The Américas Awards: novels

The Américas Awards honor authors, illustrators, and publishers for quality children's and young adult books that portray Latin America, the Caribbean, or Latinos in the US. Both primary and secondary reading levels are chosen. This award was founded in 1993. Click here for more about the Américas Award, including the most recent winners. A list of all previous winners can be found here.

This is my third post in a series about this award. Previous posts covered award-winning picture books as well as honorable mention and commended picture books. To see a compilation of many diverse book awards, please read Spotlight on Diverse Book Awards or click on the Award-Winning Books tag.

Américas Award-Winning Novels

2016: Echo (2015) by Pam Muñoz Ryan [a Newbery Honor book]. This lovely, lyrical novel weaves together three individual stories into its powerful conclusion. I have had this one sitting on my TBR stack, eagerly awaiting the end of the school year. I will admit to quickly skimming past the reviews of others recently, as I didn't want anything to spoil my reading of this book! So I will leave my review at this ... it was well worth the wait!

2015: Silver People: voices from the Panama Canal (2014) by Margarita Engle. This novel-in-verse tells the story of the building of the Panama Canal through a variety of voices, both those native Caribbean people who built the canal itself as well as those of the wildlife and nature within the surrounding environment. The Historical Note at the end shares additional details and the author's personal connections to these stories.

2011: The Dreamer (2010) by Pam Muñoz Ryan and illustrated by Peter Sís [Pura Belpré Award winner]. This fictionalized biography of celebrated Chilean poet Pablo Neruda (née Neftalí Reyes) focuses mainly on his childhood, interweaving chapters in an intimate third-person voice with illustrated poetry in the style of Pablo Neruda. Excerpts from actual poems are provided at the end, following an Author's Note about her research and inspirations. It is an interesting and emotional story that also draws attention to the focus on ordinary workers and social justice that defined his writing career.

2006: The Poet Slave of Cuba: a biography of Juan Francisco Manzano by Margarita Engle and illustrated by Sean Qualls [also winner of the Pura Belpré Award]. Poetry is the perfect vessel to convey the early life of Juan Francisco Marzano, born into slavery in Cuba, who overcame his lack of education and many hardships to become an admired poet. The story is told through poems in Juan's voice as well as those of other characters around him, providing addition insights and perspectives. There are many disturbing events related to slavery and the treatment of slaves in this story, making it suitable for older readers. The back matter includes more historical information about Juan, as well as selections of his actual poetry (both in the original Spanish and translated into English by the author).

Shared with #DiverseKidLit

To see a compilation of many diverse book awards, please read Spotlight on Diverse Book Awards or click on the Award-Winning Books tag.

The Américas Awards: honorable mention and commended picture books

The Américas Awards honor authors, illustrators, and publishers for quality children's and young adult books that portray Latin America, the Caribbean, or Latinos in the US. Both primary and secondary reading levels are chosen. This award was founded in 1993. Click here for more about the Américas Award, including the most recent winners. A list of all previous winners can be found here.

This post shares my reviews of some wonderful picture books that have won an Honorable Mention or Commended. Click here to read award-winning picture books or for winning novels. (To see a compilation of many diverse book awards, please read Spotlight on Diverse Book Awards or click on the Award-Winning Books tag.)

Américas Honorable Mention Picture Books

2016: Funny Bones: Posada and His Day of the Dead Calaveras [Sibert Award winner and a Pura Belpré Honor book]. Written in a similar style to Diego Rivera, this book combines biography with an interpretation of Posada's works and their application in a modern setting. Our Spanish students often do activities related to Day of the Dead, and this would be a great book to give them more background about how this artistic style developed. (Click on Part 1 or Part 2 to read more about other books written and/or illustrated by Duncan Tonatiuh.)

2015: Migrant: the journey of a Mexican worker (2014) by José Manuel Mateo and illustrated by Javier Martínez Pedro. This book is an incredible work of art. Designed in the style of a codex, the book is one giant illustration that folds down in on itself to become the book. One side has the text in English, the other in Spanish. The story itself is a realistic version of the folktale above, only this time the two children and their mother head north in search of their father who has not returned.

2014: Pancho Rabbit and the Coyote: a migrant's tale (2013)  [a Pura Belpré Honor book]. Written in the style of a fable or folktale, Pancho Rabbit deals with the very real-world issue of illegal immigration from Mexico into the United States. When Pancho's father does not return from "El Norte," Pancho sets out to find him and bring him back, with the help of a coyote he meets along the way.

