Bravo! to the PW (Publishers Weekly) article on representation of Native Americans in children literature. Thank you to groups like We Need Diverse Books and people like Debbie Reese – American Indians in Children Literature blog- for fighting stereotyping of Native Americans in children’s books. This stereotyping also happens with Latinos and other minorities.
¡Bravo! por el artículo de PW (Publishers Weekly) sobre la representación de indios americanos en la literatura infantil. Muchas gracias a los grupos como We Need Diverse Books y a personas como Debbie Reese – American Indians in Children Literature blog- por combatir la tendencia a estereotipos cuando se representan indios americanos en los libros para niños. Esta tendencia también ocurre en la representación de Latinos y otras minorías.
Written by Samantha R. Vamos and illustrated by Rafael López (2011). This embedded English/Spanish book tells the story of a farm maiden who, with the help of all the farm animals, makes a rice pudding dish, arroz con leche. The book is written following “The House that Jack Build” repetition pattern and it cleverly inserts new Spanish words in every page. The words are easy to understand as the reader has seen them in English in the previous page. The art work is beautiful. Rafael López uses warm colors and whimsical illustrations to complement the story. My favorite picture is the one with the hen (gallina) grating lemon (limón) while laying an egg (huevo)! Fun book to read.
Martina the Beautiful Cockroach by Carmen Agra Deedy, beautifully illustrated by Michael Austin, is a retelling of a popular Latin American folk tale. How will beautiful Martina find a perfect husband? Will it be Don Gallo, the rooster, Don Cerdo, the pig or any of her other suitors? Following her Cuban grandmother’s advise this clever cockroach finally finds the husband of her dreams. This book is Spanish embedded and is a Pura Belpré Honor Book.