EDUC F203 | Tracing Past, Present & Future: Literacy Journeys through the Study of Picture Books

A man and his granddaughter share and create family traditions in this stunning exploration of the cycles of life and nature.

When Alma Sofia Esperanza José Pura Candela asks her father why she has so many names, she hears the story of her name and learns about her grandparents.

Charles, an African American student, learns to appreciate his similarities to and differences from his new friend Hector, who is from Puerto Rico.

Caldecott Honor-book artist and five-time Pura Belpre Award winner YUYI MORALES tells her own immigration story in this picture-book tribute to the transformative power of hope . . . and reading.

Bilingual English/Spanish. In this cheerful book, a determined Latina girl accidentally breaks her grandfather's vihuela and discovers his legacy as a mariachi player.

The first time Abuela holds Nina, her heart overflows with tenderness. And as Nina grows up, she and Abuela spend plenty of time together. Abuela can't help thinking how much she'd like to give Nina a very special treat, so she saves a little bit of her money every week -- a few pesos here, a few pesos there. When the world turns upside down, Abuela's dream of a surprise for Nina seems impossible. Luckily, time spent together -- and the love Abuela and Nina have for each other -- could turn out to be the very best gift of all.

Little Diego loves his grandfather, but they don't see each other often because Papa Diego lives in Mexico. Little Diego asks for a Superman outfit for his birthday -- he will fly across the border to Mexico to be with his grandfather. His mother sews him one, but, of course, Little Diego cannot fly. He's heartbroken. Still, he enjoys one of his happiest birthdays ever!

This prequel to Eric Velasquez's biographical picture bookGrandma's Records is the story of a Christmas holiday that young Eric spends with his grandmother. After they prepare their traditional Puerto Rican celebration, Eric and Grandma visit the Metropolitan Museum of Art for a school project, where he sees a painting by Diego Velasquez and realizes for the first time that he could be an artist when he grows up.

¡Sí, Se Puede! / Yes, We Can! is a bilingual fictional story set against the backdrop of the successful janitors' strike in Los Angeles in 2000.

With the help of her family and friends, and their memories--joyous, fantastical, heartbreaking, and frightening--Lola's imagination takes her on an extraordinary journey back to The Island.

As Señor Calavera prepares for Grandma Beetle's birthday he finds an alphabetical assortment of unusual presents, but with the help of Zelmiro the Ghost, he finds the best gift of all.

A little girl wakes in the night to mysterious, inviting noises. She rouses her brother, and they sneak downstairs and peek into the kitchen. To their amazement and delight, their parents are dancing and singing---"?Como te quiero! Oh, how I love you!" ---as they clean up and put food away. Mama and Papa discover the two kids and sweep them into the embrace of a family dance.

A girl describes her family's annual visit with Mamaw and Papaw in West Virginia, then Abuela and Abuelo in Florida, especially the foods and cultural elements that make each kitchen unique.

In this bilingual picture book, a young Salvadoran boy dreams of becoming a doctor who speaks both English and Spanish so that patients like his beloved grandmother aren't afraid to visit the doctor. Paired with lively, colorful illustrations by Victoria Castillo, this book will encourage children to think about their own futures as well as the role their culture can play in helping the community.

As the long day comes to an end, Mother Sky fills a tub with falling stars and calls, "Bath time for Little Night!" In English and Spanish

Mia's abuela has left her sunny house with parrots and palm trees to live with Mia and her parents in the city. The night she arrives, Mia tries to share her favorite book with Abuela before they go to sleep and discovers that Abuela can't read the words inside. Later, Mia sees a parrot in the pet-shop window and has the perfecto idea for how to help them all communicate a little better.

Marisol McDonald has flaming red hair and nut-brown skin. Polka dots and stripes are her favorite combination. To Marisol, these seemingly mismatched things make perfect sense together. Other people wrinkle their nose in confusion at Marisol--can't she just choose one or the other? Try as she might, in a world where everyone tries to put this biracial, Peruvian-Scottish-American girl into a box, Marisol McDonald doesn't match. And that's just fine with her.

