Cuentecitos

Seguida por Versión en Español
Danza Mexica Cuauhtemoc
Invites everyone

To its celebration of
“The Day of the Dead”

On Thursday November 1st

6:00 PM to 10:00PM
At
El Parque de México
(North Main & North Mission, Lincoln Heights, LA)
Info: (213) 481- 82 65
Aztec dance! Music by “Tolteca!” and food!
YOU ARE CORDIALLY INVITED TO PARTICIPATE WITH YOUR ALTAR or OFFERING TO YOUR LOVE(S) ONE(S)

Oher Cuauhtemoc Ceremonies:
Saturday Oct 27 –Baldwin Park- 5:00 PM contact: Christ at cuauhtemocbp@ aol.com
Friday Nov. 2nd San Fernando at Sepulveda Park contact: boch@hotmail.com
Saturday Nov 3rd - Ventura at Mission Park- 100E Main St, Ventura CA 93001 cont: Theo at cenyeliztli22@yahoo.com

Danza Mexica Cuauhtemoc
Le invita

A su celebración de
“Día de Muertos”

Jueves 1o de Noviembre, 2007

6:00 a 10:00 PM
En
El Parque de México
(North Main & North Mission, Lincoln Heights, LA)
Info: (213) 481- 82 65
Danza Azteca, Música x “Tolteca” y comida

ESTA CORDIALMENTE INVITADO A ACOMPAÑARNOS A HONRAR LA MEMORIA DE AQUELLOS QUE DEFENDIERON NUESTRAS TRADICIONES Y NUESTRA CULTURA
¡Los esperamos!

Otras ceremonias de Cuauhtemoc:
Sábado 27 de Oct –Baldwin Park- 5:00 PM contact: Christ at cuauhtemocbp@ aol.com
Viernes Nov. 2 San Fernando at Sepulveda Park contact: boch@hotmail.com
Sábado Nov 3 Ventura at Mission Park- 100E Main St, Ventura CA 93001 cont: Theo at cenyeliztli22@yahoo.com

Robert’s Snow was founded by children’s book illustrator Grace Lin and her husband Robert as a fundraiser to benefit Dana-Farber Cancer Institute. The story is a touching one and you can read all about it here.

I first heard of Robert’s Snow while doing my daily reading at 7-Imp, one of the blogs I read religiously. Eisha and Jules had a fantastic idea, get the kidlit bloggers to pitch in and feature an illustrator or two or five to drive traffic to the Robert’s Snow Snowflake auctions. The response was terrific (who wouldn’t want to pitch in?) and I eagerly threw my hat in the ring.

My first illustrator/snowflake feature landed on a Friday and I was torn. I couldn’t miss Poetry Friday! I love Poetry Friday and I loved the idea of featuring an illustrator. I was committed to the feature and determined to have my Poetry Friday cake too. But how? At 7:15 a.m. just before running out the door to work, an answer landed right into my laptop with the name Roald Dahl. I know! You’re mystified. Well, stay with me and you’ll see what I mean.

My illustrator today is Jeff Mack. Born in Syracuse, New York, Jeff Mack spent most of his childhood drawing monsters, writing horror stories, and building haunted houses in his basement.

Having spent five years as a full-time muralist, he began illustrating children’s books in 2001, starting with Linda Ashman’s Rub-a-Dub Sub, a Junior Library Guild selection and Bill Martin Jr. Award nominee. Since then he has illustrated thirteen picture books, including James Howe’s Ready-to-Read Bunnicula series and Eve Bunting’s Hurry! Hurry ! He has also written and illustrated Hush Baby Polar Bear to be published by Roaring Brook in 2008.

Now at home in the high peaks of Western Massachusetts, he continues to write and illustrate books, paint murals, and talk with school groups about his work.

Jeff is currently in Buffalo, NY visiting elementary schools but he still managed to take time from his busy schedule to write me a nice email about Robert’s Snow and a bit about his snowflake.

