BESOS DE SOL.JPG — Read Your World Multicultural Children’s Book Day 2021 review:
Besos de Sol, Abrazos de Luna

by Aixa Pérez-Prado

I was provided a copy of Besos de Sol, Abrazos de Luna (Sun Kisses, Moon Hugs) published by Inner Flower Child Books to review for Multicultural Children’s Book Day 2021. This Spanish/English rhyming bilingual book centers on helping children to navigate separation from loved ones. As a young child immigrant who left my home country, Argentina, and the person I loved most in the world, Abuela, I was interested in seeing how this picture book might help a kid like me. Since it is a bilingual book, I have decided to write a review that mixes languages. This book does not mix languages, it provides both Spanish and English text separately on each spread.

Author Susan Schaefer Bernardo’s lyrical bilingual text, junto con las ilustraciones alegres de Courtenay Fletcher spread the message of amor that can withstand time and distance. The message that the libro delivers is that no importa la distancia, or the amount of time apart, it is possible to stay connected and send love back and forth. El amor aún se puede sentir estando lejos. I think that this is an important and valuable message for children of inmigración, divorcio, extended isolation due to illness or a pandemic, or even those children who are suffering the grief of a loved one who has passed away.

En este libro, el sol y la luna, the wind and the rain, and all of nature work in harmony to transmit love between personas queridas. In the story, a child repeatedly questions how this works. ¿Como se puede enviar y sentir el amor estando lejos? The text and illustrations reassure the child that the connection between people who love one another cannot be broken by distance, time or forces of nature. According to this book, la tierra y el cielo are working together to keep loved ones connected. It is a loving and reassuring message for young children that encourages critical and creative thinking through questioning and imagination.

As a young child, I wondered if it was the same sky and the same sol and luna in Argentina and the United States. Abuela assured me that it was. The trauma of leaving her after emigration was heartbreaking for me. Not only had I lost my country, I had lost the person I loved the most in the world. One way to navigate this loss was by remembering that we were both under the same sky, warmed by the same sun and sleeping under the same moon. We made a pact to send each other messages via the moon by looking at it at the same time every night. Abuela blew me besitos through the moon, and I felt them thousands of miles away. This book aims to provide children in similar situations with the idea of that unbreakable love connection in a sweet and gentle way. Un libro dulce y cariñoso para la hora de dormir.

Abrazos de luna y besos de sol, yo siempre te amare con todo mi corazón.

Hugs by moon, and kisses by sun, I’ll always love you little one.

***The publisher has provided a 20% discount code off the purchase of this book by using the code MCBD20 at www.innerflowerchild.com

MCBD 2021 is honored to be Supported by these Medallion Sponsors!

FOUNDER’S CIRCLE: Mia Wenjen (Prgamaticmom) and Valarie Budayr’s (Audreypress.com)

Platinum Sponsors: Language Lizard Bilingual Books in 50+ Languages, Author Deedee Cummings and Make A Way Media

Gold Sponsors: Barefoot Books, Candlewick Press, Capstone, Hoopoe Books,KidLitTV, Peachtree Publishing Company Inc.

Silver Sponsors: Charlotte Riggle, Connecticut Association of School Librarians, Author Kimberly Gordon Biddle, Pack-N-Go Girls

Bronze Sponsors: Agatha Rodi and AMELIE is IMPRESSED!, Barnes Brothers Books, Create and Educate Solutions, LLC, Dreambuilt Books, Dyesha and Triesha McCants/McCants Squared, Redfin Real Estate, Snowflake Stories, Star Bright Books, TimTimTom Bilingual Personalized Books, Author Vivian Kirkfield, Wisdom Tales Press, My Well Read Child