User:Maxi1618/Ami (trilogy)

Ami is a series of science fiction novel s written by Chilean author Enrique Barrios. It tells the story of Peter, a nine-year-old boy (thirteen in the latest editions) who, during a summer night, while he was spending his holidays in a small town near the sea, receives the visit of an extraterrestrial being called Ami. The trilogy tells the journeys that Peter and Ami make to different planets of the galaxy. At the end of every journey, Peter is given the mission of writing a book telling the story of their adventures and the knowledge he received thanks to Ami’s teachings. The trilogy is made up of the novels “Ami, Child of the stars”, “Ami returns” and “Ami 3: Internal civilizations” (Original spanish: “Ami, el niño de las estrellas”, “Ami regresa” y “Ami 3: Civilizaciones internas”). Following the success of “Ami, Child of the stars”, Enrique Barrios decided to write the book “Ami and Perlita” (in spanish: “Ami y Perlita), a spin-off of the trilogy destined to younger readers. According to the spanish editorial Sirio “when Enrique Barrios saw that his book Ami, Child of the stars, maybe because of its title, perhaps because of its childish cover, attracted child readers, who later found the surprise of being able to understand only a small part of the book —because Ami is not entirely a book for children—, the author felt indebted with the children and desired to be able to write something for them in the future”.

The books, heavily inspired by the beliefs of the New Age movement, try to spread values such as love, peace and fraternity, by covering subjects like extraterrestrial life, reincarnation and interplanetary union. Because of this, the trilogy (especially the first book) is frequently included in the curricular designs of several Latin American countries in both elementary and secondary education.

The trilogy, as well as other books by Enrique Barrios, has received different awards and recognitions, such as two blessings from Pope John Paul II in 1987 and in 1988 for “Ami, Child of the stars” and “Ami returns”, books that were also declared Didactic Material for the National Education by the Ministry of Education of Chile alongside with “Ami and Perlita”. Furthermore, the book “The wonderful universe of magic” received an award from the APA (Psicoanalitic Argentine Asociation) in 1990.

Books of the series

 * Ami, Child of the stars (1986)
 * Ami returns (1987)
 * Ami 3: Internal civilizations (1998)

Characters
Peter (Pedro in the original Spanish version) is a nine-year-old (during the first book) Latin American boy and the series protagonist. He lives with his grandmother, with whom he rents a house near the sea almost every summer.

Ami is an extraterrestrial being from the planet Galactic Doll (Muñeca Galáctica in Spanish), whose mission consists on contributing to the evolutionary development of different planets through the “Plan of assistence”. In the books he is described as small, baby-faced, with big eyes and with a weird accent. Even though he doesn’t look older than eight, in the first chapter of “Ami, Child of the stars” he says that he is much older than what Peter would believe. During his first appearance, Ami wears a white outfit made of an impermeable material, white boots with thick soles and a golden belt with portable radios on each side and a big buckle. On his chest he has a golden emblem composed by a winged heart inside a circle.

Ami, Child of the stars
The first book of the trilogy tells the story of Peter, a nine-year-old boy who, during a summer night on the beach, sees a red light descending through the sky and submerging into the sea. From it comes out a boy who sits next to Peter and starts to talk to him. Soon it is revealed that he’s not actually a boy but an extraterrestrial being called Ami, whose mission consists on taking Peter through a journey to different planets of the Fellowship of the Civilized Worlds and transmit him the necessary knowledge, teachings and values so the planet Earth can join it. The most important of these teachings is the Fundamental Law of the Universe, according to which the whole cosmos is subjected. At the end of the night, Peter’s journey comes to an end and he comes back home with the mission of writing a book telling the story of the adventures that he lived with Ami and the knowledge he received from him, to help humanity with its evolutionary process.

Initiatives
Through his personal website and through the website of the foundation Fundami  Enrique Barrios and his readers were devoted to the spread of the values transmitted in the trilogy. Furthermore, they promoted an initiative called “Ami Viajero” (Traveller Ami) , which consisted in letting the first book of the series (Ami, Child of the stars) in public spaces such as banks, cafeterias, bus seats, etc. so the people who found it could read it and let it again in a public space, continuing the divulgation cycle. Also, during 2008 they conducted a campaign called “Done Ami” (Donate Ami) in which, thanks to the collaboration of the readers, 1613 copies of “Ami, Child of the stars” were sent to different schools, prisons and reformatories in the Spanish-speaking world, with the purpose of “changing the fate of misguided boys and girls, who instead of partaking in the world of the drugs or delinquency, or if they are already in prison, could turn into good persons, helped by Ami, by you and by us”.

Controversy
Some organizations and group of parents expressed their concern over the contents presented by the books and criticised it for being heavily charged with subjects related to the New Age movement. The doctor in philosophy Luis Eduardo Cantero, in his work ''The New Age: the paradigme of the “new spirituality”. An analysis of the phenomenon from the social and theological sciences mentions Enrique Barrios and his books, especially “Ami, Child of the stars''”. In said work, he claims that the author “''tries a continual devalorization of the family and the adults, accusing them of being guilty of everything that is bad in the planet and of being the enemies of the children”. Likewise, he states that “Barrios completes this New Age thinking by inciting the children not to think nor reason''”.