PRAISE

A Fall 2021 Indies Introduce Selection

2021 Kids’ Indie Next List

Kirkus Most Anticipated Books for Fall 2021

★ "Algorta’s narrative glides with skillful pacing and poetic yet accessible language; Rickenmann’s soft, detail-rich illustrations tonally match the refined internal rhythm of the prose."

—PW, (starred)

★ “Poetic...lyrical and moving novel with a melancholic ode to coming of age.” 

—Foreword Reviews, (starred)

★ “With quiet, emotive illustrations reminiscent of Allen Say’s and Brian Selznick’s, Rickenmann pulls readers onto the streets of Bogotá, where dust announces the arrival of the children who ride in bicycle packs, providing a view of busy streets and the barrio. The book is presented in both English and Spanish versions; Salazar’s translation masterfully replicates the distant-yet-confiding tone of Algorta’s Spanish original, fully conveying the story and its vivid images. An unmissable tale about loss and reclamation.”

—Kirkus Reviews, (starred)

“The spare text (in both Spanish and a separate English translation) opens windows into a host of themes, from hobbled communication between those who speak figuratively and those who listen literally, to the growing pains of a modernizing city sprawling against the mountains and traditions that confine it. Rickenmann draws readers into the novella through charcoal illustrations that introduce Fabio at the peak of his bicycling prowess, and then guides them out through scenes of his part tragic, part redemptive reunion with Alicia at the sea. The patient reader will be well rewarded, and eerily haunted, by this moving Colombian import.”

—BCCB

“Neverforgotten is about a boy, a bicycle, a city. Movement. Growth. Transformation.  It’s a story that absorbs the reader, that through words and drawings carries us to Bogotá while at the same time brings us to our own thoughts and memories of moments when our lives shifted.”

—Connie Griffin, Bookworks, Albuquerque, NM

“Columbian poet Alejandra Algorta has authored a jewel of a book. From the first to the last line I was entranced by the story of Fabio, a young boy who lives every day to fly like a bird through the streets of Bogotá on his bicycle, leading a crew of friends behind him. Then, one day he forgets how to ride a bike and his soul comes crashing down. This is a beautiful and special story for young and old readers everywhere.”

—Brein Lopez, Children’s Book World, Los Angeles, CA