We Make Our River (Hacemos nuestro río)

Summary

A publication aimed at girls and boys containing photographs which present the journey by the artists from Veracruz, Enero and Abril, along with Lola Medel, through the riverbank scenery along the Papaloapan River. Through these photos they share part of their experience, the feelings and encounters with natural elements that converge with the river. The publication is also entwined with the literary perspective of the writer Adolfo Córdova, also from Veracruz. The hands and imagination of Cuauhtémoc Wetzka, an illustrator native of the Zongolica mountain range, created a map with the educative strategy conceived by Cecilia Pompa: to project past and present charts that give life to the various points and locations in the river’s surroundings, through contextual elements in a map that fosters knowledge about the river and its surroundings. Our aim with this publication is to invite children inhabiting the Papaloapan River to recognize it under their own gaze and build their own personal river. This project also strives to help youngsters living elsewhere, with or without a river, to establish more empathetic relationships with the other species with whom we share the planet.

We Make Our River has received the Poetry and Cultural Dialogue Mention within the Best Books for Children and Young People 2023, a competition organized by Banco del Libro, a civil association dedicated to promoting reading since 1960.