The book takes place in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil in the year 1920. Zézé is 5 years old and he wants to be a bow tie-wearing poet. But for now, he plays pranks on other people living in his neighborhood. Zézé puts wax on sidewalks so that people slip and fall. He's so naughty that people say he's the devil's grandson. He lives in a big family with three sisters and two brothers. They are so poor that nobody gets Christmas presents. In the book, Zézé meets many people, including Pinkie the orange tree and Seu Ariovaldo, a musician. But one day he makes a real friend, Portuga. At first, they're enemies, but as they get to know each other, he becomes a father to Zézé. The book was funny and sad, and I enjoyed reading it. The translation was also great!
My Sweet Orange Tree
By José Mauro de Vasconcelos
Meet Zezé - Brazil's naughtiest and most loveable boy, his talent for mischief matched only by his great kindness. When he grows up he wants to be a 'poet with a bow-tie' but for now he entertains himself playing pranks on the residents of his family's poor Rio de Janeiro neighbourhood and inventing friends to play with. That is, until he meets a real friend, and his life begins to change...
My Sweet Orange Tree is a worldwide classic of children's literature - never out of print in Brazil since it was first published in 1968, it has also been translated into an astonishing number of languages and won the hearts of millions of young readers from Korea to Turkey, Poland to Thailand and in many other countries too.
Publisher: Pushkin Children's Books
ISBN-13: 9781782692454
ISBN-10: 1782692452
Published on 8/29/2019
Binding: Paperback
Number of pages: 192