Alondra lives in a animal sanctuary up in the mountains of El Avila National Park in Venezuela. She grew up without a mother and after the sudden death of her grandmother in a forest fire, Alondra is left alone without a female figure in her life. Alondra is isolated, lost in her sadness and her fears. 

Fears? Just the one. Alondra has a terrible phobia of snakes. But she lives surrounded by them… When Alondra is outside, she is in constant fear of the unseen animals sliding silently through the mountains. When she is at home, she tries to stay away from the snake house where they care for the most dangerous snakes in Venezuela, like the tiger butterfly or Tigra mariposa (a very venomous and aggressive snake with a butterfly-shaped pattern on its back).  When Alondra is asleep, she is chased by fire snake and relives the death of her grandmother again and again. Her life is a nightmare.

One day, while helping her father at the snake house, Alondra makes a mistake. She lets loose the Tigra Mariposa. Her worst nightmare becomes true! Then with the help of an unimaginable ally, Alondra sets out on an extraordinary journey to bring the snake back despite her phobias. It will be a journey of self-discovery. But who is she, and why does tragedy haunt her family? What is her destiny?

Features

• 220 unique words plus many cognates
• 94 pages of text, with many illustrations
• written in present tense (and past tense where needed)
• Neutral Spanish with several Latin-American characteristics: more use of personal pronouns than in Spain, and the use of 'ustedes' instead of 'vosotros'.
• setting: Venezuela

For teachers

El brazalete mágico is a book for older readers that touches upon more mature themes such as death & bereavement, family loss, teenager depression and grief, loneliness, father-daughter relationships, phobias, connection with nature, supernatural powers, animals’ rights, animals’ freedom.

The book depicts a world of magical realism where magic, reality and dream are intertwined in a story about animal rights and the conservation of our environment.

El brazalete mágico is a beautiful story of growth and change inspired by my own phobia of snakes, the strong intergenerational bond between the women of my family, my experience of depression, the tragic death of my grandmother and my love for fantasy. 

CONTENT GUIDANCE: grief, death of a character, snakes, supernatural elements: spiritual connection with nature and animals: evil spirit sets fire to a house causing the death of a character, transformation of a human character into an animal.

Would you like to order a class set? We will give you a 10% discount on 25 or more copies of the same title. Please, order the novels via e-mail. Due to relatively small stock numbers, please allow 2-3 weeks for your order.

Note: All the materials are copyright protected, which means that it is not permitted to make copies for use in the classroom.