Are you ready for a tale filled with resilience, tenderness, and friendship beyond borders?
“Sofía and Lorenzo have to leave their home” is a bilingual Spanish–English story, the first in “The Magical Adventures of Sofía and Lorenzo” series, ideal for readers ages 7 to 11, for families, and for educators. Its dual Spanish–English narrative allows the reader to explore vocabulary, share the reading experience and discover phrases, feelings, and values. The parallel layout —with Spanish on even pages and English on odd ones— makes it easy to compare both texts and supports natural language learning.
From the beginning, readers connect with Sofía and Lorenzo, two brave squirrels in that deeply human moment of having to leave behind the familiar. After losing their home due to forces beyond their control, the uncertainty of crossing new landscapes full of challenges reinforces the need to rely on one another.
“They had always made a good team, and now more than ever, they worked together on their new tasks.”
Fear and hope coexist in every chapter; but the courage and optimism also encourage the squirrels to stay united in the face of hardship. With positive morals and inspiring passages that promote a love of nature and respect for diversity, we discover that even when life changes, new bonds, dreams, and homes await us if we trust ourselves and others.
Story values: Resilience - Teamwork - Friendship - Generosity - Empathy - Gratitude - Courage - Adaptation to change - Hope - Love and family support - Care for nature - Self-confidence
María Isabel and Pat came together to write this book in Spanish, which was later transformed into a bilingual edition, to show how human values, whether in the northern or southern hemisphere, remain unchanged, no matter where we are.
We are currently writing Book 2 and are nearly finished. We haven’t got a title yet, but we’ll let you know as soon as we have it. In this book, Sofia and Lorenzo find their children and meet for the first time the partners of their children and their granddaughter.
And of course, they have some magical adventures!
“Sofia and Lorenzo have to leave their home” is available in paperback
and Kindle ebook from Amazon.
You can search for it by its title or use reference: TBA
You can contact us by:
Email: ardillas.aventuras@gmail.com
Instagram: @sofialorenzoadventures
We’d love to hear what you think of the book, and what you think will happen
to Sofia and Lorenzo when they find their family.
Maria Isabel Soto is passionate about children's literature. She believes in the power of words to awaken dreams, educate, and entertain.
Inspired by everyday life and personal experiences, Maria Isabel's writing often revolves around themes of hope, values, resilience, and discovery.
Her encounter with the natural beauty of New Zealand made it possible for her to connect with her personal dream: to create a collection of stories for children, where everything she believes in and that makes her happy is integrated.
She invited Pat, one of her Spanish students, who enjoyed writing children's stories as a classroom activity, to embark on an adventure where they would both learn together while having fun, until they completed the first story, a story of migration like the one that brought her to this beautiful country.
Throughout her professional life, Maria Isabel has collaborated on activities related to children's literature, through literary reviews and text editing for Ekaré magazine at the Banco del Libro (Book Bank) in Caracas, Venezuela. Maria Isabel is of Venezuelan origin and a New Zealand citizen. She is a teacher of Spanish as a foreign language and of Latin American literature. She holds a bachelor’s degree in literature and a master's degree in applied Linguistics.
After a successful career as a telecommunications engineer and project manager, Pat discovered a new passion—writing tales that inspire and educate young readers. A lifelong learner, he began studying Spanish and saw writing a bilingual children’s book, in partnership with Maria Isabel, as a fun and meaningful way to improve his language skills while sharing something special with others.
Reading has always been an important part of his life, especially with his own children. He loved watching their curiosity grow and their imaginations come alive through books. That joy inspired him to create stories that families can enjoy together, bridging language and culture through adventure and heart.
New to writing children’s books but no stranger to adventure, he brings his love of family, exploration, challenge, and the outdoors into his storytelling. When he’s not writing, you can often find him hiking, exploring mountain trails and streams, or enjoying time in nature.
Did you know that when we first wrote our story, Lorenzo and Sofia were not going to Garibaldi Park. Instead, they were going to the Muir Woods sequoia forest near San Francisco. The trees there are huge – and just as magical as those in Garibaldi Park!
However, we discovered that grey squirrels live at Muir Woods. Sofia and Lorenzo are red squirrels. Grey squirrels and red squirrels do not live happily together. The larger grey squirrels are more efficient at foraging for food. Also, they carry a virus which is dangerous to the red squirrels.
We had to find a better future home for our friends. We found out that red squirrels live in Garibaldi Provincial Park in Canada, and there are large pine trees and beautiful scenery around the Elfin Lake (which is really two lakes close together). So, with the new version, this is where their children Lucas and Melisa had gone some years before, and this was the destination that Lorenzo and Sofia travelled towards in our story – “Sofia and Lorenzo have to leave their home”.