Books & Resources
MTYT: Forest World
This month we examined four books that portray the theme of Sense of Place. A sense of home or belonging is incredibly valuable to humans. The books selected for this month highlight characters who discover that special sense of place, or must leave their longtime place and find a new one. Our final book for the month of August is Forest World.
MTYT: Insignificant Events In the Life of a Cactus
This month we’re examining four books that focus on the theme Sense of Place. Having a sense of home or belonging is something humans value almost as much as family. The books selected for this month center around characters who find that special sense of place, or have to leave their longtime place and find a new one. This week’s selection is Insignificant Events In the Life of a Cactus.
MTYT: Pablo Finds a Treasure
For My Take/Your Take this month, we examine four books that focus on the theme, Sense of Place. Last week, Michele and Yoo Kyung challenged the ways in which we think about place as home and instead consider how place is about where one discovers self. This week, they use the lens of sense of place to give their takes on Pablo Finds a Treasure by Andrée Poulin and Isabelle Malenfant.
MTYT: Moonrise
This month we examine four books that focus on the theme, Sense of Place. Living in Hawaii, Michele feels particularly drawn to the idea of having a strong and grounded sense of place. For her, this notion means being deeply connected to the land and natural environment and having a feeling of “at homeness” somewhere. Recently her family lost their beach home to the powerful forces of lava in Kapoho, Hawaii. This brought forth many emotions as she believes this special home helped her understand what it means to have a sense of place. It is with this lens that she responds to the selected books given the theme this month.
MTYT Bonus: Looking Ahead to a Puerto Rican Read In
René Picó and Charlene Klassen Endrizzi close their inquiry with a bonus post looking ahead to their upcoming Puerto Rican Read In, scheduled for Fall 2018. We hope our read-in helps children connect to cross-cultural experiences through common everyday interactions and ponder cultural misunderstandings some mainlanders hold about a group of American citizens from another region in the United States.
MTYT: The Role of Women in Puerto Rican Culture
Many layers of idiosyncrasies lie within the books that allow readers to explore the cultural complexities of the Puerto Rican experience. This week, My Take/Your Take looks at the role of women in Puerto Rican culture as evident through a contemporary, well-known role model in Sonia Sotomayor: A Judge Grows in the Bronx and a quieter, equally crucial role model in Grandma’s Records.
MTYT: Sights and Sounds in Puerto Rican Picturebooks
This July, René Picó and Charlene Klassen Endrizzi explore the cultural complexities of the Puerto Rican experience. Many layers of idiosyncrasies can be uncovered within these books by the reader. The aim is to reveal how Puerto Rico “is a human archipelago… self-assertive, puzzling and contradictory.”
Our search for Puerto Rican picturebooks continues as we focus on the rich eco-diversity of our Caribbean island. We hope to fascinate readers with the sights and sounds of the distinctive Puerto Rican wildlife (including parrots, coquís and iguanas) through our discussion of The Coqui and the Iguana and Parrots Over Puerto Rico.
MTYT: Roberto Clemente and Tito Puente
This July, René Picó and Charlene Klassen Endrizzi delve into the cultural complexities of the Puerto Rican experience. The books are selected to allow readers to uncover more layers of idiosyncrasies. We want to reveal how Puerto Rico “is a human archipelago… self-assertive, puzzling and contradictory.”
MTYT: Schomberg: The Man Who Built a Library
This July, René Picó and Charlene Klassen Endrizzi explore the cultural complexities of the Puerto Rican experience. Each book allows readers to uncover another layer of idiosyncrasies. We hope to reveal how Puerto Rico “is a human archipelago… self-assertive, puzzling and contradictory”
(Arturo Morales-Carrion, 1976).
