The Perfect Book for Making a Splash!

One of my favorite things about being a children's librarian is when I get a batch of brand new books that will be perfect to use in bilingual storytime. Today, just such a book arrived - I Know the River Loves Me / Yo sé que el río me ama by Maya Christina Gonzalez.

Maya Christina Gonzalez is both the author and illustrator of this book, as she also was for My Colors, My World / Mis colores, mi mundo.  This title features the same young Maya exploring the beauty of the world around her.  Like Maya, the river is low and quiet in the winter, and full and loud in the summer.  The river jumps and sings when she sees Maya, runs to her side to cool her down, and is always there calling to her as she gets close.  Maya returns her love to the river by being sure to "only leave behind what already belongs to her."

In addition to the beautiful bilingual text which flows like a river and is the perfect length for bilingual storytime, Maya Christina Gonzalez' illustrations are striking.  I must admit, in addition to Yuyi Morales, Gonzalez is one of my favorite illustrators.  Her style in this book is unique, with paisley-esque blossoms and leaves on the banks of the cool, flowing water.

An author's note at the end explains that the Yuba River in California is an important inspiration for this story.  It is published by Children's Book Press, which publishes a variety of excellent books that bring more diversity into the world of children's literature.

This year, our summer reading theme is "Make a Splash - Read!"  I cannot wait to use this book in a storytime celebrating water and kicking off summer reading, pairing it up with ¡Salpicar! / Splash! by Flora McDonnell.

Celebrating Christmas! / ¡Celebrando la Navidad! Bilingual and Spanish picture books for celebrating the winter holiday season

Storytime is taking a break at the Village branch library for the month of December. As such, there is no winter holiday storytime. However, I still find myself thinking about titles that would be great for such a program! In the spirit of sharing, here is a list of various titles that may be of interest. Some are secular, some religious; some are in Spanish or bilingual, and others are in English with Latino characters and themes of Latino holiday celebrations.  Some of these titles are short enough to hold the attention of young pre-readers, while others would be better for a school age audience and independent readers.  The titles are linked to the OCLC WorldCat, so you can easily see what is available at your local library!

Fiction

A piñata in a pine tree : a Latino twelve days of Christmas by Pat Mora
Summary from OCLC:
"In this adaptation of the folk song 'The Twelve Days of Christmas,' friends exchange such gifts as a piñata and 'cuatro luminarias.' Includes pronunciation and glossary of Spanish words and a description of Christmas foods and other holiday traditions from different Latin American countries."

La Nochebuena south of the border by James Rice
Summary from OCLC:
"In this bilingual version of 'The Night before Christmas,' Santa has become Papá Noel and his reindeer have been replaced with eight burros pulling a cart."

The Santero's Miracle: A Bilingual Story by Rudolfo Anaya
Summary from OCLC:
"In this bilingual story of faith, Don Jacobo has a dream that, in the end, is a reminder that miracles do happen."
Also by Rudolfo Anaya is,  Farolitos for Abuelo
Summary from OCLC:
"When Luz's beloved grandfather dies, she places luminaria around his grave on Christmas Eve as a way of remembering him."

Uno, Dos, Tres, Posada!  Let's Celebrate Christmas by Virginia L. Kroll
Summary from OCLC:

"A little girl guides the reader through each step of a posada, a Hispanic holiday tradition celebrated on the nine nights before Christmas."

Federico and the Magi's Gift: A Latin American Christmas Story by Beatriz Vidal

Summary from OCLC:  "Because he has misbehaved, four-year-old Federico is afraid the three kings will not bring him the toy horse he asked them for and, unable to sleep, he goes outside to await their arrival."

 The Night of Las Posadas by Tomie DePaola

Summary from OCLC:

"At the annual celebration of Las Posadas in old Santa Fe, the husband and wife slated to play Mary and Joseph are delayed by car trouble, but a mysterious couple seems perfect for the part."

