28. My Name Is/ Me Llamo Celia

I did not grow up with Celia Cruz. Though her picture looks familiar to me, I would not be able to recognize her voice in a song. So, while reading this book I decided to watch some of her videos. What I saw was a vibrant woman, full of energy, life, movement, power, etc.


That sense of Celia Cruz is shown in Monica Brown's book Me Llamo Celia (2004) illustrated by Rafael Lopez. The cover art jumps out at you right away-- Lopez uses acrylic paints to cover ever single page with vibrancy and movement. His lines often swirl and curl, sweeping our eyes across the pages, turning to find out the rest of the story. Even the endpages have life to them, beautiful swaths of bright colors. The colors in the book are layered, with bright circles often lying on top of people's cheeks and brilliant symbols of life sprinkled across the page. Lopez uses almost an abstract style of painting (it reminded me a little of Picasso) with shapes playing an important role and playing with perspectives. There is so much going on in the art that you can tell a story from the lush, detailed paintings.

But you can't forget the words...a bilingual book (yay!), this story is told in the first person as you hear Celia Cruz tell you about her life. It is written in a rhythmic style, almost as if the salsa infused the words. Brown starts out with feeling and sensory images 

"My voice feels like feet skipping on cool wet sand, like running under a waterfall, like rolling down a hill."

---

"Boom boom boom! beat the congas.

Shake shake shake! go the hips."

that invite us to listen to her and dance with her. The words and images complement each other so well in this book, making the reader feel full of life and ready to move! You could swear you hear music coming from the pages! The book then turns into a heartfelt biography, full of difficult times and perseverance. While I'm sure there are biographies that provide more details about her life out there, this one makes you feel what it would be like to actually live her life, which I think is even cooler.


In the classroom, you could take this text many ways. One that stands out to me is using it for writing, as a mentor text. I teach students to use sensory images in their stories and create a voice...this book is teeming with both. It would also be a great book to look at the issue of racism in other countries, how skin tone matters even when everyone is brown. You could use it in a unit on biographies or music. Finally, you could look at the strength of her personality and discuss positive character traits. Now that I know a little more about her, I admire her and wish I could have a little bit of 'azúcar' in me, too.

18. Book Fiesta!

When I began teaching, I remember one of my students telling me, "Oh, Ms. Murdock, today I'm going to get a present because it's El día de los niños." The first thing I thought (sarcastically) was, 'Wait, isn't every day Children's Day.' So I went home and looked it up. In Mexico, every year on April 30, they celebrate El día del los niños/ Children's Day. When famed bilingual author Pat Mora heard of this, she decided to add on El día de los libros/ Book Day to April 30 as well. So now, for 15 years, libraries across the country celebrate children and books on this day. And that is what Book Fiesta (2008), written by Pat Mora herself, is all about.

The wraparound cover is a joyful scene of children happily reading their books, with animals, friends, and a curious sun in tow. I picked up this book originally because the vibrant colors reminded me of the houses I so love in Mexico. Both of the endpapers are gorgeous images of children on Book Day...the first is the sun rising and waking the children up who have their books ready; the final one is children reading on puffy clouds as the moon gets them ready to sleep.  

Once you open to the half title page, you realize that Mora and López have crafted the entire book to follow the children on their special day. After they wake up on the endpaper, the story continues with them bringing decorations, balloons, and signs to the fiesta. You even see the children 'writing' the publisher information and carrying in the letters for the title on a hot-air balloon. The actual title page shows the children painting the letters, hanging the exclamation point, etc. I thought it was an adorable way to set the scene for the upcoming fiesta even before Mora's text had begun. Speaking of the text, it is written in both English and Spanish on each page. It is always nestled into the illustrations, so it sometimes curves around or changes colors depending on the background color of the scene.


The visual elements are a celebration of children and reading. Each page turn brings a new double page bleed of one energetic, upbeat, joyful scene after another. Each cartoon-like image is a fiesta rich in every color imaginable. Rafael López' palette is full of oranges, reds, blues, purples, greens, pinks...you name it! The vibrant scenes immerse you in the celebration and take you away on all of their adventures. The bold acrylic paintings show children reading everywhere!  The fantastical elements of reading on an elephant's trunk or in a whale's mouth add to the imagination of the book.Even the children represented are colorful-- kids of all colors and shades can see themselves in this book. My favorite page is one where you actually have to turn the book lengthwise to see the little boy in his bed, with the moon looking over him, as he reads himself to sleep.

I believe that this book would be an excellent read aloud any day of the year (but especially on April 30). It will inspire children to pick up a book and see where their imagination takes them. When so many digital technologies tell us what to think, books allow us to make up our own images and immerse ourselves in new lands. At the end of the book, Mora explains the origin of this celebration day and also provides some suggestions for activities you can do on April 30. ¡No puedo esperar para celebrar!