By Sofia Principe
Preface by Ines Kudo
At Tinkuy, Pumas take charge of their reading journey, diving into books with remarkable depth. They might choose The Little Prince or Harry Potter at age 7 or 8 and take on Moby Dick, Anne Frank's Diary or Hamlet by 9. This is why it is common for former Pumas who choose to move on to traditional schooling often find assigned books—whether in 4th grade or 2nd year of secondary—too easy, short, and simple, leaving them craving more.
Rather than dictating what they should read, we empower Pumas to choose what truly matters to them. This nurtures a genuine love for reading and the confidence to take on more complex texts as they grow.
In Discovery (ages 7–11), they choose books that challenge and excite them. As they transition to Ascend (ages 10–13), they explore deep books—works that have shaped the world or can transform their lives.
Their selections span classics across poetry, fiction, biographies, theater, and even groundbreaking essays in science and philosophy. Before committing, they pitch their book to the studio, explaining why it’s meaningful, why they want to read it, and setting a deadline for their review.
We invite you to witness a 10-year-old Puma taking her first step in Ascend as she presents her first deep book pitch and review. The text was written in English by Sofía and has not been edited by an adult.
Deep Book Pitch
The book that I’m pitching is La Odisea for my Libro Profundo 1.
When I was little I loved Greek mythology, and my favorite stories were about the Trojan War and Ulysses. I loved them, and now I wanted to read La Odisea for my Libro Profundo. I did not choose The Odyssey because Greek is more similar to Spanish and I wanted to read sparkling and new words that I could maybe not read in English.
If you do not know the story of the Troy war and Ulysses, I will tell you:
A war started between the Troyans and Greeks because Paris of Troy married Helena of Sparta when she was engaged to Menelao, she accepted the marriage because Afrodita enchanted her.
I know it is silly but that’s how the story starts.
One thing that is important is that the Greeks qualified Helena as the most beautiful woman in all of Greece.
Well, after that the Greeks won the battle, they tried going home, and that’s where La Odisea starts, the adventures of Ulysses on his way home, which took him 20 years, 10 of war and 10 of arrival.
I think that this book might change my life because it is a very deep book that touches on themes like: loneliness, abandonment, unloyalty, and death, I’ve read a lot of books that touch on themes, but in La Odisea, Homer describes the feelings very well, so good that you can feel them.
And it reminds me of times I felt alone or that I wanted to give up, for example, I was going to give up graduation because it was very hard, but I completed it.
La Odisea has clearly no awards (because in Homer’s time, there were no awards, and if they were they did not last until today), but it has good reviews on Goodreads like: “It's impossible not to smile when you start reading such a classic and, after only the first few pages, you realize and completely understand why it's regarded as one of the most important works in literature.”
That is why I chose La Odisea, and my deadline to finish the book and review is the first Monday of session 2.
Thanks for reading.
Sofía.
Book Review
La Odisea is an excellent book, it may be one of my favorite books. Like I said in the pitch, Homer describes the feelings so well that you can feel them, including the sad ones like loneliness.
This story is about Ulysses’s journey back to Ithaca, after the Trojan War. On his journey, he will have to face a lot of struggles and sometimes lie about his identity, but his cunning always helps him get through.
I think that this is an important book in the history of literature, and an example of excellence because when you read it it makes you feel the feelings of the characters.
So sometimes you can be sad in the middle of the sea, alone without food, but then you arrive on firm ground, and after a while, you feel that you are having a huge feast at Alcínoo’s in a beautiful palace, and eating delicious meat, while you hear a singer inspired by the muses, with a wonderful voice, meanwhile, the dancers dance cheerfully.
Their characters are well-described by Homer, but he can be sometimes too repetitive, for example, he always describes Athenea as “the goddess of the sparkling eyes”, and every time he refers to her he says that.
One lesson that I learned is to never give up and always have hope, another one is to be positive and grateful to yourself and that somehow you will arrive at your destiny, I also learned that I need to be grateful, but in another way, to be grateful to others, another lesson is that you can’t judge people by their appearance.
I loved the parts of Ulysses’s cunnings, it was fun to read the part when he met the Cyclops, and he says that his name is “Nobody”.
Other parts I liked are the ones related to the Gods and Goddesses, for example, when people pray, or the Gods get mad. Like when the Pheacians promised the gods that they would raise a temple for them if they let them arrive home safely, and if they didn’t cover the city’s beautiful landscape with a mountain, the Pheacians would sacrifice their 4 best cows.
Or when Athenea gives ideas to Ulysses
I like Homer’s style, even though he is sometimes very repetitive, you start to get used to it, and the description becomes something normal like it’s part of the name.
So, in conclusion, I liked a lot this book, and I don’t recommend this book to readers, that have little reading compression because it has difficult words and new ones that you have maybe never read before.
Also, like I said a lot of times, and I will say it again because is wonderful, is the fact that Homer describes the feelings very well.
And lastly, his writing is very easy to understand if you get used to the new words. When I say “easy to read” is that not only the feelings, but the clothing aspect, and places are very well-described.
Sofía