Across the Bay (Carlos Aponte)

Title:  Across the Bay

Author:  Carlos Aponte 

Target Ages:  4-10

Genre:  Realistic Fiction Picture Book

Award: Pura Belpre’ Illustrator Honor

Publisher Summary:  Carlitos lives in a happy home with his mother, his abuela, and Coco the cat.  Life in his hometown is cozy as can be, but the call of the capital city pulls Carlitos across the bay in search of his father.

Memorable Moment:
When Carlitos loses his only picture of his father, a park ranger helps him cope with his loss. 

Evaluation:
Carlitos has a loving home with his mother, abuela, and cat.  Nevertheless, he is spurred to search for what is missing—his father.  

After an unsuccessful quest to locate his father, Carlitos finds contentment in his circumstances.  He learns, “No matter the storm, the sun always returns.”  As he journeys back home, he has a renewed appreciation for the loving people in his life and they home they have created for him.  

Through Carlitos’ quest, author Carlos Aponte aptly conveys the heartache and loss a child feels when a parent is no longer in the home—especially when that parent is completely absent.  The story subtly but powerfully shows the longing and loss through the juxtaposition of Carlitos’ circumstances with those of other young boys who are sharing every day experiences with their father—in the neighborhood, the barbershop, and the city.  

The illustrations show the beauty and diversity of Puerto Rico as Carlitos traverses the ancient city of Old San Juan and his more modern hometown of Catano.  From the colorful foliage to the vast array of people and activities, young readers get a glimpse of island life. 

Across the Bay reminds us of the quiet desperation many children around the world feel for a missing parent. This poignant narrative is both heartbreaking and uplifting, a blast to the heart and a spark of delight. 

Interview with Carlos Aponte 

Five Fabulous Picture Books about Trailblazing Women

Drum Dream Girl: How One Girl’s Courage Changed Music

Margarita Engle, author

Rafael Lopez, illustrator

Publisher Summary:

Girls cannot be drummers.  Long ago on an island filled with music and rhythm, no one questioned that rule—until the drum dream girl.  She longed to play tall congas and small bongos and silvery, moon-bright timbales.  She had to keep her dream quiet.  She had to practice in secret.  But when at last her music was heard, everyone sang and danced and decided that boys and girls should be free to drum and dream.

Inspired by a Chinese-African-Cuban girl who broke Cuba’s traditional taboo against female drummers, Drum Dream Girls tells an inspiring true story for dreamers everywhere. 

Why It’s Fabulous:

This Pura Belpre winner’s stunning illustrations are full of bright colors and vivid imagination: A blend of the real and the fantastic as well as of nature and of culture. The lyrical free verse is intoxicating.  Drum Dream Girl works both independently and with a teacher until she has mastered the art.  Her determination and skill wins her father over. As a result, she finally plays for an audience,  prompting a change in the cultural tradition.  Now, both men and women are allowed to play the drums.

Mermaid Queen:  The Spectacular True Story of Annette Kellerman, Who Swam Her Way to Fame, Fortune, and Swimsuit History

Shana Corey, author

Edwin Fotheringham, illustrator

Publisher Summary:

Are you brave enough to make a wave?

If you love sports and people who aren’t afraid to swim against the tide, Annette Kellerman and her freestyle approach to life will make you heart swell.

This book is a winning portrait of a little-known athlete, performer, and fashion revolutionary who broke records (and rules) and dazzled the world with her splashy pluck and courage.

Why She’s Fabulous:

Annette begins life with physical limitations.  To build up her strength, she swims. The water is the one place she feels graceful and strong.  At a time when female athletes were not common, she begins winning swimming races and develops a new sport—water ballet.  Not only does she break down barriers in sports, but she does in swimwear as well.  The women who did swim were covered from neck to ankles—some even wore corsets!  Annette’s bathing suit is so scandalous at the time, she is arrested!  She argues before a judge and wins!  Women begin swimming more for exercise and fun.  Even more importantly, they are able to do it more comfortably because now they wear suits like Annette’s.  As a trailblazer for women in sports and in fashion, Annette makes a lasting impact.

Miss Mary Reporting:  The True Story of Sportswriter Mary Garber

Sue Macy, author

C. F. Payne, illustrator

Publisher Summary:

Press Box:  Women and Children Not Admitted

So read the press pass that Mary Garber had to wear as a reporter at sporting events.  It was embarrassing, even insulting, but in the 1940s, sports—and sports reporting—was a man’s world.

Mary didn’t let that stop her.  She never let anything stop her, really. As a kid, she played quarterback for her local football team.  Later, as a reporter, she dug in her heels and built up her own sports beat.  For close to fifty years, Mary shined the spotlight on local heroes whose efforts might otherwise have gone unnoticed.  “That’s Miss Mary Garber,” one boy said at a soapbox derby.  “And she doesn’t care who you are, or where you’re from, or what you are.  If you do something, she’s going to write about you.”

This is the story of a woman who pursued her dream and changed the world.

