From Cuentecitos and AmoXcalli, welcome to the kidlitosphere Pat!

Uncle Nacho’s Hat/El sombrero del Tío Nacho
Adapted by Harriet Rohmer
Illustrations by Mira Reisberg
Publisher: Children’s Book Press
ISBN-10: 089239112X
ISBN-13: 978-0892391127

Uncle Nacho’s Hat is a delightful and colorful fable adapting to change, which was originally a Nicaraguan folktale. I’m always happy when someone as talented as Harriet Rohmer breathes life into an old tale and gives it a new audience. Old folktales contain so much magic and wisdom that we absolutely need.

In the story, Uncle Nacho is frustrated by his old holey hat and often grumbles about it. When his thoughtful and intelligent niece Ambrosia brings him a new hat, he is so consumed with giving up the old one that he doesn’t recognize the good things the new hat brings to his life. In fact, he doesn’t much notice it at all. Uncle Nacho goes through a variety of trials to find a home for the old hat, which makes for a very enjoyable and funny story that children love. The simple answer provided by his niece makes perfect sense and teaches a lot about accepting change and moving on from our old habits.

The illustrations are bright, beautiful, colorful and warm keeping true to the folktale’s Central American origins. I loved how monkeys and parrots seemed to find their way into places in the pages, giving both a tropical and whimsical touch.

I can’t recommend this book highly enough and I’m not at all surprised at the awards and honors it has acquired. I’ve listed them below:

• Reading Rainbow Selection
• UNICEF—Ezra Jack Keats Award Citation
• Parent’s Choice Approved Book
• Recommended by the Elementary School Library Collection

Book Description from the Publisher:

When Ambrosia gives her Uncle Nacho a new hat, he tries to get rid of his old one, but to no avail. No matter what he does, the pesky hat keeps coming back to him. This classic folktale from the Puppet Workshop of Nicaraguan National Television, vividly illustrated by Mira Reisberg and presented in a bilingual edition, is a parable about the difficulties of making changes and shaking off old habits. The book includes an account of the origins of the story.

April is National Poetry Month. Beginning in late April/early May 2008, mass
transit systems nationwide will feature 15 animated short films of poems
that were made by UWM film students. Supported by the Poetry Foundation, the
³Poetry Everywhere² series will premiere on Transit TV¹s network of
video-screens on transit system vehicles in Milwaukee, Chicago, Los Angeles,
Atlanta and Orlando.

The films also will be featured on the PBS and Poetry Foundation Web sites:
www.pbs.org and www.poetryfoundation.org, alongside another 17 films
produced by WGBH/Boston and David Grubin Productions. The films also may air
on local PBS stations at various times and at select venues in Milwaukee
(see sidebar).

The UWM-produced films are 45 to 90 seconds long, and feature a wide variety
of contemporary poems, including two by UWM professors: John Koethe of
philosophy and Maurice Kilwein Guevara of English. An amazing range of
animation techniques were used, including two-dimensional hand-drawn
watercolors and 3D computer-generated gaming graphics.

Callanan, assistant professor of English, got the idea for the project while
riding the bus in Milwaukee. ³I saw everyone watching the video screens, and
I thought, wouldn¹t it be great if they were watching poetry?

³The challenge was how to make the programs visually compelling, especially
in such a busy environment,² Callanan says.

He met Lichtenstein through the UWM Children¹s Center, where they both have
children enrolled. Callanan learned about his colleague¹s documentary media
center, docUWM, based in the university¹s film department.

³At docUWM, our specialty is to work with students to make completely
professional productions,² Lichtenstein explains. ³This project is a great
testament to how literate our students are, both in a visual and literary
sense.²

In the UWM films, most of the poems are read by the poets themselves,
although some are read by notables like local actress Flora Coker and
artist, writer and musician DJ Spooky.

Callanan says that while the student animators had to ³sweat over each
word,² working with poetry was actually more liberating than the usual task
of working with a storyline. ³They actually had a lot more creative freedom
and really got to experiment.²

²Exciting and intimidating from day one,² agrees student participant
Christopher Dudley Thorpe. ³Many instructors from different departments,
high aspirations, and potential national publicity all made the task
formidable.²

He was the animator/designer for ³Weighing In² by Rhina P. Espaillat, and
appreciated the ³genuine, personal connection made to poem and artist.²

For Allison Alexander Westbrook IV, ³The amount of work involved in doing
animation is always astounding, but the end results are like magic.

