by Barbara Thompson-Book, Indiana University Southeast, New Albany, IN
Last week I explored a part of the world that is fraught with conflict and, though there is conflict in my next area of the world (Mexico, the Caribbean, Central America, and and South America), I’d like to take a more positive approach to the exploration of books from our neighbors to the south and the Web sites that support them. Last week I explored novels, so this week I’ll look at picture books. Let’s have some fun!
The issue of authenticity, brought up in Kathy Short’s post Stepping Back in Time has weighed heavily on my mind in selecting books for discussion in these four blog posts I have planned. I want to start by looking at the books of George Ancona. Mr. Ancona is a photographer who has captured the beauty of various traditions and people from all over the world. On his Web site he writes, “As a photographer, I can participate in other people’s lives … producing something that can be shared and has a life of its own.” While he has written and photographed over 200 books, I have picked books related to life to the south of us from where his family heritage originates.
In Pablo Remembers: The Fiesta of the Day of the Dead we follow Pablo and his family as they shop for this important festival in Mexican heritage. The photographs show Pablo’s family visiting the big city market in Oaxaca, Mexico. They are making a special trip from their small village outside of Oaxaca to gather the things they need to honor the members of their family who have died. There is an extensive author’s note to aid the teacher with detailed information regarding this celebration.
An entire section of Azcentral.com, an Arizona based news channel, provides archived information, videos and slide shows related to information on Dia de los Muertos or Day of the Dead. It also has a downloadable teacher’s packet with word searches, vocabulary, coloring pages, and other information. The only problem with this site is that before you can view the video, you have to watch a 15 second commercial from the sponsor. There are also other ads on the site, however there are many sources of information on the site.
Diadelosmuertos.us has basic information about Dia de los Muertos. Though it’s a commercial site, it does give you information on constructing an alter and making sugar skulls (very detailed instructions with pictures taking you step by step through the process).
The Piñata Maker/El Piñatero follows a Oaxacan Piñata maker through his day. (Did I mention that George Ancona’s parents are from the Oaxacan region of Mexico?) We watch Tio Rico make several piñatas and finally end up at a party where a piñata is broken. The book is bilingual with English and Spanish on each page.
The Web site Mexconnect published a detailed article on the history of piñata. It also provides several rhymes and songs to be sung while trying to break the piñata. For easy directions and a video demonstrating how to make a piñata visit WikiHow.
Next Mr. Ancona visits the city of Olinda, Brazil for Carnaval. He explains that Carnaval is a five day festival just prior to the beginning of the Christian period known as Lent. Through his beautiful photographs the reader is immersed in the colorful sights of this joyous festival.
A basic overview of Carnaval is given at About.com. There are other links on this site for Rio de Janeiro and traditions associated with Brazilian carnaval. The site does do a lot of promoting of travel, but the main body of the piece has a great deal of information.
The New Mexico Department of Cultural Affairs is promoting their Carnival exhibit with much less commercialism. Their Web site gives a basic history of the festival, an evolution of the traditions, and even mentions Olinda, Brazil in its opening page! Under the link Carnaval Around the World, Olinda is one of the choices. Follow the links to Recife and Olinda and you can see a map of Brazil, listen to carnaval music, and view more pictures of carnaval in Olinda.
Basic information for a unit on Brazil can be found at The Embassy of Brazil in London’s Web site. It has fact sheets, PowerPoints, and a variety of activities you can do with your students.
Mr. Ancona visits Guadalajara, Mexico in Charro: The Mexican Cowboy. In this book he chronicles the life of a Mexican cowboy, takes us to a La Charreada or rodeo-like competition, introduces the festival El dia del charro, and discusses Mariachis.
As was the case with piñatas, Mexconnect also published the best article I could find about Charros. The author documents her own experiences with El dia del Charros. There are several pictures and some recipes included. When searching “Charro” on a search engine, you will find there are hundreds of Mexican restaurants named “Charro” in the United States!
National Geographic Kids has some basic information on Mexico for young students. It also provides resources for related information on games, stories, geography, and animals of Mexico.