I chose Jeff’s snowflake for the title alone – Pensive Pig. Anyone who reads me here at AmoXcalli knows my granddaughter Jasmine has a thing for pigs. Together, we occasionally review books about pigs so when I saw a snowflake with a pig in the title, well I just had to choose it. When I saw it, I wanted it for Jasmine. I’ll be bidding but I hope I have lots of competition. Here are Jeff’s own words about his snowflake and Robert’s Snow below his very Piggerific snowflake.

About a year ago I heard someone on the radio talking about the structural similarities between pig and human brains. I starting imagining pigs using their brains to have some of the same moments of epiphany that humans sometimes have (like the ones pictured in old Renaissance paintings). I made a few portraits of pigs involved in deep concentration. When the snowflake project came along, I thought that the snowflake may someday be used as a Christmas gift. So I decided to put one of the thinking pigs on the snowflake to remind the receiver that “it’s the thought that counts”.

What brought me to Robert’s Snow was meeting Grace Lin at the Smith College Campus School Book fair in Northampton, MA. We talked about illustrating books, and she asked me if I’d like to be involved in the snowflake project.

You can find out more about Jeff Mack’s work on his website. I’m especially fond of his murals.

When I read this email from Jeff this morning and his words about the thinking pig, I remembered that Roald Dahl wrote a very dark little poem about a thinking pig and that’s when I knew I had not only a post about Robert’s Snow, but my Poetry Friday post as well.

The Pig

In England once there lived a big
And wonderfully clever pig.
To everybody it was plain
That Piggy had a massive brain.
He worked out sums inside his head,
There was no book he hadn’t read.
He knew what made an airplane fly,
He knew how engines worked and why.
He knew all this, but in the end
One question drove him round the bend:
He simply couldn’t puzzle out
What LIFE was really all about.
What was the reason for his birth?
Why was he placed upon this earth?
His giant brain went round and round.
Alas, no answer could be found.
Till suddenly one wondrous night.
All in a flash he saw the light.
He jumped up like a ballet dancer
And yelled, “By gum, I’ve got the answer!”

Read the rest of the poem here.

The round up is over at Kelly Fineman’s today. Thanks for hosting Kelly!

Me Llamo Gabriela/My Name Is Gabriela
Author: Monica Brown
Illustrator: John Parra
Publisher: Luna Rising
ISBN-10: 0873588592
ISBN-13: 978-0873588591

This wonderful little tribute to Gabriela Mistral, the Chilean Nobel Prize winner for Literature and the first Latina to receive the award works on so many levels.

As a picture book, the illustrations by John Parra are simply beautiful. His almost etched looking feel to the pages give that unique Latino flair and flavor while his color palette brings a happy and joyful feel to the book.

As a history, the book is a wonderful way to introduce young children to important historical figures in a completely relatable way. The book opens telling about Gabriela and how she picked her own name because she liked the sound of it. Writen in the first person, Me Llamo Gabriela/My Name Is Gabriela draws in the young reader with its imaginative, day dreamy feel and a sense of play. My little granddaughter was captivated by the story of young Gabriela Mistral and how she realized her dreams and beyond. I could see that she was drinking in the story, seeing herself in Gabriela and imagining herself doing the same. Isn’t that what we want for our children? That they see themselves as strong and successful so that they can go out into that wide world with a strong sense of self and the belief that their dreams are possible? Monica Brown’s book does just that – it gives them a concrete example of someone who followed their dreams and made them happen.

On another very important level this book teaches the importance of literacy. It gives little Latinas a good look at an intelligent role model. People like Gabriela Mistral are people Latinas or Chicanas don’t always learn about till college. To have a young child’s picture book teaching about a Nobel Prize-winning author gives them a view that they as Latinas have value and much to contribute. That’s an extremely important view to have when you’re growing up. My Name is Gabriela is highly recommended.