³I have been a fan of poet Robert Hayden¹s work for a long time,² she adds.
³And to create an animation for ŒThose Winter Sundays¹ was a great honor.

Creative collaboration
Lichtenstein emphasizes that a ³studio model² instead of a ³classroom model²
was used for the project. Meaning that in the midst of all that creative
freedom, students were continually challenged by each other and other
members of the production team. Both executive producers stress the ³tons of
collaboration² and the cross-disciplinary approach required for the
project¹s success.

This approach drew partners from across the university. Tim Decker, Jenny
Plevin and Alison Farmer served as producers. Decker, a lecturer in the film
department whose credits include Walt Disney studios and work on The
Simpsons, was the instructor for the class. Plevin, a video artist and a
project director with docUWM, ³maintained the overall momentum of every
aspect of the complex project,² says Lichtenstein. Farmer, a lecturer in
Journalism and Mass Communications, teaches a course in journalism
documentary production.

Maurice Kilwein Guevara and Ellen Elder, an English graduate student, worked
with the Poetry Foundation to select the poems for the series. Marc Tasman,
a lecturer in journalism and mass communication and Kate Raney, associate
lecturer in film, were part of the creative team.

For all project participants, the rewards of ³Poetry Everywhere² include a
new appreciation of poetry and the creative process as well as the hope that
they may have helped a harried commuter, world-weary television viewer or
bored Web surfer experience a moment of introspection.

Read more about it at these websites:

http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/poetryeverywhere/uwm/index.html

http://www.poetryfoundation.org/journal/video.html?show=Poetry%20Everywhere

http://www4.uwm.edu/news/features/details.cfm?customel_datapageid_11602=3337

The round-up is at the Well-Read Child. Thank you for hosting!!

It’s not books, reviews or anything literary – I just want to save the Taco Trucks and street vendors (mmmm esquites). Sign the petition and I’ll love you forever.

To learn more about Las Comadres please click here.

Queridas comadres…it’s TELECONFERENCE TIME! To
Register…

http://www.lascomadres.org/home_e/events/teleconference7.html

We ask that you consider purchasing the children’s
book we selected for April and donating it to an
elementary school in your area.

In celebration of El día de los niños/El día de los
libros (Children’s Day/Book Day)on April 30, we are
combining an interview with authors of a children’s
bilingual book on activism with a university professor
studying when and how children should be taught about
racism. This is a different format just for the month
of April. In May we’ll be starting our partnership
with the American Association of Publishers and
Borders, Inc. Reading With Las Comadres where we
interview Latina authors about their newly
published book and their work.

TELECONFERENCE DATE AND TIMES:
DATE: April 24, 2008 / duration approximately 1 hour
TIME: 5:00 PM PST
6:00 PM MST
7:00 PM CST
8:00 PM EST

Call in number (long distance charges will apply)
1-712-432-2323 / Access Code: 162718#

That’s Not Fair! / ¡No Es Justo!

by Carmen Tafolla and Sharyll Teneyuca

Illustrated by Terry Ybáñez, Spanish translation by
Carmen Tafolla, Translation editors: Celina Marroquín
and Amalia Mondríguez, Ph.D.

THE STORY
In the 1920s and 1930s, the pecan shellers of San
Antonio, Texas, were some of the lowest-paid workers
in the nation. They were all Mexican-Americans, who
had fled the revolution in their home country. Pecan
shellers worked twelve hours a day, seven days a week,
for as little as six cents a pound. In addition, they
had to work in dusty, closed rooms. This made many of
them ill. And then, in 1938, their wages were cut in
half. They needed someone to be a voice for them,
someone both brave and caring. They needed a hero. A
young woman, barely twenty-one, answered their call.
Her name was Emma.

But Emma Tenayuca was not born a hero of the poor.
That’s Not Fair! / ¡No Es Justo! tells how the seeds
of Emma’s awareness and activism were sown when she
was very young. This story of courage and compassion
shows how each of us, no matter how young, can help to
make the world more fair for everyone.

