Garmann's Summer, written by Stian Hole, was the 2009 Honor Book for the Batchelder Award. This particular book was odd from the time I picked it off the shelf. The pictures were very oddly created, using very realistic facial features, and sometimes even scary! In this book, Garmann's three great aunts are visiting and he describes how he sees each of them and also begins questioning them about what they are scared of. He asked all three great aunts what they are scared of and why. The author does a great job of illustrating the pictures of each page, even though some were very weird looking! Throughout the entire book Garmann is anxiously awaiting his first day of school and wonders if others are scared and nervous just the way he is. I also found that this book jumped around from story to story and may be hard for early readers to follow along.
The Surrender Tree: Poems of Cuba's Struggle for Freedom, written by Margarita Engle, was the 2009 Pura Belpre Award for narrative books. In this book, the author introduces many different poems describing the endeavors and scenarios that Cuba faced while trying to gain freedom. Cuba fought three wars for their independence, and many of the people ended up in reconcentration camps. This book follows Rosa la Bayamesa, a nurse who tends to the wounded soldiers on her side and against, and her husband Jose. Rosa created many of her medicines from the plants around her, which I found very interesting. These poems are very hauntingly accurate and very descriptive. The chapters of this book are divided into five parts: The Names of the Flowers, The Ten Years' War, The Little War, The War of Independence, and The Surrender Tree.
Esperanza Rising, written by Pam Munoz Ryan, was the 2002 Pura Belpre Award for narrative books. In this book, Esperanza, her Mama, Abuelita, and her Papa live on a ranch, El Rancho de la Rosas in Mexico. Her family is wealthy and own servants that work for them. One day her father does not return from working out in the fields and after family friends go looking for him, they return with terrible news. Papa had been murdered by bandits when he was mending a fence. Esperanza's uncles, Tio Luis and Tio Marco, come to "comfort" Mama after the death of their brother, but really only want Luis and Mama to marry. When Mama refuses, Tio Luis tells her to think about what she is saying and leaves. That night, Esperanza awakes to her house burning down. Mama confides in her friends and old servants, Miguel, Josephina, and Alfonso, and they come up with a plan to escape to America. After long days of riding in wagons and trains, they finally reach Los Angeles and go to the Mexican camp. Esperanza must learn how to work out in the fields because her Mama soon becomes sick from breathing in the dusts from the fields while also trying to find a way to rise above her difficult circumstances as some of the works go on strike. As time passes, Esperanza finds herself maturing and growing up because she has to look after her mother, who has been in the hospital for months.
When I began reading this book, I was sure if I was going to like it because it started out slow and I didn't get in to the plot. But after the first few chapters, which are named after Spanish fruits and vegetables, I couldn't put it down. The heritage is so different from ours today and the customs and beliefs that Esperanza and her family have are very different from my own. For example, on the morning of her birthday, the men in her family would sing to her from outside her window. I would definitely recommend this book to higher level readers, grades 4-6.
Two awards that are given for children's books published in other countries are the Mildred L. Batchelder Award and the Pura Belpre Award. The Batchelder Award is a citation awarded to an American publisher for a children's book considered to be the most outstanding of those books originally published in a foreign language in a foreign country, and subsequently translated into English and published in the United States.
The Pura Belpre Award was established in 1996, and is presented to a Latino/Latina writer and illustrator whose work best portrays, affirms, and celebrates the Latino cultural experience in an outstanding work of literature for children and youth.
When I began reading this book, I was sure if I was going to like it because it started out slow and I didn't get in to the plot. But after the first few chapters, which are named after Spanish fruits and vegetables, I couldn't put it down. The heritage is so different from ours today and the customs and beliefs that Esperanza and her family have are very different from my own. For example, on the morning of her birthday, the men in her family would sing to her from outside her window. I would definitely recommend this book to higher level readers, grades 4-6.
Two awards that are given for children's books published in other countries are the Mildred L. Batchelder Award and the Pura Belpre Award. The Batchelder Award is a citation awarded to an American publisher for a children's book considered to be the most outstanding of those books originally published in a foreign language in a foreign country, and subsequently translated into English and published in the United States.
The Pura Belpre Award was established in 1996, and is presented to a Latino/Latina writer and illustrator whose work best portrays, affirms, and celebrates the Latino cultural experience in an outstanding work of literature for children and youth.
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