Rosa Reading

I found the Rosa reading this past Monday (October 15th) particularly interesting. To begin with, I have to admit, I have never been relayed the story of Rosa Parks with such detail, accuracy, and artistic poise. I think that Giovanni's literary skills combined with Collier's artistic elements worked well together to create a wonderful representation of Rosa Parks and her cultural context. There were a couple of things in particular that highly interested me. These thoughts are from both my own reflections as well as group thoughts that we discussed during class.

First, I appreciated the depiction of women in the story. Throughout the text, the women in the story were given proper cultural context (as Rosa was going home to make dinner for her husband and Professor Robinson took care of her family and then went make bus boycott handbills). However, they were also depicted as strong and noble. As Rosa stood her ground on the bus she looked to her mother and her grandmother for strength. The art in the text also gives these women righteous symbols. For example, the front cover as well as a main picture in the book almost looks as if Rosa has a halo around her.

While I did not recognize this during the first reading, after the whole class discussion I appreciated how the author used the term "tired." Through the reflection of my collegues thoughts I was able to become more aware of the author's use of the term. In the past, I was always relayed the story that Rosa Parks was a tired, stubborn, women who did not want to give up her seat for a white man. However, after this reading, my point of view has highly changed. I now recognize that Rosa was not physically tired or stubborn. She was "tired" of how the unequal treatment of African Americans and would no longer stand for injustice.

While at first I thought this to be a simple picture book describing the life of Rosa Parks, after reading, discussing, and making connections, I now understand that it is much more. From this activity, I have learned much and as a teacher candidate, I can appreciate how activities such as this one can really put things into context.

Pura Belpre Award Discussion

In our research, we found out many interesting topics surrounding the Pura Belpre Award. To begin with, it is a recent award as it was established in 1996. This award gives credit to the Latino/a author or illustrator whose work best represents the latino cultural experience with high literary quality for children. This award is particularly interesting because it can be given to the author of the book or the illustrator.

Belpre was the first Latino librarian at the New York Public Library. While she was born in Puerto Rico (where she attended formal schooling) she spent most of her life in New York. While she was under the title of New York Public librarian Belpre achieved many successes as a result of sharing Puerto Rican folklore with New York children. Belpre was particularly important in preserving this type of literature that might otherwise be lost.

The Pura Belpre Award is co-sponsored by the Association for Library Service to Children (ALSC), a division of the American Library Association (ALA), and the National Association to Promote Library and Information Services to Latinos and the Spanish-Speaking, an ALA Affiliate. Some of the books that have recieved this award are Chato and the Party Animals by Gary Soto and illustrated by Susan Guevara, Cesar by Carmen Bernier-Grand and illustrated by David Diaz, as well as Esperanza Rising by Pam Munoz Ryan