Los Gatos Black and the Courage of Children

by Julia López-Robertson, Lillian Reeves, Francie Kneece, Erin Thompson & Molly Williams, University of South Carolina

The last book in our exploration of El Día de los Muertos is Los Gatos Black on Halloween written by Marisa Montes and illustrated by Yuyi Morales (2006). Los Gatos tells the rhythmic story of Halloween night from the other side of the grave. Toward the end of Los Gatos, however, the story takes a subtle glance at the Americanization of Día de los Muertos. At the onset, the author clues us in that Los Gatos takes place in October, not November, clearly marking this a story about Halloween and NOT Día de los Muertos. Later, however, on the page with the lines, “The gravesites shiver, headstones shake./Las Tumbas open, tombs awake./The corpses with their cold dead eyes,/Los muertos from their coffins rise” (p. 16) — the words seem to be illustrating spooky scenes and by that point, we are easily caught up in their melodic beat. Continue reading →

A Critique of Pablo Remembers: the Fiesta of the Day of the Dead

by Julia López-Robertson, Julie Medlin and Casey Goldston, University of South Carolina

This week two students offer a critique of the book and make connections to course readings in emergent bilingualism and linguistics. We begin with a summary, followed by the strengths and issues and close with teaching connections.
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‘Señor Calavera still isn’t scary’

by Julia López-Robertson, Tiffany LaBrooy, Kirstin Wade & Jamie Yobs, University of South Carolina

This week a group of students read Yuyi Morales’ beautiful stories, Just a Minute and Just in Case. Just a Minute is a witty tale of Grandma Beetle who gets a surprise visit by Señor Calavera, a skeleton who has come to inform her that it is “time to go.” Grandma Beetle says she will go in “just a minute” after she sweeps one house, boils two pots of tea, makes three pounds of corn into tortillas… and on and on until she gets to ten where she informs her grandchildren that Continue reading →

The Spirit of Tío Fernando: A Day of the Dead Story

By Julia López-Robertson, Deanna Futrell & Shirley Geiger, University of South Carolina

In class we talk a lot about helping our students take a more global view of society; we want them to see beyond the borders of our city, state, and finally our country. One way that we can begin this process is by exposing them to quality children’s and young adult literature representing a variety of viewpoints, cultures, and people and then inviting them to examine and discuss these books. How can sharing children’s books (specifically about the Day of the Dead) help in raising awareness and developing an understanding of a culture different than one’s own? Continue reading →

El Día de los Muertos/Day of the Dead: A Cultural Exploration

by Julia López-Robertson & Lillian Reeves, with Nicoleta Hodis, Lisa Stockdale, Ashlye Rumph-Geddis, Mary Jade Haney & Amy Bartholomew, University of South Carolina

A gift for Abuelita: Our entrée into El Día de los Muertos

El Día de los Muertos (Day of the Dead) has its’ origins more than 3,000 years ago when the Aztec Indians, who inhabited Mexico, spent four months each year honoring the dead with ceremonies and rituals. With the arrival of the Conquistadores in the 16^thcentury came the elimination of the already established Aztec traditions and their replacement with the Spanish beliefs and traditions which followed the doctrine of the Roman Catholic Church. Rather than completely accept the Spanish traditions, the indigenous peoples resolved to mesh “ancient traditions with those of the church” (Arquette, Zocchi &Vigil, 2008, p.8) and the result is el Día de los Muertos. Continue reading →

To be or not to be: Graphic Novels in the Classroom?

by Julia López-Robertson, Amber Hartman, Jennifer Judy, Lillian Reeves, University of South Carolina

Many teachers are very hesitant to use graphic novels in their classroom. Much of the hesitation has to do with a personal lack of familiarity with this specific form of literature. For some, the use of graphic novels in the classroom is foreign and scary, some might not even see it as “literature,” while others are actually beginning to see the great advantage of using them to supplement student learning.
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Border Crossing: Children in the Cultural Crossfire

by Julia López-Robertson with Amanda Dunnigan & Rebecca Martin
University of South Carolina

In A Step from Heaven, An Na invites us on the Parks’ journey as a recently arrived Korean family who migrated to the United States (Mi Gook) seeking a better life. Young Ju, our seven year old protagonist, believes that Mi Gook is heaven, but is it? The family’s new life in the United States is full of contradiction and chaos; they desire to belong and fit in while still maintaining their Korean heritage, is this possible? As we continue to serve more immigrant children in our schools, how can we help them cross borders between life inside the home vs. life outside in the world?
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Border Crossings: Tangled Threads

by Julia López-Robertson, Michelle Metts and Tracy Spires, University of South Carolina

Immigrant students face significant challenges in balancing their home culture and American culture. In Tangled Threads: A Hmong Girl’s Story (Shea, 2003), Heather and Lisa assimilated to the American culture and brought heartache and disappointment to their parents and grandmother. Many parents display tremendous bravery in bringing their families to America, only to lose their children to American culture (Buley-Meissner, 2002). ESOL (English to Speakers of Other Languages) teachers can assist students in embracing their home culture. Continue reading →

The Space Between : A beginning journey into border crossing

by Julia López-Robertson & Lillian Reeves, University of South Carolina

Emergent bilinguals make up 8.2% of the total population of all children under the age of 18 in South Carolina. While there are many languages spoken by immigrant children in our schools, Spanish is the most widespread language spoken by 40,000 of all emergent bilinguals (http://www.migrationinformation.org/ellinfo/FactSheet_ELL3.pdf). The Latino population has been on a steady increase nationally and in South Carolina specifically the population growth has been staggering; as reported by the American Community Survey, the change in the Latino population in the state of South Carolina in the period between 2000-2009 was 115.5%; in 2000 the Latino population was 94,652 and in 2009 it was 203, 939
(http://pewhispanic.org/files/factsheets/hispanics2009/Table%2014.pdf). Yet, when I arrived at the University of South Carolina in 2006, I taught the first course that had anything to do with teaching emergent bilinguals (while the state of South Carolina uses the term English Language Learner to describe children who will learn English as an additional language, I prefer emergent bilinguals (see García & Kleifgen, 2010).
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Interview with Yuyi Morales, Part 4

by Jeanne Fain, Middle Tennessee State University, Murfreesboro, TN and Julia López-Robertson, University of South Carolina, Columbia, SC

We wanted to hear Yuyi’s insights on publishing and inquire about her future plans. Additionally, we wanted to end our blog with children’s responses to Yuyi’s work. We asked our colleague Robin Horn from Galveston Elementary in Chandler, AZ and a preschool teacher associate of Julia’s at Spears Creek Road Child Development in Elgin, SC to share responses from Yuyi’s new book with Tony Johnston, My Abuelita. The children responded sharing their stories and connections with the book.

Jeanne: What are your thoughts about children’s publishing especially in regards to bilingual children’s literature?
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Worlds of Words

International Collection of Children’s and Adolescent Literature

Julia López-Robertson