April 20th| Week in Review

¡Hola a todos! Here are this week’s resources. They are diverse and, like my mom says, “a todo dar.”

–  To start off, check out the Q&A and Cover Reveal with Author-Illustrator Tony Piedra shared by Latinxs in Kid Lit. The cover reveal is for the book The Greatest Adventure, which is going to be released September 11, 2018.

— Check out why it’s time to diversify and decolonise our schools’ reading lists. It was expressed in the post that “Indigenous and students of colour deserve to have the same privilege in education that white students have always had – the opportunity to examine and imagine the full extent of their humanity in literature.”

 – With the latest caravan of Central Americans fleeing their countries due to violence and political reasons, you might want to view Hip Latina’s post on how to talk to kids about violence, crime and war. According to the web, “These tips and conversation starters can help you talk to kids of different ages about the toughest topics.”

— Also from Hip Latina, you can view Zoe Saldana’s perspective on how being Afro-Latina hindered her from landing lead roles. This is a great article when talking about identity and what it means to be Afro-Latina in the U.S. and Latin America.

— La bloga shared the poems Liz González presented to the Autry audience and who will be published in July by Los Nietos Press.

–  Here are some tips for reading poetry aloud to children, courtesy of Lee and Low Books.

— De Colores recommends Arriba, Abajo y Alrededor by Katherine Ayres and Nuestro Huerto: De la semilla a la cosecha en el huerto del colegio by George Ancona. According to the reviewer, Arriba, Abajo y Alrededor is “perfect for bilingual preschool classrooms” while Nuestro Huerto’s “gorgeous full-color photographs are laid out with lots of white space to accommodate his clear, accessible text and student art rendered in marker or crayon.”

— You can view the interview with Saraciea Fennell– an organizer of the Bronx Book Festival that is going to occur May 18-19. Fennell talks about the making of the festival and the reason why it arose.

–  Here are vignettes of women who weave words and who stood their ground in “Literary Witches” and “She Persisted” by Gathering Books.

– Deverian de ver como la fundación la Fuente celebra el día del libro con el festival Somos Lectores. Segun, “la Fuente han dado vida al primer Festival Somos Lectores, con actividades literarias, encuentros con autores, una campaña de donación de libros, descuentos y sorteos. Revisa nuestra programación y participa en esta fiesta de la lectura.”

— Finally, here is why the future is bilingual from TexasMonthly. Former state senator Leticia Van de Putte and Representative Diego Bernal “met at Jefferson High to talk about how to improve public education in San Antonio and the challenges of advocating for the city’s students at a state level.” When discussing how to improve education Representative Bernal emphasized that “the conversation we need to have is that dual language is the way to go. But that’s not the statewide attitude at all.”

Abrazos,
Alin Badillo

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Image: Santiago, Chile 2005. Reprinted from Flickr user Luxbao under CC©.

November 10th | Week in Review

¡Hola a todos! I am always delighted to assemble the resources for you!

— Here are the Premio Fundación Cuatrogatos 2017. Cuatrogatos is a nonprofit organizations that works to promote Spanish culture, language, and education, with a focus on children’s and young adult books. Its annual award was established to recognize high quality books created by Ibero-American writers and illustrators. This year’s list of award winners highlights 90 books written in Spanish.

– Latinxs in Kid Lit shared the book reviews of Lola Levine Meets Jelly and Bean as well as The Rooster Would Not Be Quiet by reviewer Dora, a bilingual reading specialist for k-3. Dora includes great teaching tips in her review!

– If teaching kindergarten, you might want to check out The Latino Family Literacy Project’s short book trailer for the children’s book Fun with ABC’s – Loteria Style.

– For those teaching older grades, you might be interested in teaching about the Role of Women in Drug Cartels as represented in popular media. “In short, the reality is this—on screen, we’re accustomed to seeing the women of the drug cartels as mere background players. But on the ground, things couldn’t be more different. Now that the DEA has captured El Chapo, it is a “queenpin” from the Medellín cartel’s past—Maria Teresa Osorio de Serna—who remains one of the few figures left on their most wanted list.”

– You might already be familiar with “the 12-year-old-trailblazer fighting for equality in kids’ books,” but if not you should definitely read more about her story and be inspired for how you and your students can help change the world.

