Calavera Abecedario

Calavera Abecedario: A Day of the Dead Alphabet Book

Jeanette Winter

2004

I really love many of Jeanette Winter’s books. Her illustrations, for me, capture the color and vibrancy in Mexican culture. This book is a perfect example of that. Every color on every page, every different calavera and their profession, is perfect. This book reminds me of the books by Cynthia Weill, because it introduces the reader to a Mexican artisan and their body of work. We learn about Don Pedro, who makes skeletons for the Dia de los Muertos celebrations every year. He works tirelessly day after day with his family to make countless skeletons. We are shown an alphabet-full of skeletons, from Doctor to Quimico to Unicornio to Vaquero, all incredibly detailed. At the end of the celebrations, Don Pedro goes back home and wakes the next day to begin his work again in preparation for the next year (reminds me a little of Santa Claus). The end describes Mexican celebrations and tells us about Don Pedro Linares and his famous cartoneria creations. His children now carry on the tradition of creating these festive skeletons. A unique presentation of an artisan and his craft, the alphabet, different professions, and Mexican traditions.

The Land of Lost Things / Lupita's First Dance

The Land of Lost Things / El País de las Cosas Perdidas
Dina Bursztyn
2011

We follow the narrator as they travel to the Land of Lost Things, a place where buttons, pencils, and other things go when we cannot find them. Pencils become trees in a forest, scissors become butterflies, umbrellas can be found in a garden, and a flock of socks is playing in the wind. The narrator interacts with the items, until finally they arrive back in their own world. This is a very nice story that everyone will have fun reading, especially if you know of the feeling of being unable to find that lost sock pair. The imagination of the narrator is full of creativity, and will inspire children to use their own imaginations.

Lupita’s First Dance / El Primer Baile de Lupita
2013
Lupe Ruiz-Flores
Ill. by Gabhor Utomo

Lupita's class will be giving a performance of ‘La Raspa’ and this will be Lupita's first time dancing in front of an audience. Her mother helps her with her dress, and she practices with her partner. When the night of the dance arrives, Lupita's partner cannot make it to the dance! She is so disappointed, but as she watches the pairs dance on stage, a sudden impulse pushes her on the stage with them, and she dances beautifully. I love how the dresses are illustrated and how Lupita's family supports her so much, from helping her with her dress to attending the performance. The disappointment in Lupita's face is shown so clearly you cannot help but feel sad for her. And the incredible courage it took for Lupita to dance on stage by herself makes you want to cheer for her. A very good story about doing what you love.

Mi Familia Calaca / My Skeleton Family

Mi Familia Calaca / My Skeleton Family
2013
Cynthia Weill
Paper mache by Jesús Canseco Zárate

Like Cynthia Weill's other books, Mi Familia Calaca is bright, vibrant, colorful, and perfect for learning words in Spanish and English. Anita, a young skeleton girl, introduces us to her family: brothers, parents, grandparents, great-grandmother, and pets. She says something about each one of them: her brother can be a troublemaker, and her pets are her best friends. This book is crisp and clear and very good for beginning readers. This book also introduces us to the paper mache artwork of Jesús Canseco Zárate, who did a wonderful job of crafting each of the family members. Beautiful!

My Little Car / Mi Carrito

My Little Car / Mi Carrito
2006
Gary Soto
Ill. by Pam Paparone

Teresa receives a gift from her Abuelo Benito: a small green lowrider car that she can power by pedaling. It is the envy of the neighborhood, and Teresa receives many compliments. As time goes on, however, Teresa begins to ignore her little car, and soon it is falling apart. Teresa's little sister asks for the car, but Teresa says no. She takes it out for a ride, and is surprised by a dog, who chases her down the block. Teresa pedals as hard as she can and her ltitle carrito pulls through without falling apart. Realizing her neglect, Teresa begins to fix her little car, and soon her grandpa Benny arrives. The car is in such bad shape that he cannot recognize it. He helps Teresa fix her car and they make it look good as new. I loved the colorful illustrations of this picture book, and while I like the scene of the dog chase because it made Teresa realize how dependable her car was, I feel that there could have been another way for her to realize the value of the car. At the same time, this book accurately portrays the way some people really like something in the beginning, only to forget about it soon after, and teaches about appreciating what you have.

More Interesting Articles

These were some very interesting articles from listservs I follow.

Salon: #WeNeedDiverseBooks goes viral

Lee and Low Books: Where Can I Find Great Diverse Children's Books?

New York Public Library: Celebrating Diverse Children's Books: These Stories Dazzle and Reflect

NPR - New Initiative Aims to Encourage Diversity in Kids' Publishing

Teen Librarian Toolbox: Dear Media: Let Me Help You Write That Article on YA Literature

Anne Ursu: On 'The John Green Effect,' Contemporary Realism, and Form as a Political Act

Zetta Elliott, The Huffington Post: It's Not Me, It's You: Letting Go of the Status Quo

There is also a great list of Native authors and illustrators by Debbie Reese at American Indians in Children's Literature, and this is the link to her WeNeedDiverseBooks post.

Pancho Rabbit and the Coyote: a Migrant's Tale

Pancho Rabbit and the Coyote: a Migrant’s Tale
2013
Duncan Tonatiuh
The rains have not come, and Pancho Rabbit's father and some of the other workers have to travel to El Norte to find work. When he is about to return Pancho's family plans a big party, but they never arrive. Pancho knows that there is something wrong, so he asks a Coyote to help him get to the North. The path is long and difficult, and Pancho has to pay the Coyote in food that he had planned to give his father. Soon, Pancho runs out of food, and the Coyote makes plans to eat the rabbit instead! Thankfully, Pancho's father and his friends are nearby and hear Pancho's yell for help, and the Coyote flees. Pancho, his father, and his father's friends go back home now that Pancho has learned the way.

This book is really a treasure, and a necessity. Using animal characters, especially the Coyote in the role of the "Coyote," was a really good idea that will help children see the plight of the migrants who make the difficult journey North for work. The story conveys the fact that many people who come to work in the United States as migrants do not always have a choice; there is simply no work for them back home. They have to stay away from their families for long periods, and the journey here and back is very difficult. And, sadly, the Coyote can sometimes turn out to be a villain in disguise. By telling the story from Pancho Rabbit's point of view, we see the worry families go through when their loved ones leave, and when, unfortunately, some never return.

This is a very serious and sad part of life for many migrant families, and this book conveys the reality and hardships undertaken for a better life in a way that young children can understand.

Diversity and Multicultural Books

School Library Journal has a really great variety of articles in this month's journal, many focusing on diversity. You can check out some of the features on the web:

Landing page for May 2014: The Diversity Issue

Article: We Need Diverse Books...But Are We Willing to Discuss Them With Our Kids?

Feature: An Expanded Cultural Diversity Booklist: SLJ Readers Respond

There are a great number of multicultural books featured throughout the journal. One example is Don’t Say a Word, Mamá, featured in an article focusing on summer reading for K-3.

Along the same lines, Booklist just had a great webinar titled "Reaching All Readers: New Multicultural Books for Children and Teens." If you visit their webinar archive, the webinar should be available next week. There were great handouts and a list of books from each publisher was also provided. A great resource!

I'd like to take a few moments to include some book covers of some of my favorite multicultural books. I've previously mentioned The Tequila Worm by Viola Canales, but these are just three of my favorites as well. Give them a try if you can!

Where the Mountain Meets the Moon, Grace Lin

Cat Girl's Day Off, Kimberly Pauley

Who Am I Without Him? A Collection of Stories about Girls and the Boys in their Lives, Sharon G. Flake

Feliz Cinco de Mayo

#DiversifyYourShelves

#DiversifyYourShelves

Part of the #WeNeedDiverseBooks campaign.

#DiversifyYourShelves

#DiversifyYourShelves

Part of the #WeNeedDiverseBooks campaign.

#WeNeedDiverseBooks

#WeNeedDiverseBooks to know we are not alone

We also need diverse books to learn about others, and to learn about ourselves. Participate in the We Need Diverse Books campaign:

Recently, there’s been a groundswell of discontent over the lack of diversity in children’s literature. The issue is being picked up by news outlets llike the NYT, CNN, EW, and many more. But while we individually care about diversity, there is still a disconnect. BEA’s Bookcon recently announced an all-white-male panel of “luminaries of children’s literature,” and when we pointed out the lack of diversity, nothing changed.

Now is the time to raise our voices into a roar that can’t be ignored. Here’s how:

On May 1st at 1pm (EST), there will be a public call for action that will spread over 3 days. We’re starting with a visual social media campaign using the hashtag #WeNeedDiverseBooks. We want people to tweet, Tumblr, Instagram, Facebook, blog, and post anywhere they can to help make the hashtag go viral.

For the visual part of the campaign:

• Take a photo holding a sign that says “We need diverse books because ___________________________.” Fill in the blank with an important, poignant, funny, and/or personal reason why this campaign is important to you.

• The photo can be of you or a friend or anyone who wants to support diversity in kids’ lit. It can be a photo of the sign without you if you would prefer not to be in a picture. Be as creative as you want! Pose the sign with your favorite stuffed animal or at your favorite library. Get a bunch of friends to hold a bunch of signs.

• However you want to do it, we want to share it! There will be a Tumblr at http://weneeddiversebooks.tumblr.com/ that will host all of the photos and messages for the campaign. Please submit your visual component by May 1st to weneeddiversebooks@yahoo.com with the subject line “photo” or submit it right on our Tumblr page here and it will be posted throughout the first day.

• Starting at 1:00PM (EST) the Tumblr will start posting and it will be your job to reblog, tweet, Facebook, or share wherever you think will help get the word out.

• The intent is that from 1pm EST to 3pm EST, there will be a nonstop hashtag party to spread the word. We hope that we’ll get enough people to participate to make the hashtag trend and grab the notice of more media outlets.

• The Tumblr will continue to be active throughout the length of the campaign, and for however long we need to keep this discussion going, so we welcome everyone to keep emailing or sending in submissions even after May 1st.

On May 2nd, the second part of our campaign will roll out with a Twitter chat scheduled for 2pm (EST) using the same hashtag. Please use #WeNeedDiverseBooks at 2pm on May 2nd and share your thoughts on the issues with diversity in literature and why diversity matters to you.

On May 3rd, 2pm (EST), the third portion of our campaign will begin. There will be a Diversify Your Shelves initiative to encourage people to put their money where their mouth is and buy diverse books and take photos of them. Diversify Your Shelves is all about actively seeking out diverse literature in bookstores and libraries, and there will be some fantastic giveaways for people who participate in the campaign! More details to come!

We hope that you will take part in this in any way you can. We need to spread the word far and wide so that it will trend on Twitter. So that media outlets will pick it up as a news item. So that the organizers of BEA and every big conference and festival out there gets the message that diversity is important to everyone. We hope you will help us by being a part of this movement.

Also of interest: this post at Women Write About Comics. 

#WeNeedDiverseBooks

#WeNeedDiverseBooks to know we are not alone.

We also need diverse books to learn about others, and to learn about ourselves. Participate in the We Need Diverse Books campaign:

Recently, there’s been a groundswell of discontent over the lack of diversity in children’s literature. The issue is being picked up by news outlets llike the NYT, CNN, EW, and many more. But while we individually care about diversity, there is still a disconnect. BEA’s Bookcon recently announced an all-white-male panel of “luminaries of children’s literature,” and when we pointed out the lack of diversity, nothing changed.

Now is the time to raise our voices into a roar that can’t be ignored. Here’s how:

On May 1st at 1pm (EST), there will be a public call for action that will spread over 3 days. We’re starting with a visual social media campaign using the hashtag #WeNeedDiverseBooks. We want people to tweet, Tumblr, Instagram, Facebook, blog, and post anywhere they can to help make the hashtag go viral.

For the visual part of the campaign:

• Take a photo holding a sign that says “We need diverse books because ___________________________.” Fill in the blank with an important, poignant, funny, and/or personal reason why this campaign is important to you.

• The photo can be of you or a friend or anyone who wants to support diversity in kids’ lit. It can be a photo of the sign without you if you would prefer not to be in a picture. Be as creative as you want! Pose the sign with your favorite stuffed animal or at your favorite library. Get a bunch of friends to hold a bunch of signs.

• However you want to do it, we want to share it! There will be a Tumblr at http://weneeddiversebooks.tumblr.com/ that will host all of the photos and messages for the campaign. Please submit your visual component by May 1st to weneeddiversebooks@yahoo.com with the subject line “photo” or submit it right on our Tumblr page here and it will be posted throughout the first day.

• Starting at 1:00PM (EST) the Tumblr will start posting and it will be your job to reblog, tweet, Facebook, or share wherever you think will help get the word out.

• The intent is that from 1pm EST to 3pm EST, there will be a nonstop hashtag party to spread the word. We hope that we’ll get enough people to participate to make the hashtag trend and grab the notice of more media outlets.

• The Tumblr will continue to be active throughout the length of the campaign, and for however long we need to keep this discussion going, so we welcome everyone to keep emailing or sending in submissions even after May 1st.

On May 2nd, the second part of our campaign will roll out with a Twitter chat scheduled for 2pm (EST) using the same hashtag. Please use #WeNeedDiverseBooks at 2pm on May 2nd and share your thoughts on the issues with diversity in literature and why diversity matters to you.

On May 3rd, 2pm (EST), the third portion of our campaign will begin. There will be a Diversify Your Shelves initiative to encourage people to put their money where their mouth is and buy diverse books and take photos of them. Diversify Your Shelves is all about actively seeking out diverse literature in bookstores and libraries, and there will be some fantastic giveaways for people who participate in the campaign! More details to come!

We hope that you will take part in this in any way you can. We need to spread the word far and wide so that it will trend on Twitter. So that media outlets will pick it up as a news item. So that the organizers of BEA and every big conference and festival out there gets the message that diversity is important to everyone. We hope you will help us by being a part of this movement.

Also of interest: this post at Women Write About Comics.