My Sweet Orange Tree

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.

Tender, joyful... It will suit thoughtful readers of 10-plus down to the ground, The Little Prince, Heidi, Pippi Longstocking and Tom Sawyer captivate all ages both within and beyond their native lands... In 1968, one such literary character was born in Brazil... New readers, young and old, will delight in the beautifully bittersweet tale... A near-perfect child's-eye view of life, one that has the power to both warm and break hearts, whatever the age of the reader, A combination of irrepressible humour and profound insights from an intelligent and enquiring young mind make Zezé one of the most memorable characters in all children's literature. Highly recommended, This is a story full of sorrowful tenderness. Little Zezé is so likeable and he will stay with me for ever, Full of zest and vigour

José Mauro de Vasconcelos (1920-84) was a Brazilian writer who worked as a sparring partner for boxers, as a labourer on a banana farm, and a fisherman before he started writing at the age of 22. He is most famous for his autobiographical novel My Sweet Orange Tree, which tells the story of his own childhood in Rio de Janeiro.Alison Entrekin is an acclaimed translator from Portuguese, whose translations include Budapest by Chico Buarque, which was shortlisted for the Independent Foreign Fiction Prize.