Skip to Main Content

I Lived on Butterfly Hill

Illustrated by Lee White

LIST PRICE $9.99

PRICE MAY VARY BY RETAILER

Buy from Other Retailers

About The Book

An eleven-year-old’s world is upended by political turmoil in this “lyrically ambitious tale of exile and reunification” (Kirkus Reviews) from an award-winning poet, based on true events in Chile.

Celeste Marconi is a dreamer. She lives peacefully among friends and neighbors and family in the idyllic town of Valparaiso, Chile—until one day when warships are spotted in the harbor and schoolmates start disappearing from class without a word. Celeste doesn’t quite know what is happening, but one thing is clear: no one is safe, not anymore.

The country has been taken over by a government that declares artists, protestors, and anyone who helps the needy to be considered “subversive” and dangerous to Chile’s future. So Celeste’s parents—her educated, generous, kind parents—must go into hiding before they, too, “disappear.” Before they do, however, they send Celeste to America to protect her.

As Celeste adapts to her new life in Maine, she never stops dreaming of Chile. But even after democracy is restored to her home country, questions remain: Will her parents reemerge from hiding? Will she ever be truly safe again?

Accented with interior artwork, steeped in the history of Pinochet’s catastrophic takeover of Chile, and based on many true events, this multicultural ode to the power of revolution, words, and love is both indelibly brave and heartwrenchingly graceful.

About The Author

Marjorie Agosín is the Pura Belpré Award–winning author of I Lived on Butterfly Hill and The Maps of Memory. Raised in Chile, her family moved to the United States to escape the horrors of the Pinochet takeover of their country. She has received the Letras de Oro Prize for her poetry, and her writings about—and humanitarian work for—women in Chile have been the focus of feature articles in The New York TimesThe Christian Science Monitor, and Ms. magazine. She has also won the Latino Literature Prize for her poetry. She is a Spanish professor at Wellesley College.

About The Illustrator

Lee White lives with his wife and their three crazy cats in Portland, Oregon, and you can visit him online at LeeWhiteIllustration.com.

Product Details

  • Publisher: Atheneum Books for Young Readers (February 10, 2015)
  • Length: 464 pages
  • ISBN13: 9781416994022
  • Grades: 5 - 9
  • Ages: 10 - 14
  • Lexile ® 770L The Lexile reading levels have been certified by the Lexile developer, MetaMetrics®

Browse Related Books

Awards and Honors

  • ALA Notable Children's Books
  • ILA Teachers' Choices
  • Kansas NEA Reading Circle List Intermediate Title
  • International Latino Book Award 1st Place
  • ILA Notable Books for a Global Society
  • Pura Belpre Award
  • MSTA Reading Circle List
  • National Jewish Book Award Finalist
  • Sydney Taylor Notable Book
  • Massachusetts Book Award "Must Read" List
  • Idaho Pocatellecott Award

Resources and Downloads

High Resolution Images

More books from this author: Marjorie Agosin

More books from this illustrator: Lee White

More books in this series: The Butterfly Hill Series