The old cherry tree outside my window has lost its blossoms. Now, covered in green it continues to proclaim the miracle of life, in the middle of the city. The academic year has ended, and this time, graduations have been multiple. The graduation at USF of my students brought both great joy, and the inevitable sadness of seeing the ending of a very close relationship. But in life endings are many time necessary to bring up new beginnings. And these new doctorates from USF have a great deal to offer to the world.

The other graduations were the ones in New York of participants in the  Authors in the Classroom courses we had the privilege of offering in  Brooklyn, New York City, Rochester and Albany. These  graduates  are now added to those from the three sites where we  worked throughout the 1999-2000 academic year: Project MORE in Los Angeles; San Francisco Unified School District, and Sunnyslope School, Phoenix, AZ.

In everyone of these courses 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 want to specially thank everyone of you for the  opportunity of meeting you and your students, 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. And that you will keep in touch letting us know about your work and writing.

A great source of joy for Isabel Campoy and myself has been the publication of  Puertas al Sol, and its English version, 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!