May 2010: Latino Books Month (Master List & General Discussion)

[Kathryn, The Princess of Picture-Books]

"Latino Books" is our theme for the May Picture Book Club Reads. Here is the master list of all the books that were nominated this month. I will keep this thread open so we can discuss any of these not on our official group reads list--or, if you come across any other books that would fit this theme, feel welcome to discuss them here. Thanks!

MASTER LIST

Perez and Martina

Secret Footprints

Book Fiesta!

Celebrate Cinco de Mayo with Mexican Hat Day

In My Family/En Mi Familia

A Library for Juana: The World of Sor Juana Ines

Harvesting Hope: The Story of Cesar Chavez

Los Gatos Black on Halloween

Harvesting Hope: The Story of Cesar Chavez

The Rainbow Tulip

Gathering the Sun: An Alphabet In Spanish And English

Tomas and the Library Lady

Listen to the Desert/Oye Al Desierto

My Diary from Here to There/Mi diario de aqui hasta alla

Adelita: A Mexican Cinderella Story

El piñatero/ The Piñata Maker

Too Many Tamales

A Box Full of Kittens

Chato and the Party Animals

Amelia's Show-and-Tell Fiesta/Amelia y la fiesta de âmuestra y cuentaâ

Papa and Me

Tooth on the Loose

I Love Saturdays y Domingos

Rafi and Rosi

Mice And Beans

Our California (illustrated by Rafael Lopez)

Nacho And Lolita

Diego: Bigger Than Life

Just In Case: A Trickster Tale and Spanish Alphabet Book

My Abuelita


Gracias / Thanks

The Storyteller's Candle/La velita de los cuentos

Martina the Beautiful Cockroach: A Cuban Folktale

Oté: A Puerto Rican Folk Tale


Some background info on the selections:
"The Association of American Publishers Publishing Latino Voices for America (PLVA) Task Force has declared May Latino Books Month. Throughout the month of May, booksellers, librarians, and others in the book industry are encouraged to promote reading among Latinos in their communities, and to raise awareness of the rich variety of books authored by Latinos that are available, in both English and Spanish*"

*With all due respect to the many wonderful Spanish language picture books out there, any books nominated must have at least some English or a Spanish-English translation or that, if all-Spanish, then the illustrations tell the story easily so they could be understood by non-Spanish speakers. That way, the books can be enjoyed by the majority of group members. Thanks.

[Lisa]

A Library for Juana: The World of Sor Juana Ines
Harvesting Hope: The Story of Cesar Chavez
Los Gatos Black on Halloween (or, if Halloween isn't on members' minds, anything else illustrated by Yuyi Morales)

[Lisa]

Abigail, Good point! I was thinking of subject matter more than author/illustrator. I'm going to have to go through my bookshelf.

[Manybooks]

I don't know much about Latin American culture, so I have not read any of the books on my list, but from the descriptions, they look very interesting.

The Rainbow Tulip

Gathering the Sun: An Alphabet In Spanish And English

Tomas and the Library Lady

Listen to the Desert/Oye Al Desierto

My Diary from Here to There/Mi diario de aqui hasta alla

Adelita: A Mexican Cinderella Story

El piñatero/ The Piñata Maker

Too Many Tamales

A Box Full of Kittens

Chato and the Party Animals

There's a lot of other books I'd like to nominate, but I decided to nominate only those that I could locate at my local library.

[Kathryn, The Princess of Picture-Books]

Wow, these are some great suggestions! Thanks :-)

Regarding Abigail and Lisa's excellent comments/questions about the subject matter vs. author/illustrator... Based on the criteria set forth by PLVA, I think the purpose is to showcase Latino talent. I'll make an "executive decision" here and say it's fine if this encompasses author AND/OR illustrator because we are focusing on picture books ;-) That said, I don't think the subject matter need necessarily be "Latino" oriented if the author/illustrator is Latino, but certainly it would be wonderful if we got some cultural aspects in the stories and, as Abigail pointed out, we could even highlight a few outstanding Latinos from history.