– Still looking for more inspiration? How about reading “How YA Literature is Leading the Queer Disabled Media Revolution”? “When you’re marginalized, it’s hard to find yourself reflected in media. When you’re marginalized in multiple ways, that difficulty is multiplied tenfold…”

– We hate to break it to you, but Dr. Seuss’ work is “complicated.” Read more about how “Dr. Seuss Draws Fresh Scrutiny.” “Seuss, like any other author, was a product of his time,” Martin said. “Fortunately, some authors grow and figure out that maybe some of the things they wrote early on were harmful and they try to make amends. Seuss did that.”

– We were excited to read that “A New Database Catalogues 1,300 Children’s Books About People of Color.” And they’re cataloging the books with nuanced search terms, which means that we can both find diverse literature and analyze how stereotypes can be reproduced even within the so-called diverse book world. “So far Aronson and her team have read and processed 1,300 books, with around 200 backlogged books left. The database can be searched with combinations of tags, like ‘Vietnamese,’ ‘Muslim,’ and ‘beautiful life’ to find books appropriate for different occasions, lessons, and readers. The database also reveals patterns in the ways kids are taught about people of color: Of the 10 books starring a Brazilian kid currently published in the US, half are about soccer. Half the books about Asian or Asian American characters are about culture, like The year of the sheep, about Chinese Zodiac signs, and a quarter are about folklore, like The ghost catcher, a retelling of a myth about a Bengali barber. About 2% of these have characters categorized by the database as ‘oppressed.’” Check out the Diverse Book Finder to explore its catalog.

– Finally, we have to share a recent post from The Open Book blog run by the wonderful folks at Lee & Low Books: Celebrate Native American Heritage Month + Poster Giveaway.  “Historically, Native people have been silenced and their stories set aside, hidden, or drowned out. The #NoDAPL movement and the fight against racist portrayals for sports mascots  brought Native American voices to the forefront of the news last year, but the issues that the community still have to deal with shouldn’t be brushed aside. This is why it’s especially important to continue to read stories about Native characters, by Native voices which brings us to some exciting news: last month, we brought back to print a special 40th Anniversary  edition of Simon J. Ortiz’s beloved children’s book The People Shall Continue, which traces the history of Native and Indigenous people in North America. It includes updated illustrations by Sharol Graves and a new afterword by the author. It’s also available in a Spanish translation which you can purchase here.”  Visit their blog to learn more and request a free poster for your classroom!

 

Abrazos,
Alin Badillo

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Image: Valparaiso, Chile. Reprinted from Flickr user Paula Soler-Moya under CC©.

September 22nd | Week in Review

¡Hola a todos! Here are more recent resources from around the web. Enjoy and happy Hispanic Heritage Month!

— Latinos in Kid Lit posted a book review for Shadowhouse Fall by Daniel José Older, a follow-up to his book, Shadowshaper, which we featured here on the blog.  This is the second book in his “Shadowshaper Cypher” series and is recommended for advanced readers. As did Shadowshaper, this book grapples with difficult topics for young adults of color, including racialized violence, white supremacy, and youth activism.

– Colorín Colorado discussed Serving English Learners with Disabilities: How ESL/Bilingual Specialists Can Collaborate for Student Success. “Appropriately serving English Learners (ELs) with disabilities requires a team effort involving professionals from multiple disciplines to ensure that instruction is provided to support both the language-learning and disability-related needs of the students.”

— Also, Latinos in Kid Lit shared a Letter from Young Adult Readers to Latinx Writers about Race, Gender and Other issues. “As a class, we considered how these texts represent the Latinx community, and the history of Latin America and the Caribbean, to young readers, and in some cases, because of the lack of Latinx representation and authors in youth literature, these books may be the only portrayals a young reader may encounter in a book about Latinx people.”

–For those of you teaching middle or high school history, especially about the border, Santos released a new album named “Agonía.’ This album describes the many experiences of living at the border in Tijuana.

Abrazos,
Alin Badillo

April 21st | Week in Review

¡Hola a todos! This week’s resources are diverse and I hope they are of interest to you.

– Check out how this College Student (Kaya Thomas) Created a Mobile Directory of 600 Books that Prioritize Diversity. After realizing that most of the characters in books she read didn’t look like her, “Thomas devised an iPhone app that functioned as a directory of 300 books showcasing characters of color.”

