Selma
Maria
2009
Um Pequeno
Tratado de
Brinquedos para
Meninos Quietos
[A Small Treatise on Toys for Quiet Boys]
ILLUSTRATIONS BY ANNE VIDAL
This book, the first by art educator Selma Maria, results from the encounter of the poetic word with the childhood universe in the hinterland of Minas Gerais. During workshops held in that place so very distinct from the urban space, Selma identified very delicate and creative ways of playing. Poetically named as “toy-earth,” “toy-animal,” “toy-color,” “toy-toy,” and “toy-thought,” these ways of playing are gathered here in this beautiful “toy-book,” to delight children and adults.
2010
Isso Isso
[This and this]
ILLUSTRATIONS BY SILVIA AMSTALDEN
Isso Isso is the second book of poems by poet and art educator Selma Maria. In this delicate and simultaneously amusing “poetic dictionary,” Selma introduces to her readers, “children of all ages,” poems inspired by (polysemous) words that begin with each letter of the alphabet.
The author was inspired by the poem “Ou isto ou aquilo” [Either this or that], by Cecilia Meireles, to write her Isso Isso.
Um Pequeno
Tratado de Brinquedos para Meninos Quietos da Cidade
2011
[A Small Treatise on Toys for Quiet City Boys]
ILLUSTRATIONS BY NINA ANDERSON
After the success of her debut book, Um pequeno tratado de brinquedos para meninos quietos [A small treatise on toys for quiet boys], born from the encounter with the playful universe of the children from Guimarães Rosa’s hinterland, art educator Selma Maria now unveils the many ways of playing and having fun of children living in large urban centers. Selma’s poetry now looks at the numerous elements of the urban landscape, seizing the small gaps left by the city’s concreteness to offer them new and unexpected meanings.
2012
Superimã e o Mar
[Super-magnet and the Sea]
ILLUSTRATIONS BY NINA ANDERSON
What is it like to be old? What is to be young? Superhero Super-magnet wanted to better understand these life mysteries we only know and stare at without being able to understand properly. So, he decided to seek the greatest and wisest of beings to ask his questions: the sea!
He flew to the beach and waited until his old friend approached for a chat. In Super-magnet and the sea, we see that one is never too old or too young to exchange experiences.
A Menina
que Nunca Terminava Nada
2013
[The Girl who Never Finished Anything]
ILLUSTRATIONS BY NINA ANDERSON
Children who never finish anything are rare species to find. But if you happen to know a girl or boy who never finishes anything and who gets scolded for everything, ask them to read this story. Or better yet: read this story to them, because since they never finish anything, they will not get to the end and find out why this girl never finishes anything she starts.
2013
Ora Bolas!
[Kick-off!]
ILLUSTRATIONS BY NINA ANDERSON
The book tells stories about the football world through a child’s gaze. With a prose that poeticizes football jargon, the author plays with the meaning of words, creating new meanings for them. The point of view is always that of the child: of the boy who plays ball in the bumpy field with his head on the clouds, of the little girl who dreams of being gifted a ball at Christmas, of the boy who wants to be Mané at Maracanã. Nina Anderson’s illustrations give the book a vibrant and distinctly Brazilian character.
2014
ABC da Água
[The ABC’s of Water]
ILLUSTRATIONS BY NINA ANDERSON
Playful and irreverent, water is everywhere, in the most different forms: in hectic raindrops; in ice cubes, as if playing statues; in the melancholy of tears; in the joy of soap bubbles. In the ABC’s of water, Selma Maria writes down the various facets of this element of nature in entries organized alphabetically, as in dictionaries. But instead of an objective meaning, the terms in this dictionary gain small poetic ramblings, adorned by bucolic illustrations of paper boats and children playing in the water.
O Livro do Palavrão
2015
[The Book of Big Words] or [The Book of the Swearword]
ILLUSTRATIONS BY SELMA MARIA
Do you know what a big word is? Little Hansel, character of this book, thinks he knows the answer and his big words will cause great confusion and unusual situations. Even his sister’s name the boy changed to a big word, and his parents do not like his way of saying things, not one bit. Hansel mixes everything up and actually confuses the augmentative and diminutive in this fun play with the Portuguese language.
