O GAROTO DA CAMISA VERMELHA

I remember it very well… Otávio was still a boy when he knocked on my door. The young black man raised in one of the most violent and poor communities in Rio de Janeiro, dominated by drug dealers, could have followed the path of so many peers of his generation who got involved with drugs. But no! Books, found among the trash, changed his destiny and gave him the ruler and compass to follow new paths. I had a dream: to build a community library. Thanks to your effort and dedication, this wish came true. From then on, he became known as the Bookseller of the German, the title of the book that opened doors for him to the world. He won national and international awards, traveled and continues to travel throughout Brazil and abroad, giving lectures about his experience as a reading encourager.
However, he cherished another dream: writing stories for children and young people. I had the pleasure of reading your originals. And now I have the honor of presenting your first children's book. No one better than Otávio, who lived and still lives in a community abandoned for a long time by the public authorities, to report the daily life of a boy like him. A dreamer, enchanted and transformed by the magic of words. 
The boy in the red shirt – who flew kites, played marbles and ran on the bumpy football fields – has a name: Otávio Jr.
Rogério Andrade Barbosa