Mia's Story: A Sketchbook of Hopes & Dreams

by Michael Foreman

From award-winning picture book artist Michael Foreman comes the uplifting tale of a girl whose search for a lost puppy leads to some wondrous wildflowers — and a magical way to transform her barren village.

In a bleak little village in Chile, Papa comes home from his day of selling metal scraps with a wonderful surprise for his daughter, Mia. It's a puppy she names Poco, who follows the little girl everywhere — until one day, as puppies will do, Poco wanders away. As Mia searches for her pup, she finds herself all alone at the top of the highest mountain, where she gathers a clump of snow-white flowers to plant by her home. Soon Mia's fragrant flowers have spread through the village and blanketed the once-ugly dump. Before long, she is selling her flowers in the city square, telling crowds of customers that "they come from the stars." But wherever the flowers are, Mia is always reminded of Poco. Is it possible the flowers may bring back her beloved dog after all?

Genres: Picture Books, Family, Animals, Geography

32 pages, Hardcover

First published January 1, 2006

About the author

Michael has worked on magazines, book jackets, animated films, TV adverts, and even for the police, sketching criminals described by witnesses. As well as illustrating many of his own books, Michael has illustrated over a hundred books for authors such as Shakespeare, J. M. Barrie, the Brothers Grimm, Charles Dickens and Oscar Wilde. Michael has travelled widely - to Africa, Japan, the Arctic Circle, China and Malaysia, the Himalayas, Siberia and New Zealand - to research his books. "I do a lot of research when I'm travelling - I find it thrilling to discover the particular 'art' of different landscapes and work them into a book. But I find I have to travel by myself, otherwise I'm constantly getting involved in other people's impressions of a place... I try to be invisible when I'm travelling, so I tend to listen in on conversations rather than participate in them - I just want to look and draw."

Reviews

[Mathew · Rating 5 out of 5]

I thought that Foreman used the shape of the book well, choosing the landscape format to illustrate the long, majestic Andes mountain range of Santiago, Chile. The author uses a range of narrative and illustrative devices to move the story along including handwriting, scraps of paper and mock photos. This brought to the story a sense of intimacy and made the retelling feel more real. For me, this is a welcome change to the constant diary-entry formats or chronological retellings which can stymie the creative writing progress in schools. Mia's world offers a stark contrast to the warm homes that the child reader might be used to and it offers a way into understanding how different people live their lives in different parts of the world. Foreman shows us how Mia's family make money (selling scrap), what Mia's school looks like and touches, very lightly, on the feelings that can come with living in poverty (Mia's father dreams of a home made of bricks rather than scrap iron). I was also touched by Foreman's use of teared brown paper and rough sketches to show Mia's concern over the loss of Poco, her dog. A lovely use of the endpapers to show the change in landscape.

[Sara · Rating 3 out of 5]

A very endearing story about a girl called Mia. Mia lives with her mama, papa and dog Pacco (who one day disappears). They live in a small village between a big city and the snowy mountains, a place she likes to call home and her world. Mia and her family live in a house made from bits of rubbish and odd bits they find from around the scrap yards. As Mia goes to search for Pacco she comes across a field of beautiful flowers which she then takes back home to grow in remembrance of Pacco.

A beautiful journey covering many aspects of life, particularly how Mia finds hope.

I very much enjoyed the well written book as it took me on a journey to meet Mia and see her life from her perspective. I feel the book can be brought to the classroom for inspiration, but also to cover different writing styles as the author has done so very well, the way in which the book is written and with the illustrations placed in terms of a personal journal with pictures and annotations added to the story. The book can also be related to geography; the difference between the city and urban areas, as well as planting and weather.

I believe the book is suitable for key stage 2 children

[Lauren · Rating 4 out of 5]

This story allows readers to delve into the life of a little girl 'Mia'. It uncovers how people can live their lives differently as we are shown Mia's school, how her parents make money and where she lives. I particularly like how the author uses hand written texts on scrap paper to tell Mia's story to make the readers feel Mia is writing to them to make the readers connect with Mia. It is also an excellent book for children to develop empathy for others.

[Jenna Mills · Rating 4 out of 5]

Sad happy sad book. Made me choke up. So sad that it isn't a true story and that the reality has no happy ending.

[Matt · Rating 4 out of 5]

A great book for a light Guided Reading unit - plenty to infer and enquire about, lovely artwork and beautiful yet simple description.

[Wetdryvac Wetdryvac · Rating 5 out of 5]

Love the art, book kinda glamorizes poverty sideways via culture. Definitely a product of its age.

[Sophie Crane · Rating 5 out of 5]

A Great story, lovely for the study of cultures from around the world and mountains.

[Kim Cerri · Rating 4 out of 5]

The story is based on a friendship that formed by accident. A broken down bus meant that an encounter of future friends emerged.

Mia is a young girl who lives in a village between the big city and the snowy mountains. The village she lived in was not very nice. There was a black smog that always seemed to cover the village. The villagers could only harvest what the big city discarded.

Mia's father bought her home a puppy one day. Mia loved her puppy and called him Poco. During a hard winter, one day Poco disappeared. Mia took her horse, Sancho, and went to find Poco.

Soon Mia found herself on the snowy white mountains, but there was no sign of Poco. Mia took in the wonder of seeing the sky so clearly and laid down in the snow to enjoy the spectacle. Mia continued to look for Poco until it became dark, but still she could not find him. When she came to the edge of the snow Mia noticed the smell of the flowers. The very next day Mia began planting flowers. By the next spring time the village was spread all over the village.