As a young boy, Jose Marti he traveled to the countryside of Cuba and fell in love with the natural beauty of the land. During this trip he also witnessed the cruelties of slavery on sugar plantations. From that moment, Marti began to fight for the abolishment of slavery and for Cuban independence from Spain through his writing.

A celebration of the love between a father and daughter, and of a vibrant immigrant neighborhood.

An allegorical picture book about the hardships and struggles of immigration.

An engaging bilingual picture book about a boy's clever efforts to help his classmates understand an Hispanic cultural tradition

Roses for Isabella invites us to experience life in Ecuador through the eyes of a young girl who keeps a journal and loves to write. We learn about Isabella's parents who work on one of the hundreds of farms growing beautiful roses that are sold all over the world. But not all of these farms are fair to workers and kind to the earth. Through Isabella, we learn how her family's life changes for the better when her parents find work at a Fair Trade farm

Señoras y señores, niños y niñas, the time has come to welcome the spectacular, two-of-a-kind . . . LAS HERMANITAS! No opponent is too big a challenge for the cunning skills of Las Hermanitas, Lucha Queens!

When Sofi walks through her barrio to the local store, she always passes a huge mural with images from Puerto Rico: musicians, dancers, tropical flowers and--her least favorite--a vejigante, a character from carnival that wears a scary mask.One day on her way home from the bodega, she stops in front of the mural. Is one of the dancers inviting her to be his partner?

A little girl loves visiting her grandfather in Cuba and singing his special songs to sell all kinds of fruit: mango, limón, naranja, piña, and more! Even when they're apart, grandfather and granddaughter can share rhymes between their countries like un abrazo--a hug--made of words carried on letters that soar across the distance like songbirds.

Bilingual English/Spanish. A bilingual biography of Pura Belpré, New York City's first Latina librarian.

Isabella has recently arrived from Colombia with her mother and abuela. She misses Papa, who is still in South America. It's her first day of school, her make-new-friends day, but when classes are canceled because of too much snow, Isabella misses warm, green, Colombia more than ever. Then Isabella meets Katie and finds out that making friends in the cold is easier than she thought!

In this vibrant bilingual picture book biography of musician Tito Puente, readers will dance along to the beat of this mambo king's life.

In this moving and timely story, a young child describes what it is like to be a migrant as she and her father travel north toward the US border.

A little girl imagines a lion taking the place of her father who no longer lives with her family, an animal that keeps her safe on her travels from school to home.

Rocio and her family move from Central America to the United States, leaving behind their extended family and many happy memories, but Rocio's Abuela finds a way to send her something special for her birthday.

Millie danced to jazz in her Italian neighborhood. Pedro danced to Latin songs in his Puerto Rican neighborhood. It was the 1940s in New York City, and they were forbidden to dance together . . . until first a band and then a ballroom broke the rules. Machito and His Afro-Cubans hit the scene with a brand-new sound, blending jazz trumpets and saxophones with Latin maracas and congas creating Latin jazz, music for the head, the heart, and the hips. Then the Palladium Ballroom issued a bold challenge to segregation and threw open its doors to all.

Winner of the 2021 Pura Belpré Illustrator Medal, this follow-up to Vamos! Let's Go to the Market shows Little Lobo excited to take in a show with wrestling star El Toro in his bustling border town. After getting lunch orders from The Bull and his friends to help prepare for the event, Little Lobo takes readers on a tour of food trucks that sell his favorite foods, like quesadillas with red peppers and Mexican-Korean tacos.

Today is a big day--the first time Juanito gets to help his papi on the job as a landscape architect! Throughout the day, Juanito sketches anything that catches his eye: a nest full of baby birds, a nursery with row upon row of plants and flowers, and more. Father and son travel from house to house, pruning, weeding, mowing, and turning overgrown and chaotic yards into beautiful spaces.

