Book Reviews
This week I had the joy of reading to spectacular texts that do a fantastic job of integrating Spanish vocabulary and phrases into an English text. The two books I read this week were Stella Díaz Never Gives Up by Angela Dominguez and Dear Primo: A Letter to My Cousin by Duncan Tonatuih.
Stella is a shy, yet spirited, Latinx girl who has tenacious aspirations to save the oceans and someday become a marine biologist. She lives with her mother and brother and the story is set during summer vacation. Stella wants to have an exciting and meaningful summer like her friends from school and she does! She gets the opportunity to go to México to visit her tía Maria and see the ocean for the first time in her life! Her encounter with the ocean and marine life on her trip to México only strengthen her passion to save the ocean and make a difference in the world. When Stella gets back from México she goes to the Shedd Aquarium Summer Camp, where she meets the characters who will be her partners in the fight to save the oceans. Initially, Stella is overwhelmed by the pollution and environmental destruction happening in the ocean, but her new friends help her find ways to make changes that reduce the amount of plastic that ends up in the ocean and raise money to conserve the wildlife that lives in the ocean. The author of the book, Angela Dominguez, was born in México City and raised in Texas. The character, Stella, has a similar upbringing to the author. Stella, like Angela Dominguez, was born in México but raised in the United States.
Here's the link to the author's website:
Dear Primo: A Letter to My Cousin by Duncan Tonatiuh can be read on Epic!. Epic! is a great way to have students access books virtually. The author and illustrator, Duncan Tonatuih uses Mixtec codices to illustrate this text. Dear Primo: A Letter to My Cousin received the Pura Belpré Illustration Honor award. In this book, the main characters are two cousins, Charlie and Carlitos. Charlie lives in America and Carlitos lives in México. The entire story is written similarly to a letter that you would send to a pen pal or a loved one. The letters sent between Charlie and Carlitos give the reader a glimpse into the similarities and differences in their daily lives. The author, Duncan Tonatuih is both Mexican and American. Duncan Tonatuih grew up in San Miguel de Allende, México, and attended college in New York.
Here's the link to the author's website:
You can click here to read my review of the book We Are Water Protectors. This text is included in the text set below, so I recommend reading more about it before reading the rest of this post.
Authenticity Within the Texts
Both the authors of Stella Díaz Never Gives Up and Dear Primo: A Letter to My Cousin are Mexican Americans who have experience in both cultures and use their experiences to make texts that are relatable and represent Mexican American children. In both texts, Spanish words and phrases are woven into the texts that provide the reader with context clues so that whether they speak Spanish or not they can have a general understanding of the meaning and gain an appreciation for the Spanish language. As someone who has studied Spanish for approximately 6 years (I've taken quite a few years off, so I have regressed significantly in my fluency) I was really able to appreciate the way the use of Spanish vocabulary enhanced the story and made the dynamic between the characters more vivid. If you do not know many Spanish words I recommend using SpanishDict to look up unfamiliar words and phrases. This online dictionary provides great explanations and examples of how the words are used and which Latinx countries use that word or phrase. Dear Primo: A Letter to My Cousin uses pictures to support the reader's understanding of the Spanish words included in the text and also has a glossary at the end of the book. Stella Díaz Never Gives Up does not have pictures to support the Spanish words and phrases featured in the text, it also doesn't have a glossary. The majority of the time the text restates what was said in Spanish in English later, but not always. Stella Díaz Never Gives Up is the text where it would be beneficial to use SpanishDict to find the meaning of Spanish words and phrases if you do not have prior knowledge about the language. The book, We Are Water Protectors also features vocabulary from various Native American languages. In the back of the book, there is a glossary that states the meaning, which tribes use that word and pronunciation tips. Each of these books is rich in authenticity because of the language woven into the text and the background of the authors. All of the authors are native speakers of the languages they incorporate in their texts or have experience with the languages they incorporate.
Text Set
Both We Are Water Protectors and Stella Díaz Never Gives Up are texts that have strong environmental justice themes within the storyline. Dear Primo: A Letter to My Cousin, on the other hand, does not have a message about environmental justice in its storyline. But what all three texts do have in common is the main characters are #OwnVoices insiders. To be an #OwnVoices insider the text must have the "protagonist and the author share a marginalized identity" (you can read more about what #OwnVoices means here). Each author has portrayed an accurate, authentic, and relatable picture for our students that may be in the same marginalized community can relate to and find their identity in. The authors were able to create this accurate and authentic of a text because of their own personal experiences and knowledge of what it is like to be a Mexican American or part of an Indigenous People group. As educators, we can use this power trio of texts to not only give our marginalized students a way to see themselves in literature but to educate our non-marginalized students as well. These texts give educators an opportunity to defeat stereotypes among the marginalized groups featured in the texts and provide students with an accurate and authentic representation of the marginalized groups featured. Students will be receiving an authentic and accurate representation because of the illustrations, native language, and authors' identity used in the text.
We Are Water Protectors and Dear Primo: A Letter to My Cousin are pictures that would make great read alouds for your whole class. Stella Díaz Never Gives Up is a chapter book best suited for students that read at a 3rd-5th grade level, but could be adapted and read aloud to younger elementary grades as well, it will just require more support to do so. Students are never too young to begin learning about the individual identities in the world around them and with this text set, conversations can be initiated and accurate representations can be presented to your students.
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