A Text Set

In this blog I will discussing two books that I have had the pleasure of reading this past week. Stella Diaz never gives Up, written and illustrated by Angela Dominguez, and Dear Primo: A letter to My Cousin, written and illustrated by Duncan Tonatiuh. I will also be relating these two wonderful book to We Are Water protectors, by Carole Lindstorm and illustrated by Michalea Goade, which I discussed in my previous blog post.

Stella Diaz: Never Gives Up, written by and illustrated by Angela Dominguez, follows the story of a young Mexican-American girl who dreams of becoming an environmental activist. Stella has a love for the ocean and everything that goes with it. This fuels her determination to find a way to help save the ocean and its creatures. However, along the way Stella realizes that she needs a little help in order to make her dream into a reality. This book was one of my favorites to read this week because it's such a fun, coming of age story that also talks about environmental issues as well as how to be a good friend and the importance of teamwork. Stella meets a group of friends who share her love for the ocean and want to help her save the ocean. This book includes many words and phrases in Spanish spoken by Stella and her family. Spanish may seem like a language as common as English but depending on where in the U.S you may not hear anybody speaking the language. These few words and phrases can be an introduction into another language that students may not be familiar with. This can also be great for helping students to learn decoding strategies when trying to figure out what the words/phrases mean. Stella's story is similar to the main characters in We Are Water Protectors as they are both working to fight against an environmental issue.Both main characters also find support in the community around them. The girl in water protectors is fighting against the building of a pipeline in her people's river, her tribe and her have to come together as one to fight against the "black snake." These books are great to read to students about how important the Earth is as well as teaching students the power of teamwork. These stories can also be great to help students to begin talking about ways they can help and be active in their community.

The other book I read this week was Dear Primo: A Letter to My Cousin, written and illustrated by Duncan Tonatiuh. This simple picture book follows two young cousins living in two different parts of the world. The cousins are pen pals writing to each other about their day to day lives in Mexico and America. The cousins talk about where they live, what school is like for them, holidays they celebrate and what they like to do for fun. The boys may seem to live vastly different lives but they do have a lot of similarities in the things they do on a day to day basis. Just like in Stella Diaz, Dear Primo also has Spanish words throughout the book. However, in this book the Spanish words are used to label different pictures. When I first read this book I wasn't sure what the author was trying to convey but the second time around reading this book I realized the author was trying to show different environments while also showing the similarities between the two. This book is a great introduction into different cultures around the world that we may not be aware of. We can often become closed off to other cultures and environments that are out of our norm. On the author's website he talked about how his aim with his stories was to create images and stories that honor the past but are relevant to children nowadays. This also reminded me of We are Water Protectors because it talks about a culture that is different than our own. Although the culture talked about in Dear Primo isn’t as unknown to us as the Ojibwe culture is in We are Water Protectors it is still an opportunity for learning. Students get an opportunity with these books to expand their cultural appreciation and learn more about the world we are living in.

The author and illustrator of Stella Diaz Never Gives up, Angela Dominguez, was born in Mexico City, grew up in Texas and now lives in San Francisco. She has received two Pura Belpre Illustration awards for her illustrations in Maria had a little Llama and Mango, Abuela and Me. The Pura Belpe Award is presented to a Latino or Latina author or illustrator whose work best portrays the Latino cultural experience in a work of literature for children or youth.

When looking at the author's blog I saw that she herself is an environmental enthusiast which helps her in her writing of a young girl who themselves is an oceanic enthusiast. The author has also experienced living in Mexico for a short time before moving to the United States which gives her an #ownvocieinsider perspective for writing about a young girl who was born in Mexico but moved to the United States when she was young. In the story of Stella Diaz there are also a lot of references to cultural foods which the author is also well aware of and possibly grew up with.

The author and illustrator of Dear Primo: A letter to my cousin also has an #ownvoiceinsider perspective. Duncan Tonatiuh was born in Mexico City and grew up in San Miguel de Allende. He moved to the United States to attend high school and eventually went to college in New York City. He graduated from Parsons, School of Design where he studied both writing and Instruction. While attending college, Tonatiuh studied the ancient art of the Mixtees as well as other Mexican cultures which he incorporated into his own unique style. Living in two very different places inspired him to write Dear Primo.

Stella Diaz Never Gives Up, Dear Primo: A Letter to My Cousin and We Are Water Protectors are all books that talk about the importance of protecting our environment as well as learning about the different cultures of our world. In We Are Water Protectors, the illustrator, Michaela Goade tells a powerful story with her pictures. In the beginning of the book the main character is wearing pants but as the story transitions to where the little girl is now fighting to protect her peoples water you see she is now wearing a traditional skirt of the Ojibwee culture. This subtle change represents a pride in one's culture as she is rallying behind her culture and community in protecting their water system. When the little girl was fighting for the water the author did a beautiful illustration of the little girl's hair which had different animals in her hair. Animals are an important part of Ojibwee culture so seeing these illustrations tells me that the illustrator did her research to be able to accurately portray this culture in pictures. The same way the illustrator in We Are water protectors portrays the Ojibwee culture the author/illustrator of Dear Primo: A letter to my cousin also portrays not only the Mexican culture but the Mixtec culture through his thorough research of their illustrations. The Mixtec are an indigenous group from southern Mexico which are known for many things including their intricate art. With both books having such strong illustrations that represent a certain culture readers are able to understand and see the importance of representing one's culture or even just having pride in your culture to show the world. Angela Dominguez, the author of Stella Diaz has won two awards for her illustrations. This award isn't just for beautiful illustrations it's also about representing the Latino culture. By having authors represent not only their own cultures but other cultures in books it gives readers a window into other cultures they may not be familiar with. Having a book that serves as a mirror for a student, seeing one's culture represented in books, can make a child proud of who they are.

Children's Literature can serve as the first opportunity students have to learn about different cultures and different people. All three authors/illustrators come from marginalized cultures and used their voices to tell the world about them. In Reading to Make a Difference the authors talk about how children's literature provides rich and robust opportunities to delve into [different] situations from a safe distance. By having repeated exposure of rich culture texts such as these we can help students to make connections across different texts while also scaffolding "the development of insights children need to reach a level of empathy and action." (Laminack&Kelly 103) Students also get the opportunity to learn new words in a new language they might not have known before. A discussion about how all languages are valued is an important next step we as teachers should take when reading books with such strong cultural backgrounds such as these three.