Maria José É, José Maria IA
2016
ILLUSTRATIONS BY SELMA MARIA
This book shows, in a fun way, how seemingly feminine or masculine words are not exactly opposites. Maria José and José Maria’s favorite game is to experiment with the possibilities of the Portuguese language, telling and retelling many stories. Easy or difficult, feminine or masculine, mixed, it does not matter; they have the most fun with them! A fun and image-filled game is what awaits you in this narrative about grammatical gender, childhood and poetry.
Poetic Animals Collection
2018
Mesma
[Same]
ILLUSTRATIONS BY NINA ANDERSON
POETIC ANIMALS COLLECTIONS
Do you leave trails wherever you go?
I do. They say I am too slow.
Oh, I find it very difficult to talk about myself.
I have already told you a little bit about myself.
I will tell you more later.
After all... I am slow, remember?
2018
Comum
[Common]
ILLUSTRATIONS BY NINA ANDERSON
POETIC ANIMALS COLLECTIONS
She is so ordinary...
She gets out of the house just a little bit.
She likes to eat little things that look like crumbs.
She only wants what is hers.
2018
Zurro
[Bray]
ILLUSTRATIONS BY NINA ANDERSON
POETIC ANIMALS COLLECTIONS
Who is it, who is it?
He likes company.
He likes to stop to think and to listen to his heart.
Who do you know who is like that?
2018
Falta
[Missing]
ILLUSTRATIONS BY NINA ANDERSON
POETIC ANIMALS COLLECTIONS
How much is missing in it and how much I miss it...
Falta is such a story.
But after all, is it missing or not?
Coleção A Cidade da Gente [The People’s City Collection]
2018
2018
2019
2019
2020
ILLUSTRATIONS BY NARA AND HEITOR ISODA
This project aims to perpetuate and disseminate the history of the cities addressed, expanding the local children’s view about their own history, their identity, and about belonging to the city and region they live in.
It also encourages writing, through activities involving heritage education, and expands access to the book for public school students, stimulating the habit of reading.
2018
Brinquedos
Miúdos e Graúdos
[Small and Big Toys]
ILLUSTRATIONS BY SELMA MARIA
This playful adventure, told through poems, takes the reader back to games still alive in various cultures, whirling throughout Brazil and hopping around in African countries (Angola, Cape Verde, Guinea-Bissau, Mozambique, and São Tomé and Príncipe) and reaching Macau and East Timor, on the other side of the planet. Lands permeated by great cultural diversity, they form a link that pulsates ever more strongly: the Portuguese language.
2019
Palavra - Chave
[Keywords]
ILLUSTRATIONS BY NINA ANDERSON
This fun story invites readers to participate in developing the narrative, interacting with the pages and complementing the text. The game is thus reminiscent of the famous game of hangman, which signals the missing letters: simple and recurring syllables, which here form delicious word games and alliterations. In the story, two BIRDS have fun in this creative and playful universe. This book is a dive into the wonderful universe of the Portuguese language, full of meanings and unusual possibilities the lexicon offers, stimulating the younger reader’s potential. Grab your pencil and let your imagination fly!
2019
ABRACADAPALAVRA
[Open up every word]
ILLUSTRATIONS BY NINA ANDERSON
Selma Maria works magic with words. She hides one inside the other and then, as if she had a top hat, reveals what? New words!
ABRACADAPALAVRA features riddles and special effects that will turn you into a magician by asking the respectable audience “What is it, what is it?” Discover and reveal every riddle that is hidden in this book!
2019
Belo,
o patinho amarelo
[Bonny, the yellow duckling]
ILLUSTRATIONS BY NINA ANDERSON
Bonny, the yellow duckling, goes on a great adventure through the seven seas. But all of a sudden, he has a big surprise and dives into much more troubled waters. And do you know what is most amazing? You can participate in the story and be a great adventure friend to this friendly duckling!
2021
Eu, Tu e o Truque
[Me, You and the Ruse]
ILLUSTRATIONS BY NINA ANDERSON
ME, YOU AND THE RUSE is a story where the pronouns become characters. ME, for example, likes to talk only about himself. YOU likes it better to listen to stories and make friends. And what do SHE, HE, THEM and US think? Open the book and discover the ruse these characters have prepared for you!