Have You Seen Marie? Showcases the storytelling magic of Sandra Cisneros, beloved author of The House on Mango Street. This lyrically told, richly illustrated fable for adults is the tale of a woman’s search, in the wake of her mother’s death, for a missing cat—and a reminder that love, even when it goes astray, does not stay lost forever. 

“A real-life bedtime story for grownups.” —The Seattle Times

“Cisneros captures the experience of grief with moving and visceral clarity. . . . Like the best bedtime stories, [Have You Seen Marie?] both honors the darkness around us and keeps the same darkness at bay." —San Francisco Chronicle 

“[A] magical journey. . . . Cisneros has folded powerful themes into this seemingly simple fable:  onfronting and accepting the loss of a loved one, the importance of community, the presence of spirituality in our lives and the way that imagination and art can illuminate reality. . . . [Characters] come to life not only in Cisneros’ poetic nuggets of prose, but in Ester Hernández’s sweetly realistic color illustrations. . . . The book glows.” —The Miami Herald
 
“The narrative becomes a springboard for a moving exploration of loss.” —San Antonio Express-News
 
“Unique and uplifting . . . . Have You Seen Marie? does what every good picture book does by creating meaning through experience while being fun to read aloud . . . . Cisneros and Hernández invite the reader to visually enjoy the story, to listen to the music of the words, and have an experience without getting bogged down in self- help monotony.” —El Paso Times
 
“[Have You Seen Marie?] is at its heart a parable for adults, whose themes of death, mourning and loss take on new meaning when presented within a simple tale about a cat gone astray. . . . . Full of picturesque illustrations of San Antonio and its colorful characters.” —NBC Latino
 
“A fable for grieving grown- ups, and . . . medicine for hearts broken from loss.” —CNN
 
“Cisneros’s gift of storytelling and Ester Hernández’s illustrations bring to life the story about death, grief, and the desire to move forward. This book is a wonderful gift to share with someone who is experiencing the pain of losing a loved one.” —Modern Latina
© Keith Dannemiller
SANDRA CISNEROS is a poet, short story writer, novelist, essayist, performer, and artist. Her numerous awards include NEA fellowships in both poetry and fiction, a MacArthur Fellowship, national and international book awards, including the PEN America Literary Award, and the National Medal of Arts. More recently, she received the Ford Foundation's Art of Change Fellowship, was recognized with the Fuller Award for Lifetime Achievement in Literature, and won the PEN/Nabokov Award for Achievement in International Literature. In addition to her writing, Cisneros has fostered the careers of many aspiring and emerging writers through two nonprofits she founded: the Macondo Foundation and the Alfredo Cisneros del Moral Foundation. As a single woman she made the choice to have books instead of children. A citizen of both the United States and Mexico, Cisneros currently lives in San Miguel de Allende and makes her living by her pen. View titles by Sandra Cisneros

Sandra Cisneros introduces Have You Seen Marie?

About

Have You Seen Marie? Showcases the storytelling magic of Sandra Cisneros, beloved author of The House on Mango Street. This lyrically told, richly illustrated fable for adults is the tale of a woman’s search, in the wake of her mother’s death, for a missing cat—and a reminder that love, even when it goes astray, does not stay lost forever. 

“A real-life bedtime story for grownups.” —The Seattle Times

“Cisneros captures the experience of grief with moving and visceral clarity. . . . Like the best bedtime stories, [Have You Seen Marie?] both honors the darkness around us and keeps the same darkness at bay." —San Francisco Chronicle 

“[A] magical journey. . . . Cisneros has folded powerful themes into this seemingly simple fable:  onfronting and accepting the loss of a loved one, the importance of community, the presence of spirituality in our lives and the way that imagination and art can illuminate reality. . . . [Characters] come to life not only in Cisneros’ poetic nuggets of prose, but in Ester Hernández’s sweetly realistic color illustrations. . . . The book glows.” —The Miami Herald
 
“The narrative becomes a springboard for a moving exploration of loss.” —San Antonio Express-News
 
“Unique and uplifting . . . . Have You Seen Marie? does what every good picture book does by creating meaning through experience while being fun to read aloud . . . . Cisneros and Hernández invite the reader to visually enjoy the story, to listen to the music of the words, and have an experience without getting bogged down in self- help monotony.” —El Paso Times
 
“[Have You Seen Marie?] is at its heart a parable for adults, whose themes of death, mourning and loss take on new meaning when presented within a simple tale about a cat gone astray. . . . . Full of picturesque illustrations of San Antonio and its colorful characters.” —NBC Latino
 
“A fable for grieving grown- ups, and . . . medicine for hearts broken from loss.” —CNN
 
“Cisneros’s gift of storytelling and Ester Hernández’s illustrations bring to life the story about death, grief, and the desire to move forward. This book is a wonderful gift to share with someone who is experiencing the pain of losing a loved one.” —Modern Latina

Author

© Keith Dannemiller
SANDRA CISNEROS is a poet, short story writer, novelist, essayist, performer, and artist. Her numerous awards include NEA fellowships in both poetry and fiction, a MacArthur Fellowship, national and international book awards, including the PEN America Literary Award, and the National Medal of Arts. More recently, she received the Ford Foundation's Art of Change Fellowship, was recognized with the Fuller Award for Lifetime Achievement in Literature, and won the PEN/Nabokov Award for Achievement in International Literature. In addition to her writing, Cisneros has fostered the careers of many aspiring and emerging writers through two nonprofits she founded: the Macondo Foundation and the Alfredo Cisneros del Moral Foundation. As a single woman she made the choice to have books instead of children. A citizen of both the United States and Mexico, Cisneros currently lives in San Miguel de Allende and makes her living by her pen. View titles by Sandra Cisneros

Media

Sandra Cisneros introduces Have You Seen Marie?