—These Latin Americans Celebrated their Roots with a Mesoamerican Ballgame Championship in Tetiohuacán. This ballgame, known as “pitza” in the Classic Maya language, was celebrated over 3,000 years ago in the region and is today practiced as part of an effort to reclaim culture and history.

January 20th | Week in Review

¡Hola a todos! Today’s Week in Review is a bit longer than usual because there were so many valuable resources to share this week. The content has given me hope, and I hope it will do the same for you. Enjoy!

– The Zinn Education Project shared a new lesson plan to teach about the Reconstruction Era titled, Reconstructing the South: A Role Play. While a historical lesson, the themes are relevant today. “This role play asks students to imagine themselves as people who were formerly enslaved and to wrestle with a number of issues about what they needed to ensure genuine “freedom”: ownership of land—and what the land would be used for; the fate of Confederate leaders; voting rights; self-defense; and conditions placed on the former Confederate states prior to being allowed to return to the Union.”

December 2nd | Week in Review

¡Hola a todos! Another month has passed, and I just want to let you know that I am extremely grateful to share all of these resources with you. I really hope they are of use to you.

– Our friends at Remezcla shared a preview of the Latin American women featured in Rad Women Worldwide by Kate Schatz.

November 4th | Week in Review

¡Hola a todos! The readings for this week are a mix between celebrating Día de los Muertos and bilingual education. I really hope you enjoy them.

– After Nearly 2 Decades, Californians Revisit Ban On Bilingual Education. “Our children live in Spanish-speaking families, Spanish-speaking neighborhoods, and listen to Spanish television when they’re home. If school refuses to teach them English, where are they going to learn it? They’re not going to go to college if they don’t have academic English down well.”

– Our Teaching for Change friends shared on Facebook their favorite bilingual children’s book (and one of ours!), Just a Minute!: A Trickster Tale and Counting Book, in celebration of Día de los Muertos.

— Also on Facebook, Latinas for Latino Lit shared their list of chapter Books with Latina Protagonists.

–Here are 21 Of The Most Powerful Things Ever Said About Being An Immigrant shared by our friends at We Need Diverse Books. Warsan Shire writes, “You have to understand, that no one puts their children in a boat unless the water is safer than the land.”

– Lastly, from Remezcla, we discovered 5 Virtual Día de los Muertos Altars to Women Who Defined Music History that you can share in your classroom.

Abrazos,
Alin Badillo

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Image: Día de los Muertos Art. Reprinted from Flickr user Kubetwo under CC©.

October 21st | Week in Review

¡Hola a todos! I am sorry for the technical difficulties last week! We promise not to send you the same post three times in a row again, even if we’re really excited about it.

Now that we’re back on schedule, here is the week in review. Let us know if we overlooked any marvelous resources!

— As we wrap up Hispanic Heritage Month, Read Diverse Books recommended a list of books to Read During and After Latinx Heritage Month. I’ve read A House of My Own by Sandra Cisneros and The Distance Between Us by Reyna Grande, but clearly have a long list of TBR ahead of me!

– Our Rethinking School friends shared on their Facebook page an important article that highlights How the Stress of Racism Affects Learning.

— Also, on the blog Reading While White, Allie Jane Bruce shares Thoughts on Stereotypes and offers a perspective that we share here at Vamos a Leer: “…we need to pay attention when characters are given stereotypical traits.”

–Latinx in Kid Lit shared an example of the positive influence of bilingual education in Californians, Having Curbed Bilingual Education, May Now Expand it. “What we want is for individual schools to be able to decide what they think is best for the students, whether that’s a dual language or some other way.”

– Over at the De Colores blog, we read a moving review of the children’s book Dos Conejos Blancos / Two White Rabbits written by Jairo Butrango and illustrated by Rafael Yockteng. Recently selected as an Américas Award Commended Title, this is a book to add to your collection!

— Lastly, Lee & Low Books shared the new Curated Books App by We Need Diverse Books. “OurStory is a database comprised of more than 1,200 curated books reflecting diverse characters and themes that librarians, educators, parents, and children can search for reading recommendations.”

Abrazos,

Alin Badillo

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Image: Ballet Folklorico Performers. Reprinted from Flickr user Jennifer Janviere under CC©.