Published Work
Available wherever books are sold
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- Title: Alberto Salas plays Paka Paka con la Papa: Join the Search with Peru’s Famed Scientist and Potato Expert
- Publisher: Roaring Brook Press
- Release Date: March 18, 2025
- Author: Sara Andrea Fajardo
- Illustrator: Juana Martinez-Neal
- Age Level: 3-8, 40 pages
- ISBN: 978-1-2508-3861-2
This biographic picture book about Peruvian agronomist Alberto Salas and his hunt for wild potatoes before they go extinct is an ode to conservation and science, gorgeously illustrated by Caldecott-honoree Juana Martinez-Neal.
High up in the Andes mountains of Peru, agricultural scientist Alberto Salas is on a quest. A quest… for potatoes.
Up and down the Andes mountains he goes, playing an epic game of paka paka con la papa, potato hide and seek. These potatoes are special: they have the power to feed the world.
Alberto doesn’t have a second to waste. The climate is changing and Alberto must find each and every one to save them before they go extinct.
The game is on!
Alberto races and peers and prods. Drives and trods and climbs. Will he find the potato he seeks? Will he win the game of paka paka con la papa?
Author Sara Andrea Fajardo’s spirited biography about “the godfather of potatoes” is paired with lush, playful art by Caldecott-honoree Juana Martinez-Neal to capture how celebrated scientist Alberto Salas brings joy, curiosity, and fun to his very important, life-changing work.
★ A Junior Library Guild Selection
★Working in paper collage, Martinez-Neal favors dabs of rich colors among broad landscapes of earthy browns and lots of potatoes of different shapes and sizes to bring Salas’ potato exploits to life, including his collaboration with Indigenous communities. A robust glossary and backmatter delving further into Salas’ work and the diversity of potatoes round out a sublime portrait. —Starred review
★ In a warm palette, Caldecott Honoree Martinez-Neal’s lush mixed-media illustrations convey Salas’s dedication and the potatoes as jewels hiding in an ever-shifting landscape. Fajardo smartly melds playful language with an urgent conservationist message, underlining the importance of Salas’s “serious game”— “a childhood game, helping to feed the world.” —Starred review