This was my first year sharing this story with children, and my students and I had some very powerful conversations both before and after reading it. We had studied historical immigration in an earlier unit, so they could make a lot of connections between past and current immigration - and to many of their own family's immigration stories. (Click on Part 1 or Part 2 to read more about other books written and/or illustrated by Duncan Tonatiuh.)

2002: Frida by Jonah Winter is a typical biography with imaginative illustrations that emphasizes Frida's childhood inspirations and injuries and how they impacted her as an artist.

1998: Cendrillon: a Caribbean Cinderella by Robert D. San Souci and illustrated by Brian Pickney. Another Cendrillon, this one is set in the Caribbean and told through the voice of the godmother, who liberally sprinkles the text with French-Creole words and phrases (glossary provided at the end). This story is loosely based around a nineteenth-century French Creole tale and expanded with historically-appropriate details about life in Martinique. (Click here to read more Cinderella stories from around the world.)

Américas Commended Picture Books

2015: Dalia's Wondrous Hair / El cabello maravilloso de Dalia (2014) by Laura Lacámara. Dalia wakes up one morning to find that her hair has greatly expanding in height and volume, so she does what any little girl would do ... and decides to stick a bunch of things from nature into it to get her mother to guess what kind of tree she is. Wait, what? Even with the folktale-inspired style, I'm still not sure what the point of this story is, though the author does include notes about butterfly gardens and the Cuban plants and animals featured in the story. Bilingual English / Spanish.

2015: 'Twas Nochebuena: a Christmas story in English and Spanish (2014) by Roseanne Greenfield Thong and illustrated by Sara Palacios. This story is a rhythmic take on the famous Night Before Christmas, focused instead on Nochebuena traditions. The text jumps easily between English and Spanish, with most Spanish words easily understood from the context and illustrations (or, in doubt, from the Glossary in the back). The setting is never made explicit, so the story could just as easily depict a family in the US as one in Mexico or Guatemala (where the author herself experienced Nochebuena). A fun addition to your holiday picture books.

2015: Green is a Chile Pepper: a book of colors (2014) by Roseanne Greenfield Thong and illustrated by John Parra [a Pura Belpré Honor Book]. This concept book features a given color over one or two two-page spreads with several descriptive statements about objects that are that color, highlighting objects and items common in Latino culture. A detailed glossary at the end provides background on many of these items and events. This would be a great mentor texts for student writing.

2014: Maria Had a Little Llama / María Tenía una Llamita (2013) by Angela Dominguez [a Pura Belpré Honor Book for Illustration]. The text of this picture book hews closely to the original rhyme (though not all readers might remember the additional stanzas), but the illustrations add a wealth of information in this unique, indigenous take on a classic tale.

Need more? Click here to read about more Award-Winning Books.

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Trickster Tales from Latin America

This post is part of a series of posts celebrating the countries and cultures of Latin America. The first post featured creation stories from Latin America. This post will focus on clever folk heros and trickster tales. The final post features tall tales.

Señor Cat's Romance and Other Favorite Stories from Latin America (1997) retold by Lucia M. González and illustrated by Lulu Delacre. This collection features six short tales collected from across Latin America. Several feature folk heroes featured in other books in this post, including Juan Bobo, a trickster rabbit, and Martina the Beautiful Cockroach. (Read this post for reviews of other books featuring the Puerto Rican folk hero Juan Bobo.)

Martina the Beautiful Cockroach: a Cuban folktale (2007) retold by Carmen Agra Deedy and illustrated by Michael Austin. (A Pura Belpré Honor Book.) In this version of the story, Martina must decide who to marry and agrees to follow the unusual advice of her Abuela - to see how each suitor reacts when coffee is spilled on him! This humorous tale provides great advice for looking beyond appearances and determining someone's inner character.

Just a Minute: a trickster tale and counting book (2003) by Yuyi Morales (a Pura Belpré Award winner). In this inventive trickster tale, Grandma Beetle is surprised to find the skeleton Señor Calavera beckoning her to follow. Imposing on his politeness, Grandma Beetle continues with an escalating list of tasks (with numbers in both English and Spanish). Kids will delight in this outrageous outsmarting of Death.

Juan Bobo is a popular trickster from Puerto Rico and one I have shared about many times before. There are many picture books written about him, and you can read more about all of them at this post: Meet Juan Bobo!

 

Love and Roast Chicken: a trickster tale from the Andes Mountains retold by Barbara Knutson (also available in Spanish as Amor Y Pollo Asado). Poor cuy (guinea pig) is such a small, defenseless creature, that he must rely on his wits when he is threatened by Tio Antonio, the fox. His clever solutions to difficult situations will keep kids laughing and impressed by his creativity.

