17th-century Madrid is not a kind place for a dwarf like Bartolom, and his family has to keep him hidden in a small back room. His dream is to be able to read and write, and when he hears that a dwarf like himself works in the Kings court, he is heartened, knowing that he could have the chance to make something of himself, too. Then a plan goes awfully wrong, and the kings little daughter, the Infanta, sees Bartolom and wants to have him as her `human dog. Life in the royal palace is scary and humiliating until Bartolom discovers the artists studio Colourful, gripping, and written with real warmth, this is an inspiring story of courage and hope. Van Kooijs beautiful prose brings us into Bartoloms life and, through his eyes, writes about how being different ultimately makes an already strong boy even stronger. Selected for IBBYs Outstanding Books for Young People With Disabilities catalogue 2013.

 

 

There are 208 pages in this book.

It is aimed at Young Adult readers. The term Young Adult (YA) is used for books which have the following characteristics: (1) aimed at ages 12-18 years, US grades 7-12, UK school years 8-15, (2) around 50-75k words long, (3) main character is aged 12-18 years, (4) topics include self-reflection, internal conflict vs external, analyzing life and its meaning, (5) point of view is often in the first person, and (6) swearing, violence, romance and sexuality are allowed.

This book was published in 2012 by Little Island .

Rachel van Kooij was born in the Dutch city of Wageningen in 1968. She moved to Austria at the age of 10, and later studied Special Needs Teaching at Vienna University. She now lives in Klosterneuburg near Vienna and works with handicapped people. The last time we talked to her she was up a tree (it was a mobile phone conversation), surrounded by a bunch of kids. She was teaching them tree-climbing (we think). She has written several children's books, for both younger kids and older ones. She says of herself: `I write about the things I like to read about. ' Her book Battolome is Little Island's most international book: written in German by a Dutch Austrian, set in Spain, translated into English and published in Ireland.