A novel in verse about the life and work of Rubén Darío, a Nicaraguan poet who started life as an abandoned child and grew to become the father of a new literary movement. Margarita Engle tells the story of this passionate young man who revolutionized world literature.

It is 1913, and twelve-year-old Petra Luna's mama has died while the Revolution rages in Mexico. Before her papa is dragged away by soldiers, Petra vows to him that she will care for the family she has left until they can be reunited. Each night when Petra closes her eyes, she holds her dreams close, especially her long-held desire to learn to read. Abuelita calls these barefoot dreams: "They're like us barefoot peasants and indios--they're not meant to go far." But Petra refuses to listen. Through battlefields and deserts, hunger and fear, Petra will stop at nothing to keep her family safe and lead them to a better life across the U.S. border--a life where her barefoot dreams could finally become reality.

The people of Cuba are living in el período especial en tiempos de paz--the special period in times of peace. That's what the government insists that this era must be called, but the reality behind these words is starvation. Liana is struggling to find enough to eat. Yet hunger has also made her brave: she finds the courage to skip a summer of so-called volunteer farm labor, even though she risks government retribution. Nearby, a quiet, handsome boy named Amado also refuses to comply, so he wanders alone, trying to discover rare sources of food. A chance encounter with an enigmatic dog brings Liana and Amado together.

A photo-essay about the history and practice of Capoeira, a centuries-old Brazilian martial art which incorporates traditional movements and rhythmic music.

In a collection of free verse poems, Bernier-Grand has reconstructed the life and work of the founder and organizer of the United Farm Workers.

In a village in Chile, Pedro and Daniel are two typical nine-year-old boys. Up until Daniel's father gets arrested, their biggest worry had been how to improve their soccer skills. Now, they are thrust into a situation where they must grapple with the incomprehensible: dictatorship and its inherent abuses.

Known not only for his exceptional baseball skills but also for his extensive charity work in Latin America, Clemente was well-loved during his eighteen years playing for the Pittsburgh Pirates.

In luminous paintings and arresting poems, two of children's literature's top African-American scholars track Arturo Schomburg's quest to correct history. A century later, his groundbreaking collection, known as the Schomburg Center for Research in Black Culture, has become a beacon to scholars all over the world.

Danza is a celebration of the founder of El Ballet Folklorico de Mexico, Amalia Hernandez's, life and of the rich history of dance in Mexico.

The incredible story of José de la Luz Sáenz's fight for Mexican-American civil rights believed in fighting for what was right.

Seven years before Brown v. Board of Education, the Mendez family fought to end segregation in California schools.

A vivid depiction of the early injustices encountered by a young Mexican-American girl in San Antonio in the 1920's.

She was Luz Jiménez, child of the flower-song people, the powerful Aztec, who called themselves Nahua- who lost their land but who did not disappear. But when the Mexican Revolution came to her village, Luz and her family were forced to flee and start a new life. Through her work, Luz found a way to preserve her people's culture by sharing her native language, stories, and traditions.

This important yet little-known civil rights story focuses on Roberto Alvarez, a student whose 1931 court battle against racism and school segregation in Lemon Grove, California, is considered the first time an immigrant community used the courts to successfully fight injustice.

This bilingual picture book is a vivid depiction of the early injustices encountered by a young Mexican-American girl in San Antonio in the 1920's. Emma Tenayuca learns to care deeply about poverty and hunger during a time when many Mexican Americans were starving to death and working unreasonably long hours at slave wages in the city's pecan-shelling factories. Through astute perception, caring, and personal action, Emma begins to get involved, and eventually, at the age of 21, leads 12,000 workers in the first significant historical action in the Mexican-American struggle for justice.

Borders is a masterfully told story of a boy and his mother whose road trip from Alberta to Salt Lake City is thwarted at the border when they identify their citizenship as Blackfoot. Refusing to identify as either American or Canadian first bars their entry into the US, and then their return into Canada. In the limbo between countries, they find power in their connection to their identity and to each other.