Borreguita and the Coyote by Verna Aardema and illustrated by Petra Mathers. Based on a Mexican folktale poor Borreguita must find a way to outwit the wily coyote!

Jabuti the Tortoise: a trickster tale from the Amazon by Gerald McDermott. This Jabuti tale references several others tricked by Jabuti, but in this story, Jabuti himself is tricked by Vulture who is jealous of his song and colors. This pourquoi tale explains why the tortoise's shell looks cracked and why Vulture is black when other birds are colorful. This Jabuti tale comes from the Tupi-Guarani tribe of the rain forests of Brazil.

Papago: the Mischief Maker by Gerald McDermott. Papagayo is a bit of a bully and annoyance to the other creatures of the Amazon rain forest, especially to those who preferred to sleep during the day. But when the fearsome moon-dog starts eating away at the moon, it is Papagayo who convinces the nocturnal animals to scare him away. (No specific cultural attribution.)

Share your favorite trickster tales in the comments!

Freedom Song (Plot)

Title: Freedom Song: the story of Henry "Box" Brown
Author: Sally M. Walker
Illustrator: Sean Qualls
Publisher: Harper Collins
Year: 2012
Word Count: 2018 (includes a wordy Author's Note and historical letter)
Top 10 Element: Plot

I am participating in Picture Books 14:14, a challenge created by Christie of Write Wild that encourages bloggers to review 14 picture books in 14 days, starting on Feb. 14th.

Freedom Song tells the true story of Henry "Box" Brown, a slave who mailed himself to freedom in 1849. This story is one of several that I shared each year with my fourth graders when they were studying American History, the Underground Railroad, and the lead-up to the Civil War.

Analysis: Plot

The basics of plot are well-known, and the story mountain, shown below, is one way of formulating them. The story begins with an introduction: we meet our characters and the general situation. Quickly, the problem sets the story in motion; the rising action or important events start piling up; and the climax brings us the big moment or turning point before the ending wraps up with a solution or lesson (denouement for the older students).

This formulation of the story mountain is the one I use with my students.

Freedom Song opens with the birth of Henry Brown and introduces his family. The first hints of the problem arrives at the end of the second spread: "The whole family's love grew Henry strong. Even though they were slaves on Master's plantation." The illustrations echo this pronouncement, as there is a small silhouette of the Master visible through the open window of the family's cozy-appearing home.

The full problem does not arrive until several pages later. Now, through the rising action, Henry has grown, married, and is a proud papa of several children. A friend rushes into work to inform Henry that his wife and children have been sold by the master.

Henry's solution, after much deliberation, is to mail himself to freedom in a shipping box. His journey within the box covers more than 9 pages (one single page and four two-page spreads) until we reach the dramatic climax - the lid is pried off the box, and Henry finds himself safely in Philadelphia.

The ending is swift. Henry is free, but the Author's Note brings home the rest of the historical information. There is no evidence that Henry was able to find, free, or be reunited with his beloved wife and children.

This book is a powerful one to share with kids. Every year, several of my fourth graders picked Henry's story to analyze for our literary essay unit, and each one was able to find incredible insights in this amazing true story.

If you haven't read it, you should also check out the Caldecott Honor winning Henry's Freedom Box (2007) by Ellen Levine and illustrated by Kadir Nelson.

Want more picture book analyses? Click here to read my other posts for Picture Books 14:14 or check out these other great posts for the Picture Book 14:14 Challenge going on the rest of this month.

New Book Alert: Juneteenth for Mazie!

Juneteenth for Mazie by Floyd Cooper (publication date Feb. 2, 2015, ARC provided via Net Galley).

Juneteenth for Mazie introduces the holiday of Juneteenth through the father of young Mazie. Mazie is frustrated by the end of her day and expresses a complaint common to many children, "'I can't go where I want, have what I want, or do what I want.'" Mazie's dad helps her to see her complaints in context by telling her a quick overview of US history, beginning with her Great, Great, Great, Grandpa Mose before the Civil War.

This story deals with a difficult issue and a long history in quick, deft verbal strokes and immaculately-detailed illustrations. This book works well to introduce younger children to the history of slavery and the Civil Rights Movement, and it could also be used with older students as a launch pad for deeper discussions.

The book concludes with a brief history of the origins of Juneteenth (in the afterward) as well as a description of some of the common aspects of a Juneteenth celebration (in the end of the story).