[Manybooks]

Here's a second list of possible picture books:

Amelia's Show-and-Tell Fiesta/Amelia y la fiesta de âmuestra y cuentaâ

Papa and Me

Tooth on the Loose

I Love Saturdays y Domingos

Rafi and Rosi

[Kathryn, The Princess of Picture-Books]

Just a reminder that I'll be closing the NOMINATIONS on April 15th. We've got some really awesome suggestions so far so I just wanted to make sure everyone remembered the deadline and that you get to post your suggestions if you haven't yet had a chance to do so. Thanks!

[Kathryn, The Princess of Picture-Books]

I'm a fan of Pam Muñoz Ryan, whom some of you may remember from March's Amelia and Eleanor Go for a Ride.

A few of her more Spanish-oriented titles are:
Mice And Beans
Our California (illustrated by Rafael Lopez)
Nacho And Lolita

[Lisa]

Kathryn wrote: "Nacho Y Lolita (not sure why the GoodReads link brings up the Spanish version, but there is one in English)"

Kathryn,

Actually, right under the linked book, you'll see another link that says other editions, and if you click on it you can choose from other ediitions: such as this: Nacho And Lolita.

The one at the top/that Goodreads brings up is always the one that's been shelved the most often/has the most ratings.

[Kathryn, The Princess of Picture-Books]

Good to know! I never noticed that link before. Thanks, Lisa :-)

[Lisa]

Kathryn wrote: "Good to know! I never noticed that link before. Thanks, Lisa :-)"

You're welcome. I'm continually finding new features and abilities on Goodreads.

[Kathryn, The Princess of Picture-Books]

Wanted to mention more about the Pura Belpré Award that Abigal mentioned earlier. I love the idea of including one of her titles and also one or more from the recent awards list.

"The Pura Belpré Award, established in 1996, is presented to a Latino/Latina writer and illustrator whose work best portrays, affirms, and celebrates the Latino cultural experience in an outstanding work of literature for children and youth. It is co-sponsored by the Association for Library Service to Children (ALSC), a division of the American Library Association (ALA), and the National Association to Promote Library and Information Services to Latinos and the Spanish-Speaking (REFORMA), an ALA affiliate.

The award is named after Pura Belpré, the first Latina librarian at the New York Public Library. As a children's librarian, storyteller, and author, she enriched the lives of Puerto Rican children in the U.S.A. through her pioneering work of preserving and disseminating Puerto Rican folklore.

The award is now given annually. It was given as a biennial award from 1996 through 2008."

http://www.ala.org/ala/mgrps/divs/als...

Alas, I don't have time to look through all the winners and medalists, but here are a few that look especially promising from recent years:

Diego: Bigger Than Life

Just In Case: A Trickster Tale and Spanish Alphabet Book
My Abuelita--both illustrated by Yuyi Morales (for all you Yuyi fans out there!!!)


Gracias / Thanks

The Storyteller's Candle/La velita de los cuentos

Martina the Beautiful Cockroach: A Cuban Folktale

[Kathryn, The Princess of Picture-Books]

How fun, Abigail! :-)

[Kathryn, The Princess of Picture-Books]

Just so you know, the only Pura Belpré book available in English at my library is Oté: A Puerto Rican Folk Tale Perhaps a few of you could check your libraries to see if it is generally available??? I don't want to put books up for the vote if we won't be able to get our hands on copies easily and inexpensively. Thanks :-)

[Kathryn, The Princess of Picture-Books]

Abigail wrote: "Oté: A Puerto Rican Folk Tale is available in my system, Kathryn, for what it's worth. If few of Belpré's books are available to other members though, maybe we should consider Lucia ..."

Yes, The Storyteller's Candle/La velita de los cuentos is on my list from the Pura Belpré award/nominees and looks wonderful!

[Kathryn, The Princess of Picture-Books]

VOTE NOW:

[Kathryn, The Princess of Picture-Books]

While I'm not going to officially vote since I may end up needing to be a tie-breaker down the line, I do want to say that I am really hoping we can read The Storyteller's Candle/La velita de los cuentos as I've heard good things about it and it features the woman for whom the Latino Book Awards were named.

