The Bicycle Angel

General Director: Nรกdia Alonso Executive Director: Elessandro Santos Editorial Director: Marcelo R. Alonso Translated by Nรกdia Alonso Illustrated by Paulino Fernandes Marques Cria Mineira Empreendimentos Ltda.

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Dedication To the unconditional love of my life - my son Bruno.

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Once upon a time a man named Claudio Lepratti (Pocho) decided that he wanted to help people. He lived in Rosario, a city located in the province of Santa FĂŠ, Argentina. Therefore, with this idea in mind, he wanted to know where people needed his help the most. Then, after a while, he finally figured out what he was going to do, Pocho would fight for the human rights.

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Pocho discovered that there were many people starving in the city where he was living and this condition was unacceptable to him, so he decided to help those people.

In addition to his desire to better this situation, he realized that he would feed the needed. However, he realized that he only had enough food for himself.

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ABOUT THE CHARACTER OF THE STORY Claudio was born in Concepiciรณn del Uruguai, in Argentina, on February 27, 1966 and died in Rosario, also in Argentina on December 19, 2001.

The story of his life is one of the most beautiful in all of Latin America. He was a great defender of the poor. He studied in seminaries to become a priest, but decided to dedicate his life helping people from his city.

The story of Pocho is touching and serves as an example to the whole world.

He gathered more than twenty groups of children and young people from the city of Rosario. The people who followed him were poor and hard-working people who wanted a more dignified life.

His country, Argentina, was in a great crisis. The government was dictatorial. Therefore, there were a lot of political persecution and people were forbidden to come together to fight for a better life. But, Pocho did not give up. He demanded that the rulers respected the human rights.

He used to use an old bicycle to collect leftover food to feed hungry people and by doing that he saved the life of many people.

He died, but will always be remembered by the people of Rosario.

Today there is in Argentina a movement called *pochormigas.

After his death Pocho became known as the Angel of the bicycle. * Pochormiga means the union of the name Poncho with the word hormiga (ant in Spanish). The term is used to express the work of Poncho and of the people who followed him. Like ants, if each one does his part and everyone gets united for a common good, together everyone can collaborate to transform society.

GERALDO PEร ANHA DE ALMEIDA Geraldo was born in the Paranapanema Valley in Paranรก in 1970. He is a master and doctor in literary theory. He has more than 40 books published and travels around Brazil and around the world doing lectures and developing his work to encourage reading and writing.

PAULINO FERNANDES MARQUES Paulino was born in the city of São Paulo in 1983 and lived until the age of 15 in Santo Antônio da Platina, in Paraná - Brazil. Currently lives in Curitiba. He studied Fine Arts at the College of Arts of Paraná and later graduated in Business Administration from the ECIC Business & Marketing School.

He draws since his childhood. He already did illustrations for didatic books, but his great passion is to illustrate children’s books.

He is married and has a little princess with whom he shares his fantastic world.

The Bicycle Angel “The Bicycle Angel” tells the story of Claudio Lepratti – “Pocho”. He was known for riding his bicycle spreading generosity and solidarity wherever he went. He was always willing to help people.

This book invites you to learn the story of a man who was able to make a revolution on two wheels.

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