Stone, Scissors, Paper

On March 24, 1976, life in Argentina turned upside down in an instant: the military junta seized power and established a harsh dictatorship in the country. Not everyone wanted to submit to the new regime, particularly Argentine youth, teenagers. It... was with them — the dissenters and the rebellious — that the military ruthlessly dealt: they abducted, tortured in secret prisons, raped, and brutally murdered. They stole newborn children of prisoners and handed them over to the adoptive families of the military — the killers of their parents — where they grew up, never knowing the truth about their origins.

Ines Garland was sixteen when the military coup happened in Argentina. Like the main character of the book, Alma, Ines was unaware of what was happening in the country, and her parents and surroundings supported the new government. As an adult, Ines Garland rethought everything that happened and reopened this dark chapter in Argentina's history, so as never to forget the victims of the dictatorship.

The novel “Stone, Scissors, Paper” received the award from the Argentine Association of Children’s and Young Adult Literature (ALIJA) as the best young adult novel of 2009 and has been translated into German, Italian, French, and Dutch.

Editor on working on the book:

"Stone, Scissors, Paper” is one of the few Latin American novels and perhaps the only young adult novel set against the backdrop of the terrifying and distressing events of the last dictatorship in Argentina. When reading the novel, it initially seems to be a coming-of-age story, about friendship and first love, about searching for one’s place in this world. But this impression is deceptive, for the time setting is chosen intentionally. The author deliberately does not emphasize the dictatorship, showing what is happening through the perception of the heroine, who at first notices nothing and does not suspect the horrors occurring in the country. Only by the end does the realization of what has happened and all its consequences crash down on the main character, and along with her, the reader. The epilogue leaves food for thought and a desire to learn more about the fate of the characters, who, although fictional, easily relate to real people, just as much having lost their loved ones."

5 reasons to buy the book “Stone, Scissors, Paper”:Award from the Argentine Association of Children’s and Young Adult Literature (ALIJA) in the category of “Best Young Adult Novel” of 2009. A poignant novel based on real events that have long been silenced. A coming-of-age story, friendship, and first love set against the military dictatorship in Argentina.  The novel is translated into German, Italian, French, and Dutch. The book contains a historical reference about the history of the last dictatorship in Argentina   Ines Garland is an Argentine journalist, the first Latin American writer to receive the Deutscher Jungerliteraturpreis in Germany for the novel “Stone, Scissors, Paper.” This work has been translated into many languages and has received important literary awards.