This month Celeste and María consider stories that examine issues of hunger, poverty and homelessness. In each of the stories, the characters are represented in a dignified and respectful manner. This week, they discuss The Lunch Thief, written by Anne C. Bromley and illustrated by Robert Casilla.
Author: Rebecca Ballenger
Malala Activist for Girls’ Education and For the Right to Learn
By Seemi Aziz, The University of Arizona, Tucson, AZ
Most of the books mentioned in the first week of this series on books about Malala Yousafzai were submitted for book awards and considered distinctly above and beyond the run on the mill books that frame the Malala rhetoric by at least the publishers. Each story has the same narrative with various distinctions and have varied illustration distinctions. Malala story’s attraction is undeniable in all of the texts. Her being shot and surviving gives credence to the story as the girl who lived to use her incident to further her cause.
MTYT: Maddi’s Fridge
By Celeste Trimble, St. Martin’s University, Lacey, WA and María Acevedo-Aquino, Texas A&M University-San Antonio, San Antonio, TX
This month Celeste and María look carefully at stories that examine issues of hunger, poverty and homelessness. In each of the stories, the characters are represented in a dignified and respectful manner. They begin with Maddi’s Fridge, written by Lois Brandt and illustrated by Vin Vogel.
Malala Yousafzai In Books for Children
By Seemi Aziz, The University of Arizona, Tucson
Since Malala Yousafzai, a Pakistani heroine who propagates education for women, hit the world stage there has been a huge spotlight on her life and activities globally, especially captured and projected in the arena of children’s books. Her near-death experience at the hands of the Taliban sets her story apart in more ways than one. Her dramatic entry into the global narrative reinforces concerns of women’s oppression and lack of education in Muslim countries and takes it to whole new level. Continue reading
MTYT: Dreamers
By Violet Henderson and Mary Fahrenbruck, New Mexico State University
Mary and Violet continue to provide their takes on the 2019 Pura Belpré award winners and honor books. This week, they look at Dreamers by Yuyi Morales. The book was awarded the 2019 Pura Belpré Illustrator Award.
Italicizing Non-English Words: The Case of Spanish in Picturebooks
By María V. Acevedo, Texas A&M University-San Antonio, San Antonio, TX
With Rebecca Ballenger, University of Arizona, Tucson, AZ
I read out loud All Around Us, by Xelena Gonzalez, illustrated by Adriana García, to a class of undergraduate students. When I read, “We eat what we’ve grown-crunchy lettuce, sweet carrots and spicy chiles,” one of my students said, “I love your Spanish accent.” Chiles is the only Spanish word in this picturebook and it is not italicized. The student’s comment made me think of picturebooks that highlight non-English words in one way or another and the implications of this practice to fictional characters and readers.
MTYT: They Call Me Güero
By Violet Henderson and Mary Fahrenbruck, New Mexico State University
Mary and Violet continue to provide their takes on the 2019 Pura Belpré award winners and honor books. This week, they look at They Call Me Güero: A Border Kid’s Poems by David Bowles. The book won the Pura Belpré Honor Award for Authors for 2019.
MTYT: The Poet X
By Violet Henderson and Mary Fahrenbruck, New Mexico State University
Mary and Violet continue to provide their takes on the 2019 Pura Belpré award winners and honor books. This week, they look at The Poet X by Elizabeth Acevedo. This book is Acevedo’s debut novel and won the Pura Belpré Author Award for 2019.
Reflections for Mother’s Day, Motherhood and Significant Caregivers
By María Acevedo-Aquino, Texas A&M University-San Antonio, San Antonio, TX
When I think about Mother’s Day, I think about individuals with an extraordinary capacity for nurturing, protecting, guiding, knowing, caring and loving. I also think about my mom living far away; my sister who will become a mother very soon; one of my former preschool students who lost his mom when he was 4 years old; my friend Sonia, her wife, and their baby Oscar; Dani, who awaits in a foster care residency in Spain to go back home; and, a dear friend who recently lost her son. I think about the numerous complex stories that shape personal and collective views of motherhood and days like Mother’s Day. Through this post, I hope to offer questions, rather than answers, and opportunities for dialogue, instead of a list of concepts to teach.
MTYT: Islandborn
By Mary L. Fahrenbruck and Violet Henderson, New Mexico State University
Throughout April 2019, Mary Fahrenbruck and Violet Henderson give their take on the 2019 Pura Belpré award winners and honor books (awarded to Latino/Latina writer and illustrator). In their first installment, Mary and Violet discuss Islandborn authored by Junot Díaz and illustrated by Leo Espinoza. The picturebook won the Pura Belpré Illustrator Honor Award for 2019.