Why She’s Fabulous:

Mary combines the two things she loves—writing and sports—and makes a career out of it when few women had professional careers outside a nurse or a teacher. She also has a keen eye and optimistic perspective. Using all these passions and talents, Mary covers beats that include athletes in their novice days and in their professional careers:  Big sports competitions, like Major League Baseball games, and small town ones, like soapbox derbies.  She writes about men and women as well as Blacks and Whites. Many athletes are positively impacted by her work, and she blazes a trail that eventually allows women more opportunities in sports reporting. 

Danza!  Amalia Hernandez and elBallet Forklorico de Mexico

Duncan Tonatiuh, author and illustrator

Publisher Summary:

As a child Amalia Hernandez saw a pair of dancers in the town square.  The way they stomped and swayed to the rhythm of the music inspired her. She knew one day she would become a dancer.

Amalia studied ballet and modern dance under the direction of skilled teachers who had performed in world-renowned dance companies. But she never forgot the folk dance she had seen years earlier.  She began traveling through the Mexican countryside, witnessing the dances of many regions, and she used her knowledge of ballet and modern dance to adapt the traditional dances to the stage.  She founded her own dance company, a group that became known as El Ballet Folklorico de Mexico.

Why She’s Fabulous:

Not only does Amalia become a successful dancer through years of practice and rehearsals, but she also creates new ones merging various styles.  Traveling all over Mexico, she studies traditional dances and cultural traditions (like dress and music).  Inspired by all of her training and traveling, Amalia produces original dances that celebrate her culture and country’s history.  She takes on many roles—choreographer, company founder, teacher, and director.  Amelia’s innovative vision resonates long after her passing.  Her dance company continues to perform all over the world, celebrating both the artistry of dance as well as the culture of the Mexican people.

Pocket Full of Colors:  The Magical World of Mary Blair, Disney Artist Extraordinaire

Amy Guglielmo and Jacqueline Tourville, authors

Brigette Barrager, illustrator

Publisher Summary:

Mary Blair lived her life in color: vivid, wild color.

For her imaginative childhood to her career as an illustrator, designer, and animator for Walt Disney Studios, Mary wouldn’t play by the rules.  At a time when studios wanted to hire men and think in black and white, Mary painted twinkling emerald skies, peach giraffes with tangerine spots, and magenta horses that could fly.  She painted her world.

Why She’s Fabulous:
Mary collects colors everywhere she goes and saves them in her imagination. When she is hired at Disney Studios, she thinks she will finally have the opportunity to share her artistic flair.  Unfortunately, her colors and creatively are met with resistance in a then male-dominated field.  Walt Disney appreciates her vision though.  He commissions her for a special project that utilizes her talents.  Mary creates a “world of laughter, a world of smiles. And color, color, color, everywhere.”  She is a woman who refuses “to color in the lines.” As a result, she makes her mark on the culture. 

My Diary from Here to There (Amada Irma Perez)

Summary of My Diary from Here to There (Amada Irma Perez)

Mi Diario de Aqui hasta Alla (Spanish Title)

Amada learns that her family must leave their little house in Juarez, Mexico for better opportunities in the United States. Both nervous and intrigued, Amada, along with her mother and siblings, stays with relatives in a border town while her father moves to California to get work and to secure green cards for them.  From waiting for all the preparations to be made for their immigration to their final move to a new country, Amada records her memories, fears, and hopes in her diary. 

Evaluation

Perez records each diary entry by Amada in both Spanish and English, representing her cross-cultural experience and family (her father is an Mexican American citizen). Amada expresses feelings typical for children in this situation.  She is sad to leave her home and friends as well as nervous about learning a new language and culture.  Her younger siblings annoy her, but close ties with her family and extended family are evident. Overall, Amada is hopeful and positive for their future.  The Latino voice and migrant experience are based on the author’s own journey to America as a child, making them genuine and vivid.   

Illustrator Maya Christian Gonzalez has created strong character images in bright colors contrasting with neutral tones.  She captures well the sense of community in the culture.  Nearly every page includes several members, often multi-generational, of Amada’s family close together. 

I chose to highlight this title because the topic is relevant and relatively new in the picture book world.  With millions of migrant and immigrant children in American schools, their experiences are important to share and to discuss in the classroom.  An additional picture book title to examine is Two White Rabbits.  While the topic is similar, the experience is quite different. 

My Diary from Here to There is a Pura Belpre' award winner.  I recommend it for ages 6-11.  

Lesson Plan Ideas and Extension Activities

• Literature:  Read both My Diary from Here to There and Two White Rabbits.  Compare and contrast the two stories using a Venn diagram.  Pam Munoz Ryan’s Esperanza Rising, a middle grade fiction, is also about the migrant experience.
• Journaling:  Have students write about a time they were nervous or afraid because of a change or unknown situation. 
• Social Studies:  Show a TV program in Spanish OR have someone present a short lesson in a non-native language.  Afterwards, discuss how the children felt as they listened.  How would they feel if instruction, signs, and everything around them were in Spanish/another language?  Connect it to Amada and other immigrants’ experiences. 
• Writing:  Discuss the parts of letter.  Practice composing a letter (like Amada does).  Write to either a friend or relative who is far away.  Another idea is to connect students to a pen pal in other country to share cultural experiences. 
• History:  Learn about Cesar Chavez and the United Farm Workers.
• Language Art Lesson Plan with multiple ideas and activities.  