The illustrations are what really makes this book memorable. Floyd Cooper's lifelike realism brings a sense of immediacy to the pages and make you want to spend time examining the details. There are so many strong emotions conveyed through the faces, which add to the power of the story.

This book is a treasure, and I think it will serve an important purpose bringing Juneteenth and its history to a broader audience. (As an aside, my spell check does not even recognize Juneteenth.) #WeNeedDiverseBooks

Worldwide Cinderellas, Part 2: the Americas

While the original Cinderella story is thought to have originated in China, versions of the story have been found around the world, and new versions are constantly being created. Part 1 in this series on worldwide Cinderellas shared Cinderella stories from Asia, Europe, and Africa. This post will introduce Cinderella stories from the Americas, and part 3 will cover more humorous fractured versions of Cinderella tales. The final post explains how I teach Cinderella stories with my third graders.

I'm co-hosting the Kid Lit Blog Hop today and linking up this post. Come check out other great Kid Lit posts here.

Cinderella Stories from the Americas

The Turkey Girl: a Zuni Cinderella story retold by Penny Pollock and illustrated by Ed Young. This Native American Cinderella story was collected by anthropologists in the late 1800s who studied the Zuni of New Mexico. Unlike many Cinderella tales, Turkey Girl finds that she must live with the hard consequences of staying out too late dancing.

The Rough-Face Girl by Rafe Martin and illustrated by David Shannon. This Algonquin Cinderella story is set on the shore of Lake Ontario and features a fearsome and mysterious Invisible Being. The illustrations are a bit dark for younger readers, but like many Cinderella variants, the heroine is duly rewarded.

Sootface: an Ojibwa Cinderella retold by Robert D. San Souci and illustrated by Daniel San Souci. Kind, young Sootface is teased and mistreated by her two older sisters, but her virtue shows through when faced with the challenges set by the invisible warrior. This story was based upon more than two dozen versions collected from tribes from diverse regions including the Northeast, Great Lakes, and Southwest.

Adelita: a Mexican Cinderella Story by Tomie de Paola. This modern Cinderella story created by Tomie de Paola moves the story to Mexico and uses a colorful folk-art style interspersed Spanish phrases to tell the story. Rather than a fairy godmother, Adelita is aided by her family's nursemaid and nanny.

Estrellita de oro / Little Gold Star: a Cinderella cuento retold by Joe Hayes and illustrated by Gloria Osuna Perez and Lucia Angela Perez. This bilingual Cinderella story is based upon several versions of the story common in New Mexico. Arcía is rewarded for her faithfulness by a gold star on the forehead, but you will have to read this story to find out which "gifts" her two step-sisters receive.

Little Gold Star: a Spanish-American Cinderella Tale retold by Robert D. San Souci and illustrated by Sergio Martinez. This story, set in New Mexico, is based on folktales with both Southwest and Spanish origins collected by anthropologists. Unlike Estrellita de oro this version keeps the Virgin Mary in the role of 'fairy godmother.'

Cendrillon: a Cajun Cindrella by Sheila Hebert Collins and illustrated by Patrick Soper. This Cinderella story is set in New Orleans and is liberally sprinkled with French and Cajun phrases. (Definitions are provided at the bottom of each page.)

Cendrillon: a Caribbean Cinderella by Robert D. San Souci and illustrated by Brian Pickney. Another Cendrillon, this one is set in the Caribbean and told through the voice of the godmother, who liberally sprinkles the text with French-Creole words and phrases (glossary provided at the end). This story is loosely based around a nineteenth-century French Creole tale and expanded with historically-appropriate details about life in Martinique.

Smoky Mountain Rose: an Appalachian Cinderella by Alan Schroeder and illustrated by Brad Sneed. This retelling of a Cinderella tale is set in the Smoky Mountains and written in an Appalachian dialect-style and borrows from both Charles Perrault's classic Cinderella and older American versions of the tale. For more advanced readers, due to the dialect-style spellings and abbreviations.

The Salmon Princess: an Alaskan Cinderella Story by Mindy Dwyer. This original Cinderella story is set in an Alaskan fish camp and recasts the story with Alaskan characters and details.

Have a favorite Cinderella story from the Americas that I missed? Please share below in the comments. You can also check out Part 1 in this series on worldwide Cinderellas shared Cinderella stories from Asia, Europe, and Africa and Part 3 will be fractured fairy tale versions. Or, read up on how I teach Cinderella stories to my students.

Nonfiction Picture Book Wednesday Challenge is hosted by Kid Lit Frenzy and is a weekly roundup of educator blogs that are sharing nonfiction picture books. Click the link to check out other nonfiction posts.