I’ve always loved Rudyard Kipling’s If and here’s a bit of it for Poetry Friday. It’s funny how well this poem has served me in my life. It’s kept me strong, helped me keep a cool head when I’m about to lose my Irish -Mexican temper and reminded me that dreams and thoughts can be made reality.

The round up is at Two Writing Teachers who are hosting for their first time. Thank you for hosting!

If you can keep your head when all about you

  Are losing theirs and blaming it on you;

If you can trust yourself when all men doubt you,

  But make allowance for their doubting too;

If you can wait and not be tired by waiting,

  Or, being lied about, don't deal in lies,

Or, being hated, don't give way to hating,

  And yet don't look too good, nor talk too wise;

To read the rest click here.

Poetry Friday is here and I’m in the mood for some nonsensical stuff. Who better for nonsense than Edward Lear? Unless we’re talking about Ogden Nash. He might be next week. The Friday round up party is here at whimsy.

The JumbliesEdward Lear

They went to sea in a Sieve, they did, In a Sieve they went to sea:In spite of all their friends could say,On a winter's morn, on a stormy day, In a Sieve they went to sea!And when the Sieve turned round and round,And every one cried, `You'll all be drowned!'They called aloud, `Our Sieve ain't big,But we don't care a button! we don't care a fig! In a Sieve we'll go to sea!'   Far and few, far and few,     Are the lands where the Jumblies live;   Their heads are green, and their hands are blue,     And they went to sea in a Sieve.

They sailed away in a Sieve, they did, In a Sieve they sailed so fast,With only a beautiful pea-green veilTied with a riband by way of a sail, To a small tobacco-pipe mast;And every one said, who saw them go,`O won't they be soon upset, you know!For the sky is dark, and the voyage is long,And happen what may, it's extremely wrong In a Sieve to sail so fast!'   Far and few, far and few,     Are the lands where the Jumblies live;   Their heads are green, and their hands are blue,     And they went to sea in a Sieve.

The water it soon came in, it did, The water it soon came in;So to keep them dry, they wrapped their feetIn a pinky paper all folded neat, And they fastened it down with a pin.And they passed the night in a crockery-jar,And each of them said, `How wise we are!Though the sky be dark, and the voyage be long,Yet we never can think we were rash or wrong, While round in our Sieve we spin!'   Far and few, far and few,     Are the lands where the Jumblies live;   Their heads are green, and their hands are blue,     And they went to sea in a Sieve.

And all night long they sailed away; And when the sun went down,They whistled and warbled a moony songTo the echoing sound of a coppery gong, In the shade of the mountains brown.`O Timballo!  How happy we are,When we live in a Sieve and a crockery-jar,And all night long in the moonlight pale,We sail away with a pea-green sail, In the shade of the mountains brown!'   Far and few, far and few,     Are the lands where the Jumblies live;   Their heads are green, and their hands are blue,     And they went to sea in a Sieve.

They sailed to the Western Sea, they did, To a land all covered with trees,And they bought an Owl, and a useful Cart,And a pound of Rice, and a Cranberry Tart, And a hive of silvery Bees.And they bought a Pig, and some green Jack-daws,And a lovely Monkey with lollipop paws,And forty bottles of Ring-Bo-Ree, And no end of Stilton Cheese.   Far and few, far and few,     Are the lands where the Jumblies live;   Their heads are green, and their hands are blue,     And they went to sea in a Sieve.

And in twenty years they all came back, In twenty years or more,And every one said, `How tall they've grown!For they've been to the Lakes, and the Torrible Zone, And the hills of the Chankly Bore!'And they drank their health, and gave them a feastOf dumplings made of beautiful yeast;And every one said, `If we only live,We too will go to sea in a Sieve,--- To the hills of the Chankly Bore!'   Far and few, far and few,     Are the lands where the Jumblies live;   Their heads are green, and their hands are blue,     And they went to sea in a Sieve.