SOME PERTINENT RESEARCH ON THE TOPIC

White Children More Positive Toward Blacks
After Learning About Racism, Study Shows

Challenging the idea that racism education could be
harmful to students, a new study from The University
of Texas at Austin found the results of learning about
historical racism are primarily positive. The study
appears in the November/December issue of the journal
Child Development.

“There is considerable debate about when and how
children should be taught about racism,” says Bigler,
director of the university’s Gender and Racial
Attitudes Lab. “But little research has examined
elementary-school-aged children’s cognitive and
emotional reactions to such lessons.”

TELECONFERENCE PARTICIPANTS

Carmen Tafolla is one of the most anthologized of all
Latina writers with work for both adults and children
appearing in more than two hundred anthologies. With
work translated into Spanish, German, and Bengali,
Tafolla has been published in a great variety of
genres. Carmen Tafolla has also published five adult
poetry books, seven children’s television screenplays,

and numerous short stories and articles.

Sharyll Tenayuca is an attorney in San Antonio and the
niece of Emma Tenayuca.

UT Professor of Psychology Dr. Rebecca Bigler,
director
of the University of Texas at Austin, Gender and
Racial
Attitudes Lab

Interviewed by:
Adriana Dominguez is the Executive Editor who manages
the children’s division of HarperCollins’ Latino
imprint, Rayo. Before joining Harper, she was Críticas
magazine’s Children’s Review Editor. She has many
years of publishing experience in the children’s
market, and has worked for most major publishers.

Nora de Hoyos Comstock, Ph.D.
LAS COMADRES PARA LAS AMERICAS
Connecting Latinas Everywhere!
http://www.lascomadres.org ;
noracomstockphd@lascomadres.org
Comstock Connections, Austin, TX
512-928-8780 voice/fax; 512-751-7837c

Las Comadres is not responsible for the content of
this email, and text in this email does not necessarily
reflect Las Comadres views or opinions.

First Book (www.firstbook.org), is a nonprofit organization with a mission to provide children from low-income families the opportunity to read and own their first new books. Since 1992, First Book has distributed more than 55 million new books to children in need in thousands of communities nationwide. ALSC members and others with whom they work are able to receive new books for free or at deeply discounted prices for the children they serve from three separate First Book programs: First Book Advisory Boards (which grant free books to libraries and other local programs), the First Book National Book Bank (which distributes free books donated by leading publishing houses) and the First Book Marketplace (an online store selling books and educational materials to registered First Book programs for up to 90% off retail prices). Importantly, all decisions regarding book selection are made by individuals at local programs working directly with children served.

How to Connect with First Book:

* Step One: Register with First Book. In order to access resources for free and at reduced prices, you must register your program with First Book. Free online registration takes just a few minutes and will connect your program with all of First Book’s resources for new books. This step is required to receive books from First Book. To register visit: http://register.firstbook.org. You do not need to join the conference call below in order to register.
* Step Two: Join a call to learn more. To learn more about this opportunity, First Book will be hosting an optional conference call on Tuesday, April 22nd from 2:00 p.m. – 3:00 p.m. ET focusing on how ALSC members can further take advantage of First Book resources. This call is not required to receive books from First Book, but it will provide helpful information about how ALSC members can obtain books for the children they serve. To register for the call please email Rachael Voorhees at rvoorhees@firstbook.org with the name of your program and city/state in which you are located. This call is free to you and others you might invite.

* Step Three: Tell a friend. We also encourage you to share this information with other librarians, schools, and initiatives in your network serving children from low-income families. Please feel free to forward this information or contact Rachael Voorhees at the email above if you know of an additional network interested in learning more.

SPECIAL RESOURCES: The First Book Marketplace is offering a special collection of materials for El día de los niños/El día de los libros (Children’s Day/Book Day) on April 30. If you would like to learn more about purchasing deeply discounted Spanish and bilingual books for El día de los niños/El día de los libros, please visit www.firstbook.org/dia.

Attached is additional information about First Book. If you have any questions contact the First Book Help Team at help@firstbook.org or toll-free at 866-READ-NOW (866-732-3669).

