Marianthe's Story: Painted Words and Spoken Memories

Bestselling and award-winning author-illustrator Aliki’s semi-autobiographical picture book features two interconnected stories about immigration, friendship, and finding your voice.

Kirkus called this acclaimed and timely book “vivid and exquisitely emotional.”

Aliki’s acclaimed picture book follows Marianthe, a Greek girl who doesn't understand English, as she starts school in the United States. In Part I, “Painted Words,” Marianthe is frustrated about being unable to communicate with her peers. Her teacher encourages her to paint her words, and little by little she finds ways to share her story with her classmates.

In Part II, “Spoken Memories,” Marianthe tells her class about her life in Greece, how her Papa left for a better job in America, and how she and her family eventually came to join him.

Based on Aliki’s own experience as a schoolgirl in Philadelphia, this is an essential, timely, and relevant American immigration story. With appealing, accessible art and a universal message, Marianthe’s Story is sure to resonate with children and educators alike.

The Bulletin of the Center for Children’s Books said, “Few picture books have captured [the immigrant experience] with such well-crafted and telling simplicity.”

| Returning to her own childhood for inspiration, Aliki has created an exceptional sixty-four-page book that presents Marianthe's story -- her present and her past. In Painted Words, Marianthe's paintings help her to become less of an outsider as she struggles to adjust to a new language and a new school. Under the guidance of her teacher, who understands that there is more than one way to tell a story, Mari makes pictures to illustrate the history of her family, and eventually begins to decipher the meaning of words. In Spoken Memories, a proud Mari is finally able to use her new words to narrate the sequence of paintings she created, and share with her classmates her memories of her homeland and the events that brought her family to their new country.

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“The storytelling is vivid and exquisitely emotional, making Aliki’s story painfully personal, yet resonant, in very few pages.” - Kirkus Reviews

“An illuminating book for all collections that serve youngsters from other lands.” - School Library Journal

“Although there have been many novels on the immigrant experience, few picture books have captured it with such well-crafted and telling simplicity.” - Bulletin of the Center for Children’s Books