Description:
Bilingual English/Spanish. Listen... Can you hear the river calling you? Rushing and bubbling, splashing or still, the river has so much to teach us.
Brief description:
Maya Gonzalez was an award-winning children's book artist, author, activist and progressive educator. Their work addresses systemic inequity in relation to race/ethnicity, sexism, and cissexism using children's books as radical agents of change and healing, both personally and culturally. Gonzalez co-founded Reflection Press, a POC, queer and trans owned independent publishing house that uses holistic, nature-based, and anti-oppression frameworks in their books and materials for kids and grown-ups. They were also the creator of the Gender Wheel, a tool to express the dynamic, infinite and inclusive reality of gender, and provides lectures and workshops to educators, parents and caregivers. They passed away in 2026.
Review Quotes:
"The author's love and respect for the natural beauty and rhythm of the river and how it sustains her through quiet and vibrant moods is vividly portrayed in both her words and paintings... Inspiring and peacefully thought-provoking." -- Kirkus Reviews
"[A] lovely picture book." -- School Library Journal
"Gonzalez deftly describes, in English and Spanish, how the child feels connected with nature." -- The Horn Book
"This is a simple story that any young child can appreciate, and the illustrations are colorful and imaginative." -- Sierra Magazine
Américas Award - Consortium of Latin American Studies Programs