Johnny, the Sea, and Me

by Melba Escobar, Elizabeth Builes (Illustrator), Sara Lissa Paulson (Translator)

Overview

A 2025 Batchelder Honor Book! ★ A heartwarming middle-grade novel from Colombia about a ten-year-old boy and the larger-than-life figure who changes him forever.

Pedro is dealing with a lot for a ten-year-old kid, both at school and at home. So he's overjoyed when his mom surprises him with a trip to see the ocean—an experience he's been dreaming about for a long time!

Maybe this trip will make everything better. Maybe it will make his dad come back to him and his mom. Maybe he will stop being bullied at school, once he's seen the ocean! But things go wrong right from the start between Pedro and his mom, and all seems lost, until Pedro is found and taken in by a gruff old sea dog who has something magical about him.

Tender, funny, and stamped with psychological truth, Johnny, the Sea, and Me offers the thrills of pirate adventures and the rich cultural history of the Caribbean, along with strong characters and a satisfying and moving portrait of an unusual friendship. Adeptly translated by Sara Lissa Paulson and beautifully illustrated by Elizabeth Builes, this book is sure to resonate with readers young and old.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9781592704293
Publisher:	Enchanted Lion
Publication date:	07/16/2024
Sold by:	Barnes & Noble
Format:	eBook
Pages:	124
File size:	10 MB
Age Range:	8 - 12 Years

About the Author

Melba Escobar is a Colombian author and journalist. Her debut Spanish-language children’s book, Johnny, the Sea, and Me, was selected for the 2015 White Ravens catalog as an outstanding international book by the International Youth Library. Escobar lives in Barcelona with her husband and two children, and writes for El País and Colombia’s El Tiempo.

Elizabeth Builes is a Colombian illustrator who won the Tragaluz Illustration Award in 2013 and went on to receive worldwide recognition for the original Colombian edition of Johnny, the Sea and Me in 2015.

Sara Lissa Paulson is a translator of Spanish and Latin American poetry, picture books, and middle grade fiction. Her first translation, Pablo Neruda’s Book of Questions, illustrated by Paloma Valdivia, was selected as a New York Times Best Children’s Book of 2022.

Sara learned Spanish in the streets of Sevilla with Antonio Marín Márquez, his bandmates, friends, and family. It was there that she got her first translation job at age 19, working for a local music zine. Her degrees are in Comparative Literature, Spanish, Bilingual Education, and Library Science. She has worked as a children’s librarian in NYC’s alternative elementary and high schools for over 21 years, reading aloud day in and day out, and teaches future librarians of all ages at Queens College’s Graduate School of Library and Information Studies.

Editorial Reviews

"Made up of salient early moments in a boy’s coming of age, this Colombian import contains glints of magical realism and a picaresque, albeit parrot-narrated, pirate subplot. Pedro grows and shrinks according to his emotional state, and Escobar’s wry musings about treasure—is it the purported pirates’ plundered gold, or the island’s magnificent, prolific breadfruit tree?—sparkle like the seven-colored sea. Builes’ pale, delicate illustrations add humorous touches. Lively and thought provoking."

Kirkus Reviews

A 2025 Mildred L. Batchelder Honor Book
An Association for Library Service to Children (ALSC) 2025 Notable Children's Book
Selected for the USBBY Outstanding International Book List, 2025
A Reading Group Choices Favorite YA for April 2025
A Publishers Weekly New & Noteworthy Children’s Book of July 2024
A Parade Magazine Best New Book Release of the Week
The Scripps National Spelling Bee Book Club’s Pick for August 2024
One of Latinx in Publishing’s Most Anticipated July 2024 Releases
Selected for the Children’s Book Council Spring 2024 Showcase on Transformation​

STARRED REVIEW! ★ "Translator Paulson (Book of Questions) gracefully incorporates hints of magical realism from Colombian writer Escobar... Escobar’s compatriot Builes contributes delicately lined artwork to this tale, which ruminates on the healing presence of a figure who lives life on his own terms."

Publishers Weekly

Originally published in Colombia, the story is beautifully told in spare language, evidencing the truth that less is more. Pedro and Johnny are well-developed characters, and their warm relationship is nicely realized. The book itself, beautifully designed, is enriched by lovely illustrations by artist Builes. It’s a treasure.

Booklist

A 2025 Mildred L. Batchelder Honor Book
An Association for Library Service to Children (ALSC) 2025 Notable Children's Book
Selected for the USBBY Outstanding International Book List, 2025
A Reading Group Choices Favorite YA for April 2025
A Publishers Weekly New Noteworthy Children’s Book of July 2024
A Parade Magazine Best New Book Release of the Week
The Scripps National Spelling Bee Book Club’s Pick for August 2024
One of Latinx in Publishing’s Most Anticipated July 2024 Releases
Selected for the Children’s Book Council Spring 2024 Showcase on Transformation​

STARRED REVIEW! ★ "Translator Paulson (Book of Questions) gracefully incorporates hints of magical realism from Colombian writer Escobar... Escobar’s compatriot Builes contributes delicately lined artwork to this tale, which ruminates on the healing presence of a figure who lives life on his own terms."

—Publishers Weekly

"Made up of salient early moments in a boy’s coming of age, this Colombian import contains glints of magical realism and a picaresque, albeit parrot-narrated, pirate subplot. Pedro grows and shrinks according to his emotional state, and Escobar’s wry musings about treasure—is it the purported pirates’ plundered gold, or the island’s magnificent, prolific breadfruit tree?—sparkle like the seven-colored sea. Builes’ pale, delicate illustrations add humorous touches. Lively and thought provoking."—Kirkus Reviews

“Originally published in Colombia, the story is beautifully told in spare language, evidencing the truth that less is more. Pedro and Johnny are well-developed characters, and their warm relationship is nicely realized. The book itself, beautifully designed, is enriched by lovely illustrations by artist Builes. It’s a treasure.”—Booklist

From the Publisher

2024-04-05
Pedro is separated from his mother on a trip from Bogotá to a Caribbean island.

Smallest in his class and bullied, 10-year-old Pedro is thrilled about the vacation but finds himself wondering if his father’s “business trip” is really a permanent estrangement. Manuela and her son are so close that they can read one another’s expressions, but Pedro, angry that she's concealed the truth about his father, runs away. Lost and hungry, Pedro is discovered by Johnny Tay, an elderly and irascible island dweller who lets him stay the night in his shanty. Johnny’s parrot, Victoria, allegedly 300 years old, regales Pedro with firsthand accounts of the shipboard adventures of Johnny’s great-grandfather’s great-grandfather, a cook to pirates. During Pedro’s absence, Manuela realizes that her maturing son deserves more candor and freedom. Over breakfast, Johnny says that he’ll help reunite Pedro and Manuela “in good time.” After the two of them go snorkeling and spear-fishing and enjoy a lunch of fresh red snapper, Johnny has begun to repair his motorbike just as Manuela arrives in a police truck. Made up of salient early moments in a boy’s coming of age, this Colombian import contains glints of magical realism and a picaresque, albeit parrot-narrated, pirate subplot. Pedro grows and shrinks according to his emotional state, and Escobar’s wry musings about treasure—is it the purported pirates’ plundered gold, or the island’s magnificent, prolific breadfruit tree?—sparkle like the seven-colored sea. Builes’ pale, delicate illustrations add humorous touches.

Lively and thought provoking. (Fiction. 7-12)

Kirkus Reviews