Also, I think The Rainbow Tulip would be a nice one since it incorporates the May Day/Spring theme that I know some members were hoping for in the polls.

[Manybooks]

I would like the following (I'm going to vote for books that I know I can get at my local library):


The Rainbow Tulip

Gathering the Sun: An Alphabet In Spanish And English

Tomas and the Library Lady

Papa and Me

I Love Saturdays y Domingos


and, as a sixth choice,

Listen to the Desert/Oye Al Desierto

[Wilhelmina]

I'm sorry - I'm new and slightly confused. Is there an official list of nominations? How many votes do we have?

[Kathryn, The Princess of Picture-Books]

Wilhelmina wrote: "I'm sorry - I'm new and slightly confused. Is there an official list of nominations? How many votes do we have?"

Thanks for your honesty, Wilhemina! In the interest of clarity, I will go ahead and make the master list at the top of this page and then if people want to read the comments made by group members they can just skip around to the comments below. Thanks!

From the list, you can choose your top five and then post those in the comments section. (Basically, you get to post one time with your top five books. I tally the counts for each book and the top five will be our club reads.) Hope this helps. Thanks :-)

[Kathryn, The Princess of Picture-Books]

Thanks for the votes so far, guys! Actually, last month we also chose the books by a vote in this fashion but things were just getting started so not everyone was able/aware of the vote. So this will officially be the second month we do this process--though, as Abigail pointed out, the wrinkles are definitely still being ironed out. Please let me know if you have some suggestions along the way :-)

[Kathryn, The Princess of Picture-Books]

Chandra wrote: "Oh and I have to clarify that I based my votes entirely on personal preferences and not on availability! But I will try my best to get my hands on as many selections as possible!"

No worries there, Chandra! What I'm going to do is tally all the votes to get the top-ranked books. Then, I will check around with a few online library catalogs in different districts in my area to try to get a feel for overall availability and if we have to make an adjustment if a title is simply not available in most libraries then I will do that. But, I've checked and many of these are available just at my own local library so I hope we'll have good luck this time! :-)

[Lisa]

Today I just readThe Storyteller's Candle/La velita de los cuentos and it would be a fine book for May. I also loved A Library for Juana: The World of Sor Juana Ines and Harvesting Hope: The Story of Cesar Chavez. They'd all be great.

I also like the other suggestions. I'd especially love to read

Just In Case: A Trickster Tale and Spanish Alphabet Book

and I'm sure I'll be happy to read any I can find.

I admit that I'm pressed for time right now and don't want to take time to look up each book and judge its merits, so I will be happy with whatever books are selected!

[Wilhelmina]

Thanks so much! Here are my choices:

Harvesting Hope: The Story of Cesar Chavez

Tomas and the Library Lady

Too Many Tamales

Martina the Beautiful Cockroach: A Cuban Folktale

My Abuelita

[Lisa]

I also loved Too Many Tamales. ;-) (so many good books!)

[Lisa]

Kathryn, and All,

I just read them both and I notice that on our list is Just In Case: A Trickster Tale and Spanish Alphabet Book, but that book is actually a sequel of sorts to the book Just a Minute!: A Trickster Tale and Counting Book. I'm glad I read the Just a Minute book first. Just fyi.

[Lisa]

P.S. Oh, and I liked Just a Minute!: A Trickster Tale and Counting Book just a bit more. Actually, reading both of them (in order) would be fun, I think.

[Kathryn, The Princess of Picture-Books]

That's good to know. Thanks so much, Lisa!

[Lisa]

I NEED to add: Each book does stand on its own just fine. I noticed the sequel quality because I had just read the other book. If the group selects Just In Case: A Trickster Tale and Spanish Alphabet Book as one of our May books, I think members will enjoy it and not notice anything missing.

[Gaynor]

My choices:
Too many tamales
Harvesting hope
Martina the beautiful cockroach
The storyteller's candle
My Abuelita

I also like trickster tales, but don't know the one/s mentioned.