For more information on El día de los niños/El día de los libros (Dia) (Children’s Day/Book Day) please contact Linda Mays of the Association for Library Service to Children (ALSC), at: lmays@ala.org or (312) 280-2165.

Our Daily Bread
by Janet Wong

Nine p.m. we close the store,
wash the counter, mop the floor.

Ten p.m. we finally eat.
Father pulls a milk crate seat

to the table and we pray.
Thank you for this crazy day.

Wong, Janet. A Suitcase of Seaweed, and Other Poems. New York: Margaret K. McElderry, 1996.

It’s Springtime in Los Angeles and the air is filled with the smells of flowers which reminds me of a favorite poem by Sandra Cisneros from her book Loose Women, 1994 Vintage books.

You Called Me Corazon by Sandra Cisneros

That was enough
for me to forgive you.
To spirit a tiger
from its cell.

Called me corazon
in that instant before
I let go the phone
back to its cradle.

You voice small.
Heat of your eyes,
how I would’ve place
my mouth on each.

Said corazon
and the word blazed
like a branch of jacaranda.

Leave your comments with Mr. Linky and Happy Poetry Friday everyone!

Join thousands in continuing the call for social justice by participating in the 10th Annual CESAR CHAVEZ WALK

Walk alongside Chavez family members, students, elected officials, celebrities, and community members and celebrate Cesar Chavez Day 2008. Walk sponsors include Los Angeles Mayor Antonio R. Villaraigosa and Councilmember Jose Huizar, 14th District.

SATURDAY, March 29, 2008
10:00am
at Historic Olvera Street
125 Paseo de la Plaza, Los Angeles, CA 90012
(Main Street between Arcadia and Cesar Chavez Avenue)

El día de los niños gives us all a wonderful excuse to promote Latino literacy and Latino books on April 30th! You can get more information on this wonderful celebration here.

If you’re an author, go to your local library or bookstore and encourage them to celebrate El día de los niños; offer to do a reading or somehow participate in the event to make it more enticing. It will further not only the celebration, but Latino books and literacy as a whole. Take part in this, it is only getting bigger.

This year is filled with new developments surrounding “Día,” as it is commonly called. The American Association of Publisher’s PLVA (Publishing Latino Voices for America) Committee and ALSC have partnered to create the first ever El día de los niños/El día de los libros list of recommended titles to be distributed to all of AAP’s outlets. These include AAP’s mailing lists and conferences. Here’s a link to the list. The list is a result of a collaboration among publishers to make it easier for libraries, booksellers, and everyone else interested in Latino books to find exactly what they need for their Día celebrations on April 30th, and throughout the rest of the year. Tell your colleagues and everyone you know about it, and hopefully we can have another one next year!

To celebrate Día, Rayo is also producing its yearly El día de los niños/El día de los libros poster. The poster is distributed at conferences to increase awareness of Día, and to provide librarians and booksellers with materials to celebrate and advertise Día at their libraries and bookstores.

One of Rayo’s own authors, Univision Radio’s Dra. Isabel, will also be participating in a Día event at New York City’s Jackson Heights public library. We hope that event, and the author’s celebrity, will increase awareness of Día’s even more.

These are all exciting developments that serve to further Latino children’s publishing as a whole. It is a pleasure to witness Día’s growth each year, so I ask you to join me in celebrating it in any way you can, and by spreading the word. ¡Feliz día de los niños y los libros!

Last year at Book Expo America, I had the great pleasure of meeting the very gracious Adriana Dominguez, Executive Editor at HarperCollins Children’s Books and Rayo. In the months after that meeting, we’ve corresponded many times about Latino children’s literature and I’ve been impressed both by her warmth and expertise.

Adriana Dominguez is an Executive Editor in the children’s book division of HarperCollins. Before joining Harper, she was Criticas magazine’s Children’s Review Editor. She has many years of publishing experience in the children’s market, is considered an expert in her field and has worked for most major publishers, such as Scholastic, Harcourt, McGraw-Hill, and Santillana U.S.A, among others, on either a full-time or freelance basis.

