By Duncan Tonatiuh | By Angela Dominguez
Written by Pura Belpré Honor award-winning Duncan Tonatiuh, this book offers a vivid image of the experiences that structure childhood in both Mexico and America. This specific award was created in 1996 to honor Latinx authors and illustrators "whose work best portrays, affirms, and celebrates the Latino cultural experience in an outstanding work of literature for children and youth" (ALA American Library Association). My favorite part of the book was the imagery that gave life to each of the boy's experiences. To create them, Tonatiuh drew them out, and then colored and collaged them digitally in order to emphasize specific details on the pages. He states on his website that his inspiration comes from an interest in the Mixtec Codices art period and the desire to capture stories and honor the past while still capturing the attention and wonder of children today. Creating this collage-like texture adds a layer of creativity that could easily be overlooked; however, the intentionality of incorporating images that capture the real-life essence of different materials and objects in the mundane world allows the reader the opportunities to explore an entire layer of unique access points. These details nudge readers to make connections with what they are reading, whether they actively notice their feelings of familiarity with such elements or not; clothing fabric, food texture, and environmental details (carpet texture, cobblestones, building and structural materials) are dropped like clues throughout the book, artfully used to add detail and give life to each cousin's life.
In all honesty, the written portion of this book stirred up mixed emotions, though.
Here, we have two young boys, one of whom lives in Mexico and one of whom lives in an American city, and through their letters, we are given a glimpse into both of their lives. Over the course of the book, it becomes evident that the seemingly great differences between the two boys' lifestyles are actually quite minute and the two boys have much more in common than either had expected. Represented across a number of beautiful spreads, Tonatiuh artfully mirrors both boy's experiences, for example, both boys travel to school every day, both boys enjoy playing in the water when it gets too hot, both boys have their go-to after school snacks, and both boys look forward to different holidays. Though these experiences are tailored to each of their respective cultures, the first thing the reader notices are the experiences that children around the world share, and that message in itself is not one to be underappreciated, and this book serves as a conversation starter that encourages students to consider what universal experiences they share across societal boundaries and labels. In a world that often naturalizes the tendency to compare-and-contrast, especially the latter, intentionally designing opportunities where students are not measuring their own experiences against their peers is important for building foundations of self-confidence.
On the other hand, there are two glaring aspects of this story that I just can't ignore. For authenticity's sake, I wish that Carlito's letters were written in Spanish. Not only would this be more authentic, but it would be good for English-only speaking students to experience the disorientation that accompanies reading and understanding texts that are not their native language. Given the pictures and labels, it would not be too difficult to still understand this half of the story and I think it is important for developing empathy in English-only students towards their English Language Learning peers. On a lesser note, the absence of any sort of difficulty or challenges that these boys face seems a bit too ideal. I think that it is just as important to emphasize the reality that each of us are fighting different (yet similar) battles in life, especially in children's books because these stories socialize children in how they view what is normalized in the world. In sum, though this book was absolutely beautiful in its illustration of how children across the world share experiences, I only wish that it was fundamentally more realistic in its presentation.
And, up next for review...
Another award-winning author, Angela Dominguez; a two-time recipient of the Pura Belpré Illustration Honor and well-recognized author of her first middle grade novel, Stella Diaz Has Something to Say, Dominguez invites readers to join Stella on her more recent character-building adventure. Similarly to Duncan Tonatiuh, Dominguez uses her Mexican-American experiences to inspire her story's main character.
The first thing that I noticed about this book, and what I think is one of its greatest strengths, is its purposeful format. The short chapters and strategic illustrations are designed solely for new chapter book readers; not only do the short chapters allow readers to feel a sense of accomplishment (which boosts their self-confidence) but they allow for certain details and themes to be emphatically repeated throughout the story. In this specific book, Stella's conflicts about making new friends and supporting different interests of her close friends, watching her older brother grow up, and coming to terms with her Mexican-American identity become evident over and over again every few pages. The realistic presentation of Stella's perspective is greatly appealing because the story recognizes that though there are similarities across this one group of friends (they all want to save the ocean and make a difference in the world), it refuses to ignore the challenges that are natural experiences young kids face when they begin to grow up. My favorite relationships in this story are the ones between Stella and her best friend Jenny and Stella and her older brother Nick. In sum, Stella and Jenny are best friends but each of them begin to develop their own interests and passions, which in turn instigates challenges when they realize that supporting each other brings its own conflicts, time-wise and interest-wise. In addition, Stella and her older brother seem to have had a really close relationship growing up, but as he prepares to enter high school, Stella begins to notice how he has changed and struggles to accept what that might mean in terms of his relationship with her. I really enjoyed watching Stella's character develop with each turn of the page; her transparency with how much she struggled internally in both of these relationships is incredibly valuable for young readers because they are both foundational experiences growing up.
Considering the primary focus of the story (Stella's passion and inspiration to save the oceans), the cultural authenticity seems fitting. There are scenes that do touch on experiences that might appeal to Mexican-American readers, like the challenge associated with trying to learn a Second language that is native to other members of one's identity group, but the story progresses as beyond this cultural exploration to one that is more universal to children. In other words, the story is not about Stella as a young Mexican-American experiencing certain coming-of-age challenges but rather about Stella experiencing certain coming-of-age challenges while just so happening to be Mexican-American; and, it is this shift in focus that differentiates the cultural authenticity of Stella Diaz Never Gives Up from that of Dear Primo. Relatively speaking, last week's featured book, Carole Lindstrom's We are Water Protectors, would be considered a happy medium between the two books mentioned above. Though the story, like Stella Diaz, focuses primarily on a young girl's call to action to protect the world around her, her perspective as a member of her native tribe seems to play a more significant role in her involvement in activism than Stella's Mexican-Identity does in her efforts to save the oceans. However, We are Water Protectors still provides a more authentic representation of the young girl's culture since it doesn't shy away from using its native language, sharing its native folklore, and portraying realistic experiences. As a text set, these three books do have a lot to offer and especially encourages children to consider how their own cultures may or may not affect how they see the world, but more importantly they serve as inspiration for young children of color as characters like themselves become socially normalized in a variety of aspects.
Conversation
Which character, of all the ones we have been introduced throughout these three books, appeals to you most? Why?
What makes a character relatable? What do you think is most important when building a character's development?
Do you find yourself drawn to realistic characters or highly structured characters? Static characters or dynamic characters? Elaborate.
Connection
Consider Stella Diaz's various relationships with her friends and family. Which of these relationships do you most connect with? Why?
What experiences do you consider to be foundational in the coming-of-age process? Think about experiences you have had and experiences that Stella must face. Are they all the same? What differences might there be? What do you make of these comparisons in terms of what "growing up" involves?
Reflection
When asked to make a text or an experience relevant to yourself, do you find yourself having a preference for either element in the compare/contrast equation? Elaborate.
Action
What are you passionate about? What makes a Dream and a Passion different?
How can you be an activist for this passion today, tomorrow, years from now?
Consider the the terms idealistic activism and realistic activism.
Do you think there should be more, less, or equal amounts of weight prescribed to either? Do we need both? Elaborate.
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