Vanessa Alexandre 
Severed wings 

It used to run wild through the air, over plains and mountains. Now, hardly anyone sees him anymore… With his wings cut off, he suffers and, with him, everyone around him. The journey of the River Boy in a sensitive story about our relationship with nature, which reveals the invisible river that crosses the sky every day, right above our heads. The book ‘Severed wings’ presents the importance of the called flying rivers of the Amazon, a natural phenomenon of great importance that is seriously affected by fires and deforestation. The literary text and illustrations portray the nature of the Amazon Forest and make the reader reflect on how nature is very close to us – even if we don’t always realize it – and how our actions have a direct impact on life on Planet Earth.
YOU’D LIKE TO KNOW THAT… This book has been awarded the Nature Inside seal because of its concern for the environment and environmental education for children and young people. Following the guidelines of Agenda 2030/UN and UNESCO, the book promotes the reader’s integration with the nature that exists around them and also with that present in the forests and thickets of the preservation areas.
IT IS IMPORTANT TO NOTE THAT… This book is friendly to readers with dyslexia, as the font used is Open Dyslexic, making reading more enjoyable for everyone. The text is in capital letters, which also helps readers who are in the process of becoming literate.
WHY READ IT? The story deals with an important current environmental issue, the drought in the Amazon region, reinforcing the importance of raising awareness of environmental issues through literature and reading.
THEMES: fiction, picture book, nature, environment, Amazon, rainforest, climate, social interaction, citizenship, family reading.

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VANESSA ALEXANDRE is a children’s book author and illustrator with over 15 years of experience. She has worked with publishers in Brazil, Spain, the United States, and Portugal, as well as illustrating textbooks. She has also published works in Mozambique and Mexico. Her work with children’s books is recognized by the Brazilian Ministry of Education and her books have been distributed to schools all over the country.
Vanessa is also an environmental activist, participating in exhibitions such as the Cow Parade in São Paulo and the Jaguar Parade in São Paulo and New York. She was selected for the UN Refugee Agency’s (UNHCR) Refugiarte exhibition.
For Pangolin Books, Vanessa published ‘Severed wings’ and ‘The boy who collected the rain’, two works written and illustrated by the author, and has illustrated other books by the publisher. She was awarded the Nature Inside seal for her concern for bringing children closer to nature through children’s literature, promoting a fully-designated environmental education from an early age. The environment, fauna, and flora are recurring themes in her works, always illustrated with a delicate line and a palette of black colors.
Find out more about her work at: https://www.instagram.com/vanessailustradora/