[Crystal]

I vote for any of the ones that have food in the titles. From childhood those are the books I remember most. lol

[Kathryn, The Princess of Picture-Books]

Crystal wrote: "I vote for any of the ones that have food in the titles. From childhood those are the books I remember most. lol"

Haha, I loved books about food as a kid! :-)

[Crystal]

Kathryn wrote: "Crystal wrote: "I vote for any of the ones that have food in the titles. From childhood those are the books I remember most. lol"

Haha, I loved books about food as a kid! :-)"

Lol! My sisters are the same way!

[Lee]

Okay here are my five picks:

Tomas and the Library Lady
The Secret Footprints
Too many Tamales
Listen to the Desert
Martina the Beautiful Cockroach

[Kathryn, The Princess of Picture-Books]

Just a reminder that the voting period ends THIS Sunday, April 25th. Hope everyone has a chance to vote for their favorites :-)

[Kathryn, The Princess of Picture-Books]

Voting is now closed. Please click HERE to see the winners. Thanks! :-)

http://www.goodreads.com/topic/show/3...

[Kathryn, The Princess of Picture-Books]

Happy May Day! In honor of the day, and kicking off the Latino Book Month reads, I enjoyed The Rainbow Tulip A sweet story about a little girl (Stella) who, despite her love of school and her friends, lives a bit of a dual life between her vibrant days at school with her American friends and her quiet, traditional home life with her Mexican immigrant parents. Her sense of being "different" reaches a climax when, in the May Day parade, she chooses to be a rainbow tulip whereas all the other little girls have chosen only one color for their costumes. Her mother only speaks Spanish and cannot befriend the other mothers, she doesn't wear make-up or vibrantly colored short dresses... Poor Stella feels almost ashamed of her mother. Yet, along the way, she comes to realize the beauty in being different and realizes all the things she admires about her mother--and the qualities that her mother is instilling in her, too. A gentle message about family love and the "sweet and sour" of being different.

[Lisa]

I just finished reading Listen to the Desert/Oye Al Desierto and the illustrations seemed really odd to me. It's supposed to show various animals and plants in the desert but the colors are very bright and garish, not desert like at all. I also just didn't like this as much as the (at least 3 other) books I've read by Pat Mora. And I do love her and bilingual (multilingual) books too. This was okay but I liked all our monthly selections better than this one.

[Kathryn, The Princess of Picture-Books]

Well, good to know our group reads were better at least. But, thanks for posting about this one, too.

[Rumell]

I am huge fan of latino books.

[Cheryl struggles to catch up, Newbery Club host]

This is a thread that def. needs to be revived, given all the recent publishing.

Do you have any particular favorites or recommendations, Rumell?

[QNPoohBear]

Anita and the Dragons

This is a sweet story told from the point-of-view of a small girl living in the Dominican Republic. She tells of how bold she is when facing dragons in the sky (her big brother says they're just airplanes), she talks about how she's the princess and everyone is her loyal subject. Thus they are saddened when they learn her trusty steeds will be taking her and her entire family to the dragons to be carried to a land far away. Her parents have big hopes and dreams for a better life in America. Can Anita face her fears and ride that dragon to a new land?

This story is very cute. The author captures the mindset of a much-loved little girl very well. It's clear everyone in the community adores little Anita and treats her like the princess she thinks she is. Leaving is very scary and very difficult. She must learn to be brave and daring. What a great tribute to growing up in the islands. Anita is adorable and probably bratty but everyone seems to adore her. The illustrations show many farewell hugs as the family leaves for their new life. Anita recalls all the things she loves about the island before she bucks up and looks forward to new adventures.

The illustrations are simple and classic. The people are very dark and Anita has pink cheeks. There aren't a lot of details in the faces or clothing but I think that reflects the simple life on the island. They're almost reminiscent of .

The author identifies as Dominican and the illustrator is Brazillian.

[Cheryl struggles to catch up, Newbery Club host]

Thanks, adding!