Mia went along with her dad who sold scrap in the big city and tried selling her flowers. Soon she had so many customers that her dad gave up selling scrap and helped Mia to sell her flowers. Mia and her dad dreamed of building a house of bricks.

This book shows children that just because you are not the same as someone else that you can still be friends. It highlights that people are different to each other and it is OK to be different. It also encourages children to have a dream and work towards it.

This is a good book to read as a started for a PSHE lesson, especially if there are difficulties within the class with building friendships or 'giving up'.

I would use this book as a story from year 1 and as an independent reader for the more able in older year group. Some of the handwriting in the book may cause some difficulties for some children.

[Krista the Krazy Kataloguer · Rating 3 out of 5]

This was a peculiar book. Judging from the illustrations, Mia and her family live in the Andes region of Peru. She lives in a poor village made of scraps salvaged from the local dump. Her father makes his living selling salvaged materials. One day her beloved puppy disappears, and while searching in the hills far above the valley where her village is, she finds some beautiful white flowers. She pulls some out and takes them home to plant. As the plants spread, she starts taking them into town to sell. They sell very well because no one has seen them before. Then a dog finds her who may or may not be her lost puppy.

Nice, with beautiful illustrations, but it seemed a rather abrupt and unfinished ending. The story starts with the narrator, presumably author Foreman, stating that he met Mia when his vehicle broke down near her village. Obviously, he was taken with the contrast between her poor and simple village and the wealthy town. But what is the point of the story? Did her father's wish of wanting to build a house of bricks come true because of the extra money from selling flowers? I wanted to like the story more, but it left me flat, albeit enchanted with the landscape he drew. Disappointing.

[Melanie Hetrick · Rating 2 out of 5]

Mia is a young girl living in a poor, small village. Her father scavenges for scrap metal in the dump that he can sell in the nearby town. His dream is to build a brick house for his family. One day he comes home with a puppy for Mia. Mia names the dog Poco. One day Poco goes missing. Mia searches for him everywhere around the village. Finally she saddles an ancient horse and goes looking farther away. She never finds him. But in her searching she discovers beautiful flowers. She takes some of the flowers back to her village and plants them. The flowers become abundant and eventually Mia is able to take them to the market with her father and sell them. The flowers become so successful that Mia's father has to quite selling scrap metal to help her. When she sees packs of dogs go by the market she often wonders about Poco, but she never she's him.

This book is very disjointed and I doubt would make much sense to children if read aloud. A good one-on-one book for parents and children.

[Laura Lucero · Rating 5 out of 5]

Mia's Story A Sketchbook of Hopes and Dreams by Michael Foreman. This a wonderful realistic fiction about a little girl named Mia who lives in a dump near Santiago Chile with her Mama and Papa and her dog Poco in a house make from the scraps from the dump. Little Poco gets lost and Mia and her horse Sancho go on an adventure in the Andes Mountains to find him.
The is beautifully Illustrated in watercolor and pencil. It is a wonderful story that inspires hope. This is a great book to read aloud to children in the classroom to help children develop empathy for other people and for them to see life experiences beyond their own.

[Mazen Solomon · Rating 4 out of 5]

Mia's story is a great book of hopes and dreams beautifully illustrated and written - it invokes a lot of hope for Mia and her family living in a rubbish tip hoping for one day to live in a brick house with trees and roads.... and with the help of Mia's flowers the might one day be true. It highlights how the people of Campamento San Fransisco are clever at fixing things and it also paints a grime life setting. I found this book made me feel sad for Mia and her family and hoped one day they get their own brick house. Great approach for a modern setting.

[Mycala · Rating 2 out of 5]

This was a nice story. Was it $15.99 worth of nice story? No. (Don't worry, I picked it up at the library.) Do I think this story would have sold if it wasn't written and illustrated by "one of the world's leading illustrators" who didn't already have an inroad into the publishing world? Absolutely not. Do I feel slightly annoyed that far better illustrators and story-tellers are not getting published simply because they don't know people in the business? Yes. Yes, I do.

[Paul · Rating 4 out of 5]

Gorgeous watercolor-and-pencil telling of a story with several threads: trying to rise up out of life in a Chilean shantytown, a found and again-lost dog, and a serendipitous business venture. The mix of typeface and handwritten descriptions gives the book a photo album feel, while the landscapes and faces make this a personal story under wide en sky.

[TwoDrinks · Rating 3 out of 5]

Well, I say, 'read with Coralie, but the child flatly refused to even look at this. The cover does look a bit morose and clearly it doesn't compete with 'Toddle, waddle' so I ended up reading it alone. I quite enjoyed it and liked the scrapbook style of it, but it's more suited to older children.

[RachelAnne · Rating 3 out of 5]

The tale of a little girl living in a garbage dump in the Chilean Andes.

[Debrarian]

Lovely tale of Mia, who lives in a plywood/scrap village in the Andes and has a little dog and finds flowers in an alpine meadow.

[Mckinley · Rating 4 out of 5]

Sweet and inspiring.

[Christina Reid · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is a great 'window' book, givjng children an insight into a lifestyle that is probably very different to their own. This would be the perfect addition to a collection of books looking at childhood around the world or could be read alongside looking at photographs of children in their homes as part of PSHE/ Rights Respecting School lessoms.