ALIJA Highlights

Featured by USBBY in the Outstanding International Books List, 2026

In the 1950s, in a village with no school or library, a girl befriends a man who lives shut away in his house.

He lends her books and she tells him about the outside world: the birds, the plants, the flowers, and the stream that gives the village its name.

And so, the girl discovers the magic of reading and he discovers the light of day.

Clara falls in love with books, and Juan gradually loses his fear and gains his freedom.

The writing is so delicate and effective that it can touch on many potentially sensitive issues (isolation, sadness, homosexuality, diversity), without any of them becoming “the theme”: it is simply the story of an encounter and the power of opening up to others. Mangialibri, Italy

Love breaks the stereotypes established in children’s literature. Adrianna di Genova, Il Manifesto, Italy

Other books by the same author