N is for Navidad by Susan Middleton Elya 

Summary from OCLC:

"A rhyming book that outlines the preparations for and celebration of the Christmas season, with Spanish words for each letter of the alphabet translated in a glossary."

Navidad estelar de Dora by Christine Ricci

Summary from OCLC:

"When a very special surprise visitor arrives at Dora's house on Christmas Eve, he needs help, and fast! Join Dora and friends on their magical Christmas adventure."

The Gift of the Poinsettia = El regalo de la flor de nochebuena by Pat Mora
Summary from OCLC:
"As he participates in the festivities of Las Posadas, preparing for the birth of Christ, a young Mexican boy worries about what gift he will have for the baby Jesus."

 La navidad de Maisy by Lucy Cousins
Summary from OCLC:
"Maisy and her friends prepare for a Christmas celebration.

Maisy y sus amigos preparan para una celebración de Navidad."

Non-Fiction
Iguanas in the Snow And Other Winter Poems / Iguanas En La Nieve Y Otros Poemas De Invierno by Francisco X. Alarcón.
Summary from OCLC:
"These poems celebrate winter in San Francisco and the mountains of Northern California."

Las Navidades: Popular Christmas Songs from Latin America by Lulu Delacre

Summary from OCLC:

"A bilingual collection of popular Christmas songs from Latin America, illustrated to depict the Hispanic culture's rich and exuberant holiday celebrations."

El milagro de la primera flor de Nochebuena: Un cuento mexicano sobre la Navidad by Joanne Oppenheim

Summary from OCLC:

"A retelling of a Mexican legend that describes the origin of the Poinsettia plant. In this version, a young girl has nothing to give the Christ child, but when the weeds she carries in her hands miraculously transform into red flowers, she now has the perfect gift. Included is the music of a traditional Mexican Christmas song."

However you celebrate during the winter holidays, I hope it is filled with family, love, and good reading.  ¡Feliz Navidad!  

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Susan Middleton Elya strikes again!

The author of the popular rhyming titles that introduce readers to Spanish vocabulary such as Eight Animals Bake a Cake, Oh No Gotta Go!, and Say Hola to Spanish has struck again, this time with Adiós Tricycle. This book takes place at a garage sale, where Mom and Dad are earning some extra monedas by parting with unneeded items such as "outgrown ropa, pots for plantas and bowls for sopa." A gender-neutral niño is growing up and as such has a tricycle for sale - a favorite toy. As each potential buyer approaches the tricycle, our little seller tries to steer them elsewhere to avoid parting with the much loved trike. But finally, the trike moves on, earning the child enough money for a new mode of transportation - a bicicleta! Elizabeth Schlossberg's illustrations are emotive and cartoon-like, and the cast of animal characters represents a diverse group. As always, the text rhymes, which helps little readers develop the important pre-literacy skill of phonological awareness. A glossary at the back defines the Spanish words and provides some help with the pronunciation. Pair with Pato va en bici by David Shannon for a bicycle storytime or read-aloud!

Mora Award Winner

Check out this great video from the Topeka and Shawnee County library, this year's winner of the Mora award!

Virginia Hamilton Conference 2010

I am thrilled and honored to share that I have been invited to present a workshop on bilingual programming at the 2010 Virginia Hamilton Conference in Kent, Ohio! The Virginia Hamilton Conference is focused entirely on multiculturalism in literature for children and young adults, and is the longest running event of this kind. Though this conference may not be as widely known as larger events for librarians and educators, this conference attracts hundreds of public and school librarians and teachers. It also brings together some extremely important authors. This year, Pam Muñoz Ryan, author of Becoming Naomi Leon and Esperanza Rising among many others, will be the recipient of the Virginia Hamilton Literary Award. Laurie Halse Anderson, author of Chains and Speak will also be at this event.

