Here is the extraordinary true tale of children living on a landfill in one of the poorest slums in South America and the man who saved them through music. Profiled on 60 Minutes and the subject of the Landfill Harmonic (a documentary movie with a trailer that went viral), this incredible story is now available to kids in a nonfiction picture book, in both English and Spanish editions. The book tells the story through the eyes of Ada Ríos, a young girl who grew up in Cateura, a small town in Paraguay built on a landfill. She dreamed of playing the violin, but with little money for anything but the bare essentials, it was never an option…until a music teacher named Favio Chávez arrived. He wanted to give the children of Cateura something special, so he made them instruments out of materials found in the trash. It was a crazy idea, but one that would leave Ada—and her town—forever changed. Now, the Recycled Orchestra plays venues around the world, spreading their message of hope and innovation (Source).

Author(s): Susan Hood

Susan Hood is the award-winning author of many picture books for young readers, including THE LAST STRAW: Kids vs. Plastics; ADA’S VIOLIN; SHAKING THINGS UP: 14 Young Women Who Changed the World; and TITAN AND THE WILD BOARS: The True Cave Rescue of the Thai Soccer Team. Susan is the recipient of the E.B. White Honor Award, the Christopher Award, the Américas Award, the International Latino Award, and the Bank Street Flora Steiglitz Straus Award, given to “a distinguished work of nonfiction that serves as an inspiration to young people.” In 2018, Susan published her first middle grade novel LIFEBOAT 12, which won the 2019 SCBWI Golden Kite Award for middle grade fiction and is now nominated for many state awards (Source).