She has worked with many noted Latino authors, such as Lulu Delacre of Rafi and Rosi fame and the writing team of Alma Flor Ada and Isabel F. Campoy. She is generous with her time and is keenly interested in getting Latino authors and illustrators published.

A while ago, I broached the idea of having Adriana contribute to Cuentecitos and I’m so excited to say that she agreed and will start contributing her insight and knowledge in the next few weeks. She was also very generous in allowing me to interview her as an introduction.

First of all let me say how honored I am to have you as a contributor to Cuentecitos. Your contributions to the Latino community and to Children’s literature are very much appreciated and I am so very glad to have you here. Welcome!

Q: What first drew you to Children’s Literature???

A: First, I want to thank you for that warm reception. I am very happy to contribute to your very important blog; I want to see more Latinos get published, and I think that forums such as this one, where Latino authors can support each other and learn from one another, are a great place to start working toward that goal.

Now, to answer your question, I am fortunate enough to come from a household of avid readers. When I was a child, my mother would always have a book by her bedside table; she read to me at night and sang me songs before I went to sleep, this awoke my imagination, and so I too fell in love with books. Their ability to transport me to other places and realities still fills me with joy; “bookjoy” as the wonderful author Pat Mora would put it.

Once I got to college, I chose to study literature so that I could continue to fill my life with the joy that books bring. My first publishing job was as a Spanish language editor at Scholastic, and it was there that I realized the importance of the work I was doing; how it impacted kids just like me, who had come to this country not speaking the English language, and who desperately wanted to belong, but to also find something familiar throughout the process of adapting to a new culture. I hope that the books I help create provide that familiarity to Latino kids, that sense of belonging, and encourages them to be proud of their heritage, and of being bilingual, and bicultural. I also hope that it encourages them to embark on a life-long journey of learning.

?Q: Adriana, I recently read in Criticas Magazine that by 2025, one in four children in the United States will be Hispanic, that in 2005 more than half of the Spanish-language and bilingual materials for these children are still imported from Latin America and Spain. What is the US publishing industry in general and HarperCollins doing to catch up with the international market and get some of those reported billions of dollars that are currently being spent by the Latino market in imported children’s picture and coloring books? I believe the Criticas article stated that it was in the neighborhood of 34 million books that were shipped to the US in 2002. That’s a lot of books! ??

A: That is a lot of books indeed! And those books fill a very real, and as you pointed out, growing, demand. What I am attempting to do at HarperCollins Children’s Books through Rayo, is to provide books that are not just in Spanish, or bilingual in format, but that speak to the US Latino experience specifically. The books being imported from other countries are often high quality books, but they are not geared toward the US Latino specifically. I do think that there is room for all of us in this industry, the imported and the national books; the industry exists because there are readers who want all kinds of books. By hiring experienced Latino editors such as myself, who are familiar with the culture and can guarantee the quality of a translation, US publishers are committing to this very important market, and acknowledging the need for these books. ?

Q: What makes Harper Rayo a good place for Latino writers and illustrators to sign on with???

A: As I stated in my last response, I am interested in expanding the US Latino market specifically. I am an immigrant and a Latina; I can identify with the needs and wants of the market, and with the messages that authors and illustrators are trying to convey through their work. Rayo also has the distinctive advantage of being part of a major publisher, and our authors and illustrators are able to receive all of the benefits and support that were previously reserved for mainstream authors, because Latino authors are quickly becoming mainstream authors in their own right.

Q: What do you look for in a submission? What has been overdone???

A:?? I look for originality, enthusiasm, and an awareness of the market. An author who has done his or her homework, is a great self-promoter, and of course, a good writer, is a diamond in the rough. Books that aim to only “teach” have been overdone; we are now at the next stage of our development; we have to stop telling folks who we are, and what we are like (being descriptive), and begin to tell our stories, funny stories, interesting stories; the stories we have inside that we want to share with the world, the stories that make us unique as authors and as Latinos. Let’s create the next New York Times Bestseller, or Caldecott winner! I know we can do it. We must aim high now that the mainstream finally knows who we are!

Q: I know you are currently seeking submissions, what exactly are you looking for in a manuscript? ??

