María del Pilar López Ávila (Cartagena, Spain 1969) is an award-winning writer of children’s stories. Her passion for children's literature began when she was very young, and at the age of nine, she was already writing children's stories. In December 2010, she was awarded the third position in the Joaquín Sama Awards for Educational Innovation in the category “A More Civic and Caring Cchool,” for the project entitled, “Use of Waste Materials.” She has published Ayobami and the Names of Animals (2017), winner of the International Latino Book Awards in 2018, and The Kite of Dreams (2019) with Cuento de Luz.Ávila is married and the mother of 3 children. She has a Ph.D. in Veterinary Medicine, currently working as a Biology and Geology teacher at a high school in Cáceres. She is also the director of the Teatro Paraíso.Mar Azabal is a graduate in Geography, specializing in Administration and archive conservation. Her real dream was to create stories through drawing and illustration. She currently lives in Toledo, Spain, and spends her time teaching illustration courses for children, creating stories and enjoyingraising her little child. In 2018, he illustrated the picture book Ayobami and the Names of the Animals (Cuento de luz, 2018), which won the Silver Medal at the 2018 Moonbeam Children’s Book Awards and Gold Medal at the International Latino Book Awards.

“A story, warmly illustrated, about the importance of education, which denounces the difficulties that many children have, especially in continents like Africa, to get to school. The protagonist fights with the perseverance and overflowing enthusiasm of those who long to learn and keep curiosity alive.” —Canal Lector"With the feel of an Aesop’s fable, this story is both empowering and reflective of the joy school can bring to children whose lives have been disrupted by war. Beautiful illustrations in graphite, watercolor, and colored pencil lend an ethereal, magical quality to this unnamed place, where dangerous creatures have endearing faces, and letters of the alphabet flutter around Ayobami like protective stardust." —Booklist"(…) Younger children will likely relate to and enjoy Ayobami’s perseverance to attend class. The framework of “naming” animals will also likely appeal to early elementary school–aged children, particularly as they themselves are learning about—and how to write the names of—various animals (…) A solid purchase for elementary school libraries." —School Library Journal“A marvelous tale of one girl’s passion for reading, writing, and learning.” —Kirkus Reviews“In this beautiful gem about a girl who wants to learn to read, letters burst forth from imagery done in cut-paper collage and a rainbow of color, each page telling its own story with a quiet, understated voice.” —B.C. (New York Times)

María del Pilar López Ávila (Cartagena, Spain 1969) is an award-winning writer of children’s stories. Her passion for children's literature began when she was very young, and at the age of nine, she was already writing children's stories. In December 2010, she was awarded the third position in the Joaquín Sama Awards for Educational Innovation in the category “A More Civic and Caring Cchool,” for the project entitled, “Use of Waste Materials.” She has published Ayobami and the Names of Animals (2017), winner of the International Latino Book Awards in 2018, and The Kite of Dreams (2019) with Cuento de Luz.Ávila is married and the mother of 3 children. She has a Ph.D. in Veterinary Medicine, currently working as a Biology and Geology teacher at a high school in Cáceres. She is also the director of the Teatro Paraíso.Mar Azabal is a graduate in Geography, specializing in Administration and archive conservation. Her real dream was to create stories through drawing and illustration. She currently lives in Toledo, Spain, and spends her time teaching illustration courses for children, creating stories and enjoyingraising her little child. In 2018, he illustrated the picture book Ayobami and the Names of the Animals (Cuento de luz, 2018), which won the Silver Medal at the 2018 Moonbeam Children’s Book Awards and Gold Medal at the International Latino Book Awards.

“A story, warmly illustrated, about the importance of education, which denounces the difficulties that many children have, especially in continents like Africa, to get to school. The protagonist fights with the perseverance and overflowing enthusiasm of those who long to learn and keep curiosity alive.” —Canal Lector"With the feel of an Aesop’s fable, this story is both empowering and reflective of the joy school can bring to children whose lives have been disrupted by war. Beautiful illustrations in graphite, watercolor, and colored pencil lend an ethereal, magical quality to this unnamed place, where dangerous creatures have endearing faces, and letters of the alphabet flutter around Ayobami like protective stardust." —Booklist"(…) Younger children will likely relate to and enjoy Ayobami’s perseverance to attend class. The framework of “naming” animals will also likely appeal to early elementary school–aged children, particularly as they themselves are learning about—and how to write the names of—various animals (…) A solid purchase for elementary school libraries." —School Library Journal“A marvelous tale of one girl’s passion for reading, writing, and learning.” —Kirkus Reviews“In this beautiful gem about a girl who wants to learn to read, letters burst forth from imagery done in cut-paper collage and a rainbow of color, each page telling its own story with a quiet, understated voice.” —B.C. (New York Times)