Additional information
by María Quintana Silva (Author), Marie-Noëlle Hébert (Illustrator)
Winner at the 2018 Moonbeam Children's Book Awards. When home doesn't shelter Kalak's family, they decide to set off and find a new life elsewhere. Together, they will fight the odds to find the longed-for happiness.
Kalak is a stork who lives with his family somewhere where the nests are old, the roofs are all damaged, the earth is dry, and there is never enough food for everyone. One day, with a nostalgic longing in their hearts but also hope for the future, they decide to leave everything behind, and fly off to a new part of the world... The journey is long and tenuous and it lasts for weeks. Little Kalak starts to lose hope and strength after days of flying above the ocean. He lags behind the flock, almost catching up only to be separated from them again by a storm.
When he finally arrives to a new land, injured and exhausted, he finds himself rejected by a group of local storks, but hopefully Kalak finds his family and reunites with them in joy. Finally, Kalak's flock finds a new home where there is food for everybody and help from others.
Author Biography
María Quintana Silva was born in Madrid (Spain) and after graduating in Audiovisual Communication she undertook a long journey across many countries. After a short period in Argentina, she moved to Italy, where she specialized in writing content for children and teenagers, subjecting her fate to the universe of fantasy. Her projects have been presented at several festivals and she has been selected twice as a finalist in short film script contests. During the last years she has worked in the field of translation and publishing. She speaks four languages and currently lives in Canada, where she enjoys creating and writing stories that help improve the world we live in.
Marie-Noëlle Hébert is a Canadian award-winning illustrator who currently resides in Montreal. Largely self-taught, she obtained an AEC in Advertising Illustration at Salette College. She has also studied History of Art, scriptwriting and creative writing, and 3D imagery and CGI. She has created the illustrations for the documentary Carricks - dans le sillage des Irlandais (2017, Viveka Melki, produced by Tortuga films). Kalak's Journey is her first picture book.
