Ode to an Onion

Alexandria Giardinoand Felicita Sala’s poetic, beautifully illustrated picture book is inspired by Ode to the Onion by Chilean poet Pablo Neruda (1904–1973).

A Junior Library Guild Selection

Pablo has a lunch date with his friend Matilde, who shows the moody poet her garden. Where Pablo sees conflict and sadness, Matilde sees love and hope.

The story is less a biography of Neruda and his muse, Matilde Urrutia (1912–1985), and more a simple ode to a vegetable that is humble and luminous, dark and light, gloomy and glad, full of grief and full of joy—just like life.

“Children who love words should warm to Alexandria Giardino’s Ode to an Onion: Pablo Neruda & His Muse . . . In Felicita Sala’s vivacious and beautifully detailed drawings, done in colored pencil, Mathilde’s smile and Pablo’s glum expression give a tender humor to this real-life relationship.” —New York Times

“Gloomy versus hopeful. Therein lies the timeless tension between Nobel Laureate Pablo Neruda and his wife-to-be in this lovingly envisioned and supremely handsome book.” —San Francisco Chronicle