Ami y Perlita

Gr 3–4—In this follow-up to his early chapter book, Ami, el niño de la estrellas (Editorio Sirio, 2008), Barrios aims to bring young readers a story about friendship, love, and solidarity, but his tale eventually falls into an unfortunately didactic ending. Perlita, a young girl who recently moved to a new apartment, likes to look at the stars along with her cat, Copo. One night, a star falls on her roof, and it turns out to be a boy dressed in white who "looked like a good boy." The "out of this world" young man gives away stars to people and tells them that they should take care of them. So begins the friendship between Perlita and the ageless boy named Ami, who constantly drops clichéd one liners about love, unity, and world peace. On her birthday, Perlita meets with Ami and he gifts her a mirror/phone so she can contact him anytime. On her first day of school, Perlita is not excited to go, and she calls Ami. The boy takes her on a trip around the world on his spaceship to show her how other children go to school amid wars and other problems. It is here where the author's intentions bleed through too obviously, culminating in a rather heavy-handed lesson about the importance of going to school, learning to read and write, and avoiding problems in the future.