Bigfoot shares the pages with a one-legged Brazilian trickster named Saci. Jaguars are paired with cougars, sloths with bears, and a little girl discovers there’s room for both the country where she was born and the one where she’s growing up.
Local author Paula Carol grew up in Brazil, where a fourth-grade teacher, Mrs. Yolanda, helped spark her love of reading. She and her husband lived in Bellevue from 2008 to 2010 and wanted to return to Washington. When his company offered a transfer, they took it. Part of his work was in Snoqualmie, and she says their first drive into the Valley made them fall in love with the area.
“I can step outside my door and see mountains, trees, and clouds sitting low over the hills. It still takes my breath away every single day,” Carol said of her life here.
Carol’s debut picture book follows a child born in Brazil and raised in the United States. Illustrated by Jo Fernihough, the story is intended for ages 3 to 8 and explores belonging without suggesting that a child must choose one home over another.
At first, she thought she was writing about her children, particularly her daughter, who was born in Brazil and arrived here as a baby. She doesn’t remember Brazil, but she speaks Portuguese, hears family stories and talks to her grandparents through a screen. As the story took shape, however, Carol realized it came from her own sense of not quite belonging. She was writing a book she needed, too.
That experience plays out through small moments in the book. The girl has friends at school here and family far away. Her father says “Boa noite” at bedtime, and she answers, “Night-night.” She talks to relatives through a screen and listens to stories about a country she doesn’t remember, but that remains part of her life.
Fernihough’s illustrations turn those differences into playful pairings. A bear shares the page with a sloth, a cougar with a jaguar and a bald eagle with a toucan, giving the child’s two worlds equal space on the page.
The same idea carries into the folklore. Saci, the one-legged trickster of Brazilian stories, spins through the trees while Bigfoot hides among them. Carol has long enjoyed folklore for what it reveals about a culture. “Kids here and kids there both grow up wondering what’s out there in the woods,” she said.
Her collaboration with Fernihough crossed borders, too. The illustrator lives in the United Kingdom; they connected in the comments of a post about independent creators helping one another. They worked together entirely through email and Instagram messages, and they have never met in person.
Brazilian traditions remain part of the family’s daily life through food, music, books and shared memories. They sing the Brazilian version of “Happy Birthday” with clapping, celebrate Christmas Eve and add American customs on Christmas Day. They’re also making their own Thanksgiving traditions. “So between here and there, we’re creating traditions that are just ours,” Carol said.
Near the end, the child imagines returning to Brazil one day, this time bringing stories of her life here with her. Additional pages introduce readers to Portuguese words, Brazilian celebrations and animals from both countries.
Paula hopes children growing up between cultures understand that they can have two homes. She also wants children who know only one home to look at a friend’s “there” with curiosity.
“Maybe one is where you live, and the other is the one you carry in your heart. You don’t have to choose,” she said.
I’m From Here and There is Carol’s first published picture book, but she already has plans for more. At least three additional picture books are set for release next year, with three more manuscripts in the works.
Locally, the book is available at Books & Bottles in Snoqualmie. Readers can learn more about Paula and her upcoming projects at paulacarol.com or on Instagram at @paulacarol.author.
Living Snoqualmie is giving one lucky reader a chance to win a copy of this charming book. To enter, leave a comment on this article, our Facebook page or Instagram. All entries will be included in a random drawing, and one winner will be selected to receive a copy of the book.
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