¡Mira, Look!: Sueño azul / Kallfv pewma mew

Hoy vamos a hablar de Sueño Azul / Kallfv pewma mew del poeta y oralitor chileno Elicura Chihuailaf y de los ilustradores María de los Ángeles Vargas y Alberto Montt, ambos originarios del país andino. Durante esta crítica me referiré a la obra, Kallfv pewma mew, en su denominación mapuche; idioma también conocido como mapudungun. Es de resaltar la descripción del autor como oralitor, una figura acuñada por el mismo que pretende honrar a los antepasados mapuches y supone una mixtura de oralidad y escritura.

Kallfv pewma mew es un pasaje a las tierras de la Araucanía, en Chile central, donde el saber indígena de los mapuches no parece haber sido ultrajado por capas de colonialismo histórico. Supone un despertar poético del autor entre su tejido familiar, con los mayores como pilar vital para adquirir una posición de respeto por la lengua, las tradiciones y la naturaleza. Estos últimos se funden en un caluroso abrazo y dejan destilar los frutos de su unión para dar a conocer un estilo de vida que bebe del color azul, el poder de la tierra y la importancia de la oralidad como hilo conductor de su existencia misma. Dejémonos transportar por algunos de los evocadores pasajes:

 

Pukem wamfiñ ñi tranvn ti pu koyam ti llvfkeñ mew wvzam tripalu

/ En invierno sentimos caer los robles partidos por los rayos […]

Che ta rumel mogen Mapu gelay Mapuche fey piley Mapu mu tripachi che piley

/ La Tierra no pertenece a la gente, Mapuche significa Gente de la Tierra […]

 

 

La obra ofrece un lirismo que fluye como las aguas de un río en lengua mapuche y castellana respectivamente (incluyendo la versión en inglés y francés hacia el final de la misma), y se deja confundir con recuerdos que no aparecen constreñidos por reglas gramaticales (el texto no está puntuado); recuerdos que dialogan con unas ilustraciones bidimensionales que proyectan el alma de la vida mapuche. Partiendo de su infancia, el autor va construyendo un arco vital cuajado de sabiduría ancestral y cómo esta forja su ser poético al calor de las hogueras. Una pasión que le hará viajar a otros países y que permite que se erija en un legítimo representante de la población indígena chilena.

Elicura Chihuailaf es un poeta y oralitior chileno nacido en 1952 en la región de la Araucanía, hacia el sur de Santiago, la capital, en el centro del país. Kallfv pewma mew es su primera obra infantil, aunque tiene una extensa publicación de otros textos como El invierno, su imagen y otros poemas azules (1991), Recado confidencial a los chilenos (1999) o Sueños de luna azul (2008). Por su parte, María de los Ángeles Vargas y Alberto Montt son ilustradores y diseñadores chilenos que colaboran regularmente con varias editoriales y medios nacionales.

Recursos relacionados con la promoción de la poesía, el respeto por el saber tradicional y la naturaleza:

• Página oficial de Elicura Chihuailaf, autor de la obra.
• María de los Ángeles Vargas y Alberto Montt, ilustradores y diseñadores.
• Pehuén, editorial de Sueño azul / Kallfv pewma mew.
• Información sobre el pueblo mapuche.
• El tema es relevante hoy en día teniendo en cuenta el enconamiento de la protesta mapuche por los derechos de su pueblo y tierras en Chile: artículos en Al Jazeera, The Guardian y Los Angeles Times.

Esta publicación tiene un sentido especial para mí por varias razones: la primera es que uno de mis amigos más importantes, de esos que aunque pase el tiempo y no os veáis todo sigue igual cuando tenéis oportunidad, es chileno. La segunda tiene que ver con el hecho de aunar poesía, saber ancestral y naturaleza. Este triángulo mágico que transporta y evoca de forma tan poderosa.

¡Nos vemos en próximas publicaciones, estad atentos al blog!

Santi

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10 Children’s and YA Books Celebrating Latinx Poetry and Verse

Hello all –

I am thrilled to be celebrating National Poetry Month with you!  As with many of you, poetry holds a dear place in my heart.  As a young person, I recall writing poem after poem and finding such liberation in exploring my voice, playing with syntax and line breaks, and testing out vocabulary that had yet to find a place in my daily life.  Poetry allowed for a freedom and creativity that was unmatched in other mediums.  And because of this, I believe that writing poetry enables us to develop our own voice, author our own truths, and honor our own experiences; all of which play an integral part in a young person’s social, emotional, and cognitive development.

January 13th | Week in Review

¡Hola a todos! I hope your holiday celebrations were blessed and unforgettable. As we start the New Year, I want to take this opportunity to share our excitement here at Vamos a Leer about the many recent and forthcoming titles by and about Latin@s. We’re adding lots of these titles to our TBR list and thought you might want to, too. Enjoy!

– Remezcla shared on their page the Top 15 2016 Must Reads From Latin America and Latino Authors. “The list below is 15 of the best books published in the U.S. by Latinx writers this year — it includes books in translation (so many books in translation!) Latin-American writers, and a lot of debut authors.”