I will be one of several presenters offering workshops at this conference, and mine will be on the topic of Bilingual Preschool Storytime. This is truly exciting for me, as I have now been part of creating a successful bilingual storytime program from scratch for two very different library systems. This experience means there are many angles from which I could approach this workshop - advocacy, marketing, early literacy, outreach, the practical elements of designing bilingual storytimes, how to find and select books, etc. As I am working on this project, I find myself thinking back to when I was first approaching bilingual programming. What did I want to know? What would have been the most useful information when I was first preparing to offer bilingual programs? I remember feeling very nervous, overwhelmed, isolated and intimidated at the prospect of launching this new program. What could have calmed my nerves? What resources did I need that I struggled to find?

My biggest goal with this workshop is that participants will leave with something practical and tangible that they can take back to their libraries or schools. I want them to feel more prepared to offer bilingual storytimes, as well as more connected to a community of bilingual programming practicioners than when they entered the room. So I'm wondering if anyone out there has ideas or suggestions for important elements to cover during the course of the workshop. What were your burning questions when you first began bilingual programming? What were your challenges? Have you trained others in presenting bilingual programs before? If so, what information did they find most beneficial?

I'll update the blog with the info I plan to share as the conference gets closer, and I will make everything available online afterward.

Early Numeracy in Bilingual Storytime

Recently, a colleague shared a great article regarding the importance of exposure to early numeracy concepts, in addition to early literacy concepts, and how this can be done through storytime. I got inspired, and this week in bilingual storytime at Village, numbers and counting abounded.

We started off with a fingerplay song, counting our manitas and deditos in English and Spanish. To the tune of "Ten Little Indians," we sang:

Dos manitas, diez deditos,
Dos manitas, diz deditos,
Dos manitas, diez deditos,
Cuentenlos conmigo.

Two little hands and ten little fingers,
Two little hands and ten little fingers,
Two little hands and ten little fingers,
Count them with me now.

Uno, dos, tres deditos
Cuatro, cinco, seis deditos,
Siete, ocho, nueve deditos
Diez deditos son.

One, two, three little fingers,
Four, five, six little fingers,
Seven, eight, nine little fingers,
One more and there's ten.


Then we were ready to move on to the stories, beginning with Nico y los lobos feroces by Valeri Gorbechav. In addition to being a super cute story about getting back to sleep after a bad dream, this book introduces more numbers than the standard 1-10. Nico believes he is being chased by 100 wolves...well maybe it was just 50...OK, maybe 15...or 5. As we read the story we pointed out the numbers on the flannelboard. Following the story, we talked about which numbers were bigger and smaller. Enhancing this, I filled four bags with corresponding numbers of buttons and had the kids pick out which bag had 100, 50, 15 or 5 buttons. They did a great job at this! It was also a nice opportunity to emphasize the "n" and the end of "fifteen" as I have noticed that many of the kids here have trouble hearing the difference between this number and "fifty."


From this we moved on to the story that introduces one of my all time favorite children's characters, Señor Calavera, in Yuyi Morales' instant classic, Just a Minute. We counted our fingers a different, more musical way, singing "Los deditos" from Jorge Anaya's A bailar = Let's Dance. Then we rhymed our way numerically across the globe (you know I have to work it that phonological awareness) with Abuelita fue al mercado. A trick I like to use with rhyming books that maintain the rhyme in both languages is to type out the English and tape it to the back of the Spanish book. This way we can read both as they are written and get that great rhyme, instead of trying to translate from either language on the fly.

This was a very fun program and parents responded enthusiastically, checking out more than half of the number-related books on display. Others I recommend on this theme are Fiesta by Ginger Foglesong Guy, Cuenta ratones by Ellen Stoll Walsh and Uno, dos, tres = One, Two, Three by Pat Mora. Tie the concepts in by printing out these great take home articles for parents on early numeracy at home from Reading Rockets, also available in Spanish.

How are you practicing numeracy in your storytimes, with your children, or with your students?