What Can You Do with a Paleta/Que Puedas con una Paleta? by Carmen Tafolla

Genre: Picture Book/Fiction

Grade Level: PreK - 2

Interest Level: 3-8

Themes: summertime fun, summer days in the barrio, neighborhood traditions, eating delicious paletas(ice cream/fruit bars), Mexican/Mexican American culture

What I Thought

Summertime is ice cream time and Carmen Tafolla's book takes me right back to summer days, outdoors with friends, and squeals of delight at the sound of the approaching ice cream truck.  The sounds and smells of summer in a Mexican/Mexican American barrio (neighborhood) bound off of the page with Tafollas descriptive text dotted with Spanish words and cultural images. The images come to life with vibrant illustrations by Magaly Morales (who happens to be Yuyi Morales' sister). There are beautiful brown people, working, playing, walking the streets,  brightly colored sarapes, and a wagon full of paletas that looks like a new box of crayons. The narrator begins to share things that can be done in her barrio, but once the "tinkly bell" of the paleta  wagon is heard, her imagination and narration begin to list the wonderful things that can be done "with a paleta". The book comes in an English/Spanish version and an English version, with the Spanish words italicized in the text.

Instructional Possibilities
This text provides instructional opportunities to meet many Common Core standards for reading literature, including (but not limited to) asking/answering questions about the text, retelling, describing setting and characters using key details, and identifying words that appeal to the senses. In addition, using the information from the illustrations to help demonstrate understanding of  the story works well with the vivid pictures, in particular in discussions where you might be identifying cultural elements in the story and/or doing a picture walk through the book.  There is opportunity for responsive vocabulary instruction using the Personal Thesaurus for synonym development. This strategy would work well for many grade levels, with a supply of tier 1, 2 words, and even a tier 3 word or two in the text. The story is also a great model text if you are working on student narratives or writing detailed descriptions. Think of ways to incorporate  several CLR strategies for movement, effective literacy strategies, and protocols for discussion/participation in order to effectively engage students in the text and meeting of the standards.

Cultural Authenticity
The thing that is great about this text is that you can trust that Tafolla is giving us a beautiful, clear snapshot of authentic Mexican American life. She is a Mexican American author and she is writing about what she knows, understands and who she is. Likewise for the illustrations that Magaly Morales presents us with. We don't have to question the intention or if there are stereotypes present. We can simply read, validate and affirm those students we have of Latino heritage and build and bridge towards an understanding of the cultural elements present in the text. The illustrations, word choice and of course that the book is about the icy, traditional Latino treat, paletas all work together to create this culturally authentic text.  The last page of the book is a page "About Paletas" that explains what a paleta is and lists the delicious flavor choices in English and Spanish. 

Skip, run, enjoy and icy summertime treat....and go get this book!

Golden Domes and Silver Lanterns: A Muslim Book of Colors by Hena Khan

Realistic Fiction

Grade Level: PK-3

Interest Level: PK - 4

Themes: Muslim Life, Colors, Family, traditions, Muslim religious practices

An adorable Somali girl was sitting in her 1st grade class, in a Minnesota elementary school. She was a bit fidgety, and distracted. She wasn't interested in joining the story circle with the other children, despite the urgings of her teacher and the paraprofessional working with her. She sat at a desk and began to color, while the other students waited for the teacher to begin her read aloