Amancay - Amancay and the Flower by Editorial ACES

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Amancay y la flor Amancay and the flower Vanesa Pizzuto Dirección: Stella M. Romero Diseño e ilustración: Karina Varela Libro de edición argentina IMPRESO EN LA ARGENTINA - Printed in Argentina Primera edición MMXVI – 10M Es propiedad. © 2016 Asociación Casa Editora Sudamericana. Queda hecho el depósito que marca la ley 11.723. ISBN 978-987-701-575-1 Pizzuto, Vanesa Amancay y la flor : Amancay and the flower / Vanesa Pizzuto / Dirigido por Stella M. Romero / Ilustrado por Karina Varela. – 1ª ed. – Florida : Asociación Casa Editora Sudamericana, 2016. 24 p. ; il. ; 21 x 14 cm. - (Serie Amancay bilingüe / Romero, Stella M.) + Libro digital en inglés ISBN 978-987-701-575-1 1. Relatos. I. Romero, Stella M., dir. II. Varela, Karina, ilus. III. Título. CDD 863.9282

Se terminó de imprimir el 08 de noviembre de 2016 en talleres propios (Gral. José de San Martín 4555, B1604CDG Florida Oeste, Buenos Aires). Prohibida la reproducción total o parcial de esta publicación (texto, imágenes y diseño), su manipulación informática y transmisión ya sea electrónica, mecánica, por fotocopia u otros medios, sin permiso previo del editor. -109320- C -109233- S -109234- PL -109235- STK

AMANCAY Y LA FLOR “I have called you by name; you are mine.” (Isaiah 43:1) Text: Vanesa Pizzuto Illustration: Karina Varela

‘Ama is also ncay’ k ‘Lily of nown as the Inc as’

he first days of Autumn had arrived, and the trees’ leaves were starting to get ochre, orange, red and yellow dots. Nahuel and Amancay were back in school, after the holidays, and they were already learning many new things. At kindergarten, Amancay was practising how to write her name. “Mom, why am I called Amancay?” she asked one day while they were having afternoon tea. “We called you Amancay after the flowers,” her mother replied. “I know why I am called Nahuel. It is the name of the

lake near our home!” said Nahuel, always ready to share what he knew. “That’s right. We called you Nahuel, after the Nahuel Huapi Lake,” his mother confirmed. “So I would always remember where I came from, and that God is good and gave us a beautiful lake,” Nahuel added, repeating the explanation he had heard many times. “Amy, do you know what colour Amancay flowers are?” her mother asked. Amancay shook her head from side to side, her hair danced gracefully, but it didn’t get tangled. “Yellow!” then said Nahuel.

“I have an idea,” said her mom. “Let’s wait until dad gets back from work, and then we can go for a walk to find amancay flowers.” “Yes!!!” The children agreed happily. But when dad returned from work, he was too tired to go out again. So they decided to postpone the outing until the weekend. Amancay felt the hours and days went by really slowly. Yet, almost without their noticing, Friday arrived. And with it, all the activities to complete the school, work and home tasks. Finally, they were free from 4

the daily routine, the weekend had arrived, and the weather was nice to go out! Mom suggested the children took the explorer kits Aunty Nana had given them. Each kit had a magnifying glass, binoculars and an explorer hat. When dad saw the children dressed as explorers he came up with an idea. “Let’s make a list of the flowers and trees we can find in this area,” he suggested. “What a great idea, let’s search on the internet,” Nahuel proposed. 5

Mom and Nahuel started to search online, while dad went for a pen and a sheet of paper to make a list. “What should we type?” Mom asked Nahuel. “Let’s type ‘flowers of Bariloche’,” Nahuel suggested. Mom agreed and, together, they ran a search. “This website describes the Patagonian flora and fauna,” said mom. “Let’s see the ones mentioned here, in the forest section.” When they opened the page, they found a beautiful collection of pictures. Mom and Nahuel read the descriptions carefully to find which ones bloomed until autumn.

“Dad, please write ‘amancay’, ‘mutisia’ and ‘Chilean mistletoe’ on the list,” Nahuel asked. “We can print this leaflet about trees and shrubs of the area too, and see how many of them we manage to identify,” mom suggested, and they all agreed. When preparations were finished, the family left to explore the forest at the Llao Llao Municipal Park. When they arrived at the forest, they walked on a path that had signs with names and pictures of the forest flowers. “Look, Amancay, your flower is on the sign,” dad said. “Yes!” Amancay replied, smiling.

“Let’s compare the names on the sign, with our list,” Nahuel suggested. Dad took the list out of his pocket, and the children looked for flowers’ names on the sign. Then, using mom’s mobile phone, they took a picture of each of the three flowers, to better identify them if they saw them. After walking for about ten minutes on the trail, mom spotted a group of trees growing by a stream. “Who knows the name of those trees?” mom asked pointing at them. “Myrtles!” the children shouted.

“Let’s touch one,” dad suggested. The family got close to a big myrtle, by the path’s side. Gently, they all laid their hands on the tree’s reddish bark. “What can you feel?” mom asked. “It’s cold!” Amancay replied. “That’s right, myrtles’ trunks are cold and very soft,” dad said. “Here it says they can live between 300 and 400 years!” Nahuel shouted, awestruck, while reading the leaflet on trees and shrubs they had brought.

After taking some pictures next to the myrtles, the family continued walking on the path. Every now and then, dad made them stop and listen in silence to the forest’s sounds. Using their binoculars, the children looked amongst the tree branches, to find the source of the sounds. Following the sound cues, they spotted a woodpecker pecking a tree, and a chucao singing. The children felt like true explorers! “Look at these canes, children, who can identify them?” dad asked while they were walking along a part of the path where the canes formed a sort of tunnel. “It’s foxtail bamboo and it can grow up to 6 metres in

height,” Nahuel reported while reading the leaflet. “And it blooms once every 60 years or more,” dad added. Nahuel really liked the bamboo tunnel, especially the low bits, where mom and dad had to duck their heads a little not to hit the bamboo. When they finished crossing the tunnel, dad thought he saw something moving on the forest’s floor, a few metres away from the path. Squatting slowly, not to make any noise, dad pointed at a small animal that was sticking its head out of its tiny burrow. What could it be?

