin America. He has won prizes for his work on the animated film AninA, and the Paul Cezanne Visual Arts Prize in 2018. The Argentinian edition of My Uncle Is Coming Tomorrow won the Grand Prize from ALIJA (IBBY Argentina) and the Argentina Prize for best illustrated book.
Elisa Amado was born in Guatemala, where more than 200,000 people were killed or disappeared during the Cold War. She emigrated to Canada in 1971.
Editorial Reviews
"Pertinent to past events as well as what is happening today in Ukraine, this gives readers a jumping-off point for discussion."
—Booklist
"A powerful work."
—School Library Journal STARRED Review
"Santana Camargo's deceptively simple black line drawings against stark white paper allow for no meandering of attention... A hard truth for hard times."
—Kirkus STARRED Review