Vamos a Leer: Spring 2017 Featured Titles

Hello, all!

As 2016 wrapped up, Katrina and I turned our attention to which YA titles we’d feature in 2017. To help figure out what would be the most useful and interesting, we reached out to our local book group (thanks to all of you for sharing your ideas!). In the process we heard a range of ideas, including reading authors who come directly from Latin America, exploring books that will appeal to younger readers (middle school, rather than advanced high school), and interspersing different formats (like graphic novels) into the list.

From all of that, and more, we came up with the following featured titles and are looking forward to reading them with you!

January 9th | Tractor Brewing (Wells Park)
Darkroom: A Memoir in Black and White by Lila Quintero Weaver | Ages 14 and up | United States (Alabama) and Argentina

February 13th | Tractor Brewing (Wells Park)
Dark Dude by Oscar Hijuelos | Ages 14 and up | United States (Wisconsin and Puerto Rico)

March 13th | Tractor Brewing (Wells Park)
Dancing in the Rain  by Lynn Joseph | Ages 12 and up | United States (New York) and Dominican Republic

April 10th | Tractor Brewing (Wells Park)
The Head of the Saint by Socorro Acioli and translated by Daniel Hahn| Ages 14 and up | Brazil

May 22nd | Tractor Brewing (Wells Park)
Echo by Pam Muñoz Ryan | Ages 12 and up | United States (Pennsylvania and California) and Germany

Best,
Keira

November 11th | Week in Review

Hola a todos! This Week in Review is quite long, but I assure you it is full of resources and knowledge that needs to be shared.

– ColorLines shared a recent snippet from the show Last Week Tonight with John Oliver, inviting readers to “Watch John Oliver Break Down How School Resegregation Hurts Students.” “Black and Latino children are more likely to attend school with inexperienced teachers who are then less likely to offer a college prep curriculum… [and are] 6 times as likely to be in poverty schools.”

— Lee & Low’s blog, The Open Book, shared a post on “Books as Bricks: Building a Diverse Classroom Library and Beyond,” which offers a list of recommendations for teachers looking to diversify their class and school libraries.

– The Horn Book published an article on “Decolonizing Nostalgia: When Historical Fiction Betrays Readers of Color” by Sarah Hannah Gómez, in which she writes: “Omitting nonwhites from episodic historical fiction and the everyday history that informs our lives today says that the only contribution by people of color to society is conflict. Deleting them from the continuous line of history is a lie that perpetuates this insidious myth. And middle-grade historical fiction has a long way to go to acknowledge this betrayal to readers and attempt to overcome it.”

— The blog, Reading While White, shared a guest post with one of our favorite authors, Yuyi Morales, who discusses “Day of the Dead, Ghosts, and the Work We Do as Writers and Artists.” Morales offers a beautiful discussion of her personal practices related to Día de los Muertos and the implications of its distortion in the general media and children’s books.

– The Facebook page Raising Race Conscious Children shared the article,
“Telling Poor, Smart Kids That All It Takes Is Hard Work to Be as Successful as Their Wealthy Peers is a Blatant Lie,” which explores how these students face systemic disadvantages even though they work hard.

— Also, Fundación Cuatrogatos recommends the book Corre que te pillo. Juegos y juguetes, which pulls together 27 games and toys that have existed since the early century in Latin America and other regions around the world

–The Zinn Education Project just shared The #NoDAPL syllabus for high school and adults. This resource contextualizes how the current resistance in North Dakota is tied to a “broader historical, political, economic, and social context going back over 500 years to the first expeditions of Columbus” and features the practices of “Indigenous peoples around the world [who] have been on the frontlines of conflicts like Standing Rock for centuries.” “

— From We Need Diverse Books, we learned of the recent article, “The Case of the Missing Books/ 10 Years of Data,” written by children’s book author and artist Maya Gonzalez to highlight the lack of diversity in children’s literature over the last decade.d. “The graph below shows the children’s books that were missing by POC and Indigenous people in the children’s book industry over the last 10 years.”

– Lee & Low Books just released Rainbow Weaver/Tejedora del arcoíris. The story is about a Mayan young girl named Ixchel and her quest to create a beautiful weaving from unusual materials.

— Lastly, Teaching Tolerance shared What We’re Reading This Week: November 4, a list of resources for critical and conscientious teaching in middle and high school classrooms.

Abrazos,
Alin Badillo

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Image: Street Art. Reprinted from Flickr user ARNAUD_Z_VOYAGE under CC©.

Welcoming New Writers: Colleen

Hello all y mucho gusto!

My name is Colleen.  I am new to blogging and excited to be joining the Vamos a Leer community.  I will be posting the monthly Reading Roundup.  I look forward to sharing my thoughts and to hearing yours!

