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Letters
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April
20, 2000 Dear
friends: The
old cherry tree outside my window is heavy with blossom. This life miracle is
enhanced by the fact that the old tree is planted in the middle of the city, in
the thinnest strip of land, between my house
and the sidewalk. Yet it continues to proclaim the promise of spring, the
hope of renewal. Although
it is a very busy time for me, in which most of my time is devoted to reading
and commenting on my doctoral students’ dissertations, I want to take a few
minutes in this blue morning to send you my best wishes in this spring season
and to acknowledge my pleasure for having had the opportunity to getting to meet
you, and working with you. We hope that you will take our invitation
to giving your voice space to develop strongly and powerfully; of awakening the
voice within each of our students, and promoting the voice of their families. During
the last few weeks we have completed our courses of Authors in the Classroom in
the three sites where we have been working consistently throughout the 1999-2000
academic year: Project MORE in Los Angeles; San Francisco Unified School
District, and Sunnyslope School, Phoenix, AZ. In all three places the results
have surpassed our expectations, not only in the diversity and quality of the
books authored by the teachers, but primarily in their reports about the impact
that authoring books have had in their students, in their teaching practices and
specially in their relationship with the parents of their students.
It has been particularly meaningful to see the work done by parents and
to be able to heard some of them
read their books. We have four more
sites we’re working with this year, all in New York: Brooklyn, the
Bronx, Albany and Rochester. A
great source of joy for Isabel Campoy and myself has been the publication of
Puertas al Sol, and its English version, entitled Pathways to the Sun. We
are extraordinarily happy that these books, which highlight the achievements of
the Latino culture, will be available also in English, in order that young
Latinos who do not read Spanish, or have no access to books in Spanish, will
begin to know the depth and richness of the heritage. And, of course, they will
also allow English-speaking children to know the significance of the Hispanic
contribution to our multicultural society. Our culture is so vast and varied
that these books are only a sampler; but because they have been illustrated so
magnificently, and because all they contain is very valuable, we trust they will
make an impact in the children who are exposed to them. We
are now eagerly working in the next phase of the project which includes books on
Theatre, the Hispanic World, the Hispanic Culture and the Fun and Power of
Words. This is a work of devotion and the culmination of a life-time vision.
What a privilege to see it realized! It
has been rewarding to know that my latest book, Friend Frog, has been included
in the prestigious American Booksellers Association “Pick of the List”. This
tender parable of the friendship between Frog and Field Mouse is a celebration
of friendship and diversity. It
is also a joy that, due to the Pura Belpré Award to be conferred during the
American Library Association Conference in Chicago on July, Alfaguara will be
printing the Spanish versions of both Under the Royal Palms, who won the award,
and its companion, Where the Flame Trees Bloom, which is also going to be
reprinted in English. Finally,
another big piece of good news: the Masters in Multicultural Literature at the
University of San Francisco will begin in September, 2000. I have forwarded to
the University the names of those of you who asked for information about this
program or the Doctoral Program in International Educational (with the option of
specialization in Children’s Literature). If you have not heard from them you
can call our secretary Ailish Riggs at 415/422-6878 or contact me directly.
I
look forward seeing you next October 14-15
during our Reading the World Conference at the University of San Francisco. And
we hope to hear from you and your students. With
very wishes, during this spring season, and always,
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