Margarito's Forest / El Bosque de Don Margarito

Summary of Book

Margarito's Forest is a story of Maya culture and wisdom passed from one generation to the next. This beautifully illustrated bilingual book in English and Spanish, with excerpts in K'iche', is based on María Guadalupe's memories of her father, Don Margarito Esteban Álvarez Velázquez. As the devastating effects of climate change become clear, Don Margarito's life and the ways of the Maya offer timely wisdom for a planet in peril.

Author Biographies

Andy Carter is Professor Emeritus of Mathematics at Roosevelt University. He is a founding board member of the Resource Center, serves on the Local School Council at the William Ray School. He is a master gardener, a guitar player, and an environmental activist. In April of 2007 he made his first of five trips to the village of Saq Ja’, Guatemala as a delegation member from University Church.

On that trip he was struck by the stark contrast between a lush old-growth forest near the village, and the fields and scrub brush that surrounded it. He was told that Margarito, a man with a peculiar love of trees, had planted the forest. On subsequent trips he carried out a series of interviews with Maria Guadalupe, the daughter of Don Margarito, to find out about this Mayan man and his forest. Margarito’s Forest is based on information he gathered from these interviews.

Omar Mejia is a former high school and primary school teacher and the current Director of Acorn Childcare Center in Quetzaltenango, Guatemala.

illustrator Biography

Allison Havens is the Coordinator of Maya Book Project in Guatemala and illustrator for El Bosque de Don Margarito.