A little bit about me: I am a native New Mexican and UNM alumni.  I received my BA in Latin American Studies and Spanish in 2008.  After several years, I am returning to pursue a dual degree in Latin American Studies and Community and Regional Planning.  It feels great to be back in the academic environment!  My interest in Latin America developed early in my undergraduate studies.  It stemmed from learning a more profound history of New Mexico, particularly that of Spanish Colonial (and US) expansion and the impact that colonization has on people, land, language, identity, and culture.  Although New Mexico’s history is distinct from that of Latin America, there are significant and strong parallels.   I am continuously fascinated by the vínculos that exist between New Mexico and Latin America.  Equally, I am intrigued by the differences and divergence that has taken place.

I have worked in the field of youth and community development both locally and internationally for the last eight years. In this time I have developed a passion for working with community members – young people more specifically – on social and emotional life skills, focusing on sexual and reproductive health.  I believe these to be all-encompassing topics that with continued emphasis can greatly strengthen our communities.  I am thrilled to embark on this dual degree and intend to continue working towards positive youth and community development though culturally relevant planning, programming, and education.

Mis saludos,

Colleen

 

 

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Writers’ Words: Edwidge Danticat

¡Buenos días!

I hope everyone is having a great Thursday! In celebration of this month’s featured book, Claire of the Sea Light, I’ve brought you a visual quote by Edwidge Danticat.

I hope you enjoy it!

¡Saludos!
Kalyn

WWW: Climate Change 101 and Impacts in Latin America

¡Feliz viernes a todos!

I’m feeling a bit under the weather this week so my post will be a little shorter than usual. This week, I will continue the discussion about our lovely planet! As I mentioned last week, Earth Day is important for many reasons, just one of which is to highlight the problems our environments are facing today as a result of our ever-changing climate. While “climate change” is a popular phrase in politics and media reports, I thought it may be nice to introduce a resource that explains the terms frequently used with climate change, and thus explains how climate change began. With both the option to watch a video (narrated by Bill Nye the Science Guy) or to review a slideshow of terms and definitions, we think this resource could help students understand what climate change means as a term and also what it means for the planet we call home.

The second resource is a video that illustrates environmental impacts of climate change in Latin America and the Caribbean. In conjunction with my post from last week, this could lead to discussion about why Earth Day is important, what will happen if we do not take action, alternative resources and energy, and even to discussion about recycling both in the classroom and at home.

The video above is best suited for older audiences, since it ties environmental issues into economic terminology.  However, we think younger students could benefit from the video with proper introduction to the key vocabulary. We hope these examples help illustrate that environmental problems impact everyone. If nothing else, we hope you can use these resources in the classroom to provide depth and real life scenarios to your environmental and energy source discussions in the coming weeks. At best, we hope these resources inspire your students to get involved this Earth Day and everyday!

With warmest wishes,

Charla

Sobre Octubre: Resources on Día de los Muertos, Remembering, and Celebrating

Hi, everyone,

I’m here to wrap up our September focus on “Resources to Honor and Understand Latin American Influences,” and introduce you to the themes we’ll be tackling in October: Día de los Muertos, remembering, and celebrating.

Before I talk about our upcoming month, I have to acknowledge that we’re still smack dab in the middle of Hispanic Heritage Month (HHM), and here at Vamos a Leer remain caught in a love-hate relationship with it.  Even while HHM promotes the discussion about Latin@/Hispanic culture, it minimizes the conversation to stereotypes and relegates the information to one month out of the year, effectively communicating to students that Latin@/Hispanic heritage offers a “break” from the real curriculum; it’s apart from authenticate knowledge. There are many, many reasons why this is problematic. Katrina has discussed some of them on the blog, joining other educators such as Enid Lee and Deborah Menkart who advocate for a “beyond heroes and holidays” approach to education. In short, she’s advocated for a classroom where discussions of other cultures are not limited to one month out of the year, but instead are integrated meaningfully throughout the curriculum.

But we’re not suggesting dismissing HHM completely. Instead, much like readers who responded to a recent poll on “How do you feel about Hispanic Heritage Month? Tell us” organized by LatinoUSA, we suggest that HHM is “what you make of it.” Let’s use this an opportunity to start (or better, continue!) meaningful conversations about Latin@/Hispanic heritage, but conversations unfettered by the arbitrary dates of Sept. 15 – Oct. 15.

Reading Roundup: 10 Bilingual Children’s Books about Immigration

¡Buenos días!

For this month’s booklist I’ve compiled a “Reading Roundup” of 10 recommended bilingual books that look at the subject of Latin America/US immigration through the eyes of children. The titles are generally for ages five and up, and all include both English and Spanish text in the same edition.  We don’t propose that this is a definitive list of the best books on the topic, but we do highly recommend each of the books included here.

Although immigration is a dense and complicated topic, children’s books offer an accessible yet meaningful way to approach it – children can relate to the characters at eye-level.  This can be powerfully authenticating for students who have experienced these issues themselves. It may also be traumatizing and emotional for them, so know your students and be prepared to provide a supportive environment when reading this book. As for students who have never been exposed to immigration except through the generalizations and stereotypes heard on the news, these intimate stories involving family, acceptance, and struggle offer a worthwhile alternative and provide the space for the development of empathy.