Using their binoculars, the children took a closer look. It had small brown eyes, and big orange teeth. Its nose and whiskers moved in all directions whenever it sniffed something. “It’s a tuco-tuco,” dad whispered. “What a funny name!” Nahuel commented. “It’s named after the sound it makes,” mom explained. “Tuc-tuc... Tuc-tuc... Tuc-tuc-tuc-tuctuc,” dad sang, imitating the tuco-tuco’s song. Hearing him made the whole family laugh. The noise scared the tuco-tuco, and it quickly hid in its burrow.

“Mom, what do tuco-tucos eat?” Amancay asked while they kept walking on the forest path. “They eat plants; they are herbivores,” she replied. “And who eats tuco-tucos?” Nahuel asked. “Owls like to dine on tuco-tucos,” said his dad. “This is why they live in burrows, and only come out to find food.” The family kept walking, enjoying the sunshine and breathing in deeply the scented forest air, which smelled of flowers, plants and wet earth. Suddenly, they saw a majestic tree. Even though Autumn had started, all its leaves were still completely green.

“Who knows what type of tree this is?” mom asked pointing at it. Dad and Nahuel looked at the leaflet, trying to find the picture that looked most similar. “Is it this one, dad?” Nahuel asked pointing at one of the pictures. “No, Nahuel. It must be an evergreen,” dad answered after reading the description. “What does ‘evergreen’ mean?” Amancay asked. “It means their leaves don’t fall. It is green all year round,” mom explained. Nahuel kept examining the leaflet until he found the correct picture.

“It is a southern beech! It can live up to 600 years, even more than a myrtle,” Nahuel shouted, happy to have solved the enigma. Then, dad suggested getting a bit closer to the tree to see the orange fungus that grew on its branches. The children didn’t need help to identify them. They were beech orange! Local artisans collect and carve them to make crafts and sell them to the tourists. Their crafts turn out so beautiful that even Aunty Nana, though she is not a tourist, had bought a clock made from a beech orange wood knot.

“Is this my flower?” Amancay asked, pointing with her tiny finger to an orange flower by the path’s side. “Let’s compare it to the picture,” mom suggested. Taking her mobile phone, mom showed Amancay the pictures they had taken. “Which picture looks more like it?” dad asked. “This one!” Amancay replied, pointing at the correct picture. “This flower is called Mutisia and though it is very beautiful, it is not your name’s flower,” mom explained. “We will find it!” Nahuel assured her smiling, and they kept walking together.

Soon they found more flowers and since they were too high, dad put Amancay on his shoulders, so she could have a closer look. Again, mom let Amancay identify the picture that looked the most like it. “Very good, Amy! These are Chilean mistletoe flowers,” mom said. “How pretty! They are red!” Amancay replied. When dad took Amancay off his shoulders, she saw some beautiful yellow flowers on the opposite side of the path. Amancay ran towards them shouting: “My flower, I’ve found my flower!” 16

The family followed her happily. Pulling the magnifying glass out of his pocket, Nahuel examined the orange lines on the middle petals. They all agreed that the amancay flower was very beautiful and took many pictures of Amancay among the amancay flowers. “Every flower is unique, and it has its own scent,” mom said as they walked back on the trail. “Some flowers are red, like Chilean mistletoe flowers, others are orange, like mutisias, and others are yellow, like Amancay flowers. But they are all beautiful,” dad added.

“You are unique and beautiful, like the amancay flower. We named you Amancay so that you would always remember it,” mom said, giving her daughter a tight hug. Once they were back at the park’s gate, mom took a table cloth, biscuits and a thermos with hot chocolate from the car. Amancay picked the table which was mostly in the sun, and the family sat down to have afternoon tea. “What did you like most about today’s adventure?” dad asked, while dunking a biscuit in his chocolate milk.

“The foxtail bamboo tunnel was fantastic!” Nahuel answered. “And you, Amy, what did you like the most?” mom asked. “The Amancay flowers!” she said smiling, causing two dimples to appear in her gorgeous cheeks. “And you, daddy?” Nahuel asked. “What I liked most was the tuco-tuco’s orange teeth,” dad said. “And I liked the myrtles,” mom added. It was starting to get cold because the sun was slowly hiding behind the trees, so the family decided to go back home. They were so happy to have found Amancay flowers!

During their adventure in the forest they had seen many trees, flowers and different animals, and they had learnt a lot. They discovered that some trees’ barks are rugged, like southern beech’s, and some are smooth, like myrtle’s. They learnt that some flowers are tiny and red, like Chilean mistletoe flowers, and some bigger and yellow, like Amancay flowers. They also learnt that some animals live in trees, like woodpeckers, and some dig burrows, like tuco-tucos. And that every person, just like the animals and plants, is different, unique and special.

Find the seven differences in the forest of myrtles. Encuentra las siete diferencias en el bosque de arrayanes.

Help our little friend, Amy, to find the flower with the same name as hers. Ayuda a nuestra amiguita Amy a encontrar las flores que se llaman igual que ella.

Nahuel and Amancay live surrounded by a beautiful natural landscape, with lush trees, crystal waters and clear air. Enjoy their adventures and learn how to take better care of our planet. With this book, you will be able to do the given activities in Spanish/English.

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You can also read the complete Amancay series in English, in its digital format. Download the books at: aceseducacion.com

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