Saturday, February 8, 2020

Planting Stories : The Life of Librarian and Storyteller Pura Belpré by Anika Aldamuy Denise - ADVISABLE

Planting Stories : The Life of Librarian and Storyteller Pura Belpré by Anika Aldamuy Denise, illustrated by Paola Escobar PICTURE BOOK Harper Collins, 2019 $18 9780062748683 

BUYING ADVISORY: EL (K-3), EL - ESSENTIAL

AUDIENCE APPEAL: AVERAGE 

When Pura Belpré was a young woman, she came to America from Puerto Rico and brought with her wonderful stories (cuentos folklóricos). She got a job as a bilingual assistant at the New York Public Library and noticed that there weren't stories and folktales from Puerto Rico, so she told her stories to the children, and made puppets and planted the seeds of storytelling in the Library.. 

Because of Pure Belpré, children today have a rich legacy of bilingual literature as well as stories from their culture.  I love that librarians, storytellers and authors are getting their life stories told in picture book biographies. Beautifully illustrated by Paola Escobar - the pictures tell the story along with the text - oh how I would have loved to hear her stories, to see her puppets, to feel her energy! A definite buy for the elementary library, especially if you have Spanish speaking students.  Includes a little more detailed biography as an author's note, and a bibliography, resources and a description of Bepré's stories that are mentioned in the book. 

Lisa Librarian

FYI: Also available in Spanish. 

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