Middle Grade Monday: The Dreamer (by Pam Munoz Ryan)

Summary of The Dreamer (by Pam Munoz Ryan)

As a young boy growing up in a Chilean village, Neftalí stands out from his peers.  His shyness and timidity cause him to spend most of his time alone with his imagination and books.  He stutters, but loves words so much that he writes them on pieces of paper and saves them.  While outside, he explores nature and collects interesting objects—shiny keys, beautiful stones, sea glass.  Stories come alive in his mind with the sights and rhythmic sounds around him of the forest, the rain, the ocean, and even his backyard.  

To Neftalí, family is vital.  He has a loving stepmother and inspiring progressive uncle who both encourage him to pursue his dreams.  His younger sister is sometimes a playmate, but always a loyal supporter.  However, his authoritarian father ridicules and often frightens Neftalí while attempting to encourage him to follow a traditional path of manhood and life. 

From harrowing days forced in the rugged ocean to an alarming fire in his uncle’s newspaper to witnessing racism toward native Mapuche, Neftalí finds his voice and path.  He grows up to become Pablo Neruda, a great poet and essayists. 

Using elements of Neruda’s biography and literary license, this story of truth and magic realism comes alive.  It is a story of compassion, perseverance, and splendor. The Dreamer, the 2011 Pure Belpre Award winner for fiction, is illustrated by the awarding winning Peter Sis.

Evaluation

The Dreamer is beautifully written. Pam Munoz Ryan does the fictional biography of a poet justice with her dreamy and vivid language.  For instance, when Neftalí first sees the ocean the author states, “He had never imagined the height of the white spray breaking against the rocks, the dark sand, or the air that whispered of fish and salt.”  

In addition, occasional poetic bits are intertwined like “I am poetry, prowling the blue, tempting my prey with fish, shell, and sky.” and “I am poetry, surrounding the dreamer.  Ever present, I capture the spirit, enslave the reluctant pen.”  These poetic elements represent Neftalí/Pablo’s calling to be a writer and poet. 

While the story is primarily realistic fiction, it floats into magic realism with Neftalí’s imagination.  For instance, he opens a window:  “A carpet of rain swept in and carried Neftalí to the distant oceans he had only seen in books.  There, he was the captain of a ship, it prow slicing through the blue.  Salt water spraying his cheeks.  His clothes fluttered against his body.  He gripped the mast, looking back on his country, Chile.”  These imaginative muses often accompany creative illustrations.  The novel is an excellent opportunity to discuss with children the difference between fantasy and reality in literature.

Most of the family relationships are positive and typical of a middle grade novel.  The only exception is the boy’s relationship with his father who is rigid and narrow-minded.  He has unreasonable expectations of his children.  Also, he is far too interested in his image than the well-being of his family.  Unfortunately, some children do have this experience. 

The majority of the book focuses on Neftalí as a boy and young teen, but readers also get a glimpse at what becomes of him when he leaves for university.  Overall, the novel is engaging to read.  Because it is so imaginatively created, it leads to many extension activities in reading, art, science, geography, and history.  

I recommend this book for children 9-13.  You can see a preview of the book here. 

Other Teaching Ideas

Art/Prediction Skills:  At the beginning of each chapter, there are 3 small simple pictures that preview what will occur in the narrative.  They are ideal for practicing predicting skills.  Show the pictures to the children and allow them to guess what might happen based on each one.  At the end of the chapter, revisit the pictures and evaluate the guesses.  I love this idea for other books as well.  After listening/reading to a chapter, students can draw 3 pictures that represent the major events that took place.   

Journaling/Writing:  Interspersed are some profound and imaginative questions which are perfect for creative or journal writing.  Like a poet, children can muse about abstract ideas like:  “What wisdom does the eagle whisper to those who are learning to fly?” and “Where will the waves take the debris abandoned in the freckled sand?”  

Poetry/History:  Pablo Neruda is a Nobel Prize willing poet.  Some examples of his poetry are included in the novel.  Older children can read additional poems by Neruda and even practice writing their own poetry.  They can also learn about his life and activism in his country.  (There is a brief overview at the end of the novel.)

Research/Social Studies: The Dreamer represents an authentic Latino voice and story to expand children’s experience of multicultural literature and lives.  Children may compare and contrast life in their communities with the Neftalí’s life in Chile.  In addition, use the novel as an opportunity to expand knowledge of Chile, other Latino American countries, the rain forest, and the ocean by doing further research to share or allowing students to do it for class projects. 

Scholastic has some discussion questions and links for additional educational opportunities.

Check out other Middle Grade Monday titles at Ramblings of a Wanna Be Scribe.