A:?? I am looking for anything that meets the criteria outlined above. The Spanish material I publish is mostly made up of translations of Harper’s top titles. I feel truly fortunate to have had the opportunity to work on the forthcoming Spanish edition of the New York Times Bestseller FANCY NANCY, for instance.

For original works, I look mostly for bilingual and English language material, as I believe that is where the market is headed. Bilingual books are wonderful because kids and their parents can read them together, no matter which is the dominant language in the household. These books are becoming increasing popular among English speaking parents who want their children to learn Spanish too! I publish books for children of all ages, from newborns to teens. I’d love to find a brilliant original teen or tween novel. We have too few of those.

Q: What do you think needs to be done in increasing the Latino community’s awareness of what is out there for their children? ??

A:?? Rayo is very involved with El día de los niños/El día de los libros; Children’s Day/Book Day, founded by Pat Mora, and now housed at the American Library Association’s Association of Library Service for Children (ASLC). El día de los niños is celebrated at libraries throughout the country on April 30th, and serves as a starting point for reading all year long. I am proud to be working with ALSC to promote this wonderful celebration. I’d like to see it extend beyond the library; I’d like to see bookstores celebrate on April 30th too, and I’d like to see TV ads that encourage kids to visit their local bookstores and libraries on that day, and every day of the year. How wonderful would it be if the entire country knew that there is a day to celebrate children and books!

Q: Where can writers and illustrators send their submissions? ??
Adriana Dominguez
Executive Editor
c/o HarperCollins Children’s Books
1350 Avenue of the Americas
New York, NY 10019

And don’t forget to send a SASE along with your submission, especially if you’d like your material to be returned to you. That is the #1 rule for sending submissions that every author should know!

Q: What recent Latino authors or illustrators has Harper Rayo published???

A: We have worked with a number of exciting Latino authors, ranging from celebrities, such as Gloria Estefan, Alex Rodriguez, Cheech Marin, and Univision Radio’s Dra. Isabel, to established authors, such as Alma Flor Ada, and Pat Mora. I am also currently working with award-winning author Monica Brown on a number of exciting titles. Some of our illustrators include Orlando Ramirez, who did a fabulous job on Cheech Marin’s books, and we have upcoming books illustrated by Rudy Gutiérrez and award-winner Rafael López, to name a few.

Q: What advice can you give to the aspiring Latino writer or illustrator? What steps can they take towards getting published or even just finding an agent?

A: Go to your local bookstore or library. You cannot write if you don’t read first. Read, read, and then read some more. Learn what you like, and what you don’t like. Learn about the books that are out there, all of the books that are out there, not just the Latino books. Look at the New York Times Bestseller’s list; that will tell you what the trade publishers are looking for, because trade publishers want books that will potentially reach that level of success. Purchase books on the market, or ask your local librarian to help you find marketplace guides and agent guides.

More and more agents are now seeking work by Latino authors, so reach out to them. But find out what they are looking for as well. You wouldn’t send an editor or an agent interested in science fiction a cookbook, would you? Do your homework. I cannot stress that enough. But before you begin to try to get your work published, or represented by an agent, do the really hard work; polish your material, learn as much as you can by joining writer’s groups and networks. If you don’t have a local critique group, create one, feedback is essential to the process of writing. Write, write all the time, and when you are tired, write some more. Writing is a job like any other. If you do it as a hobby, you won’t be doing enough. The book business is a business. You have to put in the hard work before you can reap the rewards. And don’t lose hope; if you know that you’ve written something great, and your critique group agrees, and so does the amazing agent you found, you are onto something! Keep knocking on doors. Eventually, someone will answer your call. It won’t happen overnight, but it can happen.

Illustrators should have samples of their work. How they present those samples is really up to them, and to their budget. Some create postcards, others invest a bit more. But it is important that you exhibit your work in the best way possible. Have a website, send samples to art directors and to agents (find out if the accept unsolicited material first), and be as original as you possibly can. It is the distinctive quality of your art that makes it special and attractive to a designer and/or editor. For illustrators, the same advice given to authors applies, learn about children’s books, about how they are made, and read them, see how the really great illustrators interpret an author’s words visually, what sets them apart. And I can never say this enough: Know the market.