Deborah Kogan Ray’s picture book biography of the Chilean poet Pablo Neruda focuses on his childhood in the mill town of Temuco, where young Pablo lived with his father and beloved stepmother. He loved exploring the nearby rainforest and hungered for knowledge of other places. But he felt like an outsider at school, a quiet, studious boy with a stutter. “I didn’t want to be seen, / I didn’t want my existence to be known,” he later wrote. During his final year in school, Pablo’s life was changed by the new principal, a published poet named Gabriela Mistral who became his literary mentor. Ray’s narrative is skillfully interspersed with many excerpts from Neruda’s writing. Brief biographical information about Neruda, who is often referred to as “the people’s poet,” as well as Mistral, who was the first Latin American woman to win the Nobel Prize in Literature, rounds out this fully illustrated volume. (Ages 7–10)

This Pablo Neruda biography focuses on the famous poet’s childhood in Temuco, a southern Chilean frontier town. Ray’s lyrical prose captures the curious and quiet—almost reclusive—child’s feelings and emotions while simultaneously revealing influences that shaped him—the rain forest and volcanoes that surrounded his isolated town and the Mapuche stories told by his stepmother. Poet Gabriela Mistral’s books and encouragement may have been his greatest inspiration, however. When Neruda finally left Temuco, he “took with him the songs of his childhood . . . to go singing through the world.” Excerpts from Pablo Neruda’s poems and notebooks bring to life the voice of this renowned poet. mm

Pablo Neruda grew up in the rough and wild frontier town of Temuco, Chile. His father was a railroad man and not inclined to draw out the introspective boy. However, his stepmother, descended from the Mapuche people, was gentle and nurturing and told him stories of Chile's native people. But in her husband's presence, she was as silent as Pablo. So the child found refuge in nature and in books. And secretly he wrote down his thoughts. With the encouragement of Gabriela Mistral, an award-winning poet, teacher, and friend, Neruda's writing grew resonant and powerful. At age sixteen he left Temuco for the university in Santiago and went on to become the "people's poet" and to win the Nobel Prize in Literature.

Blending her telling of Neruda's childhood with excerpts from his own poetry and prose, Ms. Ray captures the people and places that inspired him in her rich watercolor illustrations.