For those who know me, Mr. Ancona’s next book may be a surprise. Bananas: From Manolo to Margie shows how bananas get from a banana plantation in Honduras to an undisclosed market in the United States. At the end of the book, he has head-shots of the twenty people involved in each step of the process of getting the bananas from Manolo to Margie. Yahoo kids provides encyclopedic information on Honduras.
For those of you who actually like bananas, check out these two Web sites:
Banana.com is everything bananas. It discusses the history of “the world’s most popular fruit” (I never was one to follow the crowd). There is information on how to grow bananas, how to buy them and store them, and medicinal uses of bananas. There were several recipes. It even has a forum on which you can discuss bananas with other lovers. Just don’t click on Fruit Baskets as that’s where they’ll try to sell you bananas!
Bananaland is a kid-friendly site developed by the banana industry in Australia. There is age appropriate information and some pretty fun games the kids can play. (Remember Space Invaders? In this one it’s bananas that are invading!)
Moving away from the books of George Ancona, but still keeping the issue of authenticity in the forefront, it is important to mention that the American Library Associate has established the Pura Belpre Award to honor Latino/Latina authors and illustrators. The ALA is in the process of redesigning its Web site so past winners are currently not available. At The University of Pittsburgh library Web site provides a listing of all the winners and honor books from the award’s inception in 1996 to the present. Among the first honored is our own George Ancona for Pablo Remembers: The Day of the Dead.
A book related to this award is also an honor book this year. The Storyteller’s Candle by Lucia Gonzalez tells the story of Pura Belpre, the first Puerto Rican Librarian for the city of New York. A charming tale of how one woman organized an entire neighborhood to become patrons of the library.
Time for Kids has a simple Web page on Puerto Rico on their site. It provides a map, time line of historical events, basic facts, and such.
Boricua Kids is a great resource for any teacher wanting to do a unit on Puerto Rico. It has lesson plans, songs with music, maps and much more.
Abuela’s Weave by Omar Castañeda, illustrated by Enrique Sanchez takes us to Guatemala. Esperanza and her Grandmother (Abulea) work to produce huipiles and tapestries in their small village of Santa Cruz. Grandmother is afraid to take the work to the big city because she has a birthmark on her face. The children of the town have rumored that she is a witch and people in the village are afraid to buy things from her, so going to town is their only option. The book follows the pair as they ride to the city on a bus. At this point, Grandmother separates herself from Esperanza. Esperanza must make her way through the big city, which is illustrated as a large bustling urban center. She finds a corner of the market and sets out her wares, afraid no one will buy. Will they?
Once again, the National Geographic Kids’ website was the best source of information on Guatemala. When searching for information on Guatemala for use in the classroom you have to be selective as there are a number of missionary/orphanage sites and there are many adoption sites.
A very informative Web page about huipiles can be found at Santiago Atitlan’s Web site. It gives the history of the weaving, an overview of the region in which huipiles have been woven for centuries, and the basics of weaving.
Maria Cristina Brusca’s memoir, On the Pampas, takes the reader to Argentina. Growing up in Buenos Aires, her family would summer at her grandparent’s estancia (ranch) on the Pampas of Argentina. One summer she is sent to visit her grandparents alone. There she learns to take care of horses and watches the gauchos working the cattle. The book is somewhat nostalgic, but introduces the reader to what life on the Pampas was like for a young girl. There is also a back page with information on Argentina and The Pampas.
Yahoo Kids provided the safest information on Argentina. Several other sites that I found while searching the terms “Argentina” and “kids” took me first to a simple site on facts on Argentina, but when I clicked on the hot links for Buenos Aires I was taken to an inappropriate ad for a “dress up” doll before I could get to the Buenos Aires site. This kind of linking is becoming more and more prevalent on the World Wide Web and you have to be careful before accessing links for your students.
The best information I could find about gauchos was at Travelsur.net. This is another travel site, but it has a great deal of information about gauchos and their history — with very little advertisement.
Next week we will be off to Africa with a mix of novels and picture books. I hope you’ll continue on the journey with me.
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