Where Do They Go?

Bestselling novelist (How the Garcia Girls Lost Their Accents) and children's (The Tia Lola Stories) author Julia Alvarez's new picture book is a beautifully crafted poem for children that gently addresses the emotional side of death. The book asks, "When somebody dies, where do they go? / Do they go where the wind goes when it blows? ... Do they wink back at me when I wish on a star? Do they whisper, 'You're perfect, just as you are'? ..." Illustrated by Vermont woodcut artist, Sabra Field, Where Do They Go? is a beautiful and comforting meditation on death, asking questions young readers might have about what happens to those they love after they die.

A Spanish-language edition of the book, ¿Donde va a parar?, is available in paperback.

JULIA ALVAREZ is the author of numerous books for adults including In the Time of the Butterflies, and How the Garcia Girls Lost Their Accents, which was picked by New York librarians as one of 21 classic for the 21st century. She is also an accomplished writer of children's and YA books including The Tia Lola Stories, Return to Sender, and Before We Were Free, which was an ALA Best Book of 2002 and winner of ALA's Pura Belpre Award.  She is Writer in Residence at Middlebury College, and co-founder with Bill Eichner of Alta Gracia, a sustainable coffee farm and literacy center in the Dominican Republic.  And she is a founding member of Border of Lights, an ongoing movement to promote peace and collaboration between Haiti and the Dominican Republic. She lives in Vermont.