A Page in the Wind by Jose Sanabria illustrated by Maria Laura Diaz Dominguez Translated by Audrey Hall

As this story opens a newspaper is 'born'. "There were other newborns like me, and we all kept one another warm." Our hero is the last newspaper left on the paper seller's stand. The wind picks up the paper and the journey of these pages begins. One is used to clean a mirror, another lines a bird cage. A small boy folds a page into a ship and an artist fashions a page into a hat. 

"I found love.

And I found pain."

Finally the last page is found by a man. "He read some news that he had waited many years to hear."  "I'll never know what made him so happy. But I knew then why I had come into the world."

Jose Sanabria is originally from Colombia and now lives in Argentina. Maria Laura Diaz Dominguez also lives in Argentina.

I wonder that no one has thought of this deceptively simple idea before?  A blown newspaper sheet travels across the land and is used in so many different ways. And the newspaper itself is our story narrator. This is just so delightful but also quite a profound. This is one of those books that will be enjoyed by younger readers aged 7+ and later you could also use the ideas in this book to generate a deeper discussion with older students especially about the intriguing ending and the way a simple text can reveal powerful emotional content.

The mixed-media illustrations supplement the text perfectly. On each page the Colombian illustrators invite us to consider what exactly happened before the newspaper was blown into the scene. Who are the lovers who use the paper to shield them from the rain? Why does the paper think it recognises its mother in the woman with the perambulator? Readers are invited to pause, look at the images, and wonder about the story behind each situation. My Journal of Books

A thoughtful contemplation on how our lives are affected by our interactions. Kirkus Star review

This book was originally published in Switzerland with the title Ein Blatt im Wind. 

Publisher blurb:  A whimsical and moving story about discovering your purpose by José Sanabria and María Laura Díaz Domínguez. The last little newspaper on a newsstand wonders what its life will be like until a gust of wind sends its individual pages flying. Each page travels to a different place and experiences a vastly different life—from being used to clean a mirror and line the cage of a pet to being formed into a boat by a child and sheltering a homeless person from the cold—until, at last, the final page finds it’s true calling. Sanabria’s expressive art and thoughtful story reflect many ways our lives can be touched.

I have explored other books by Jose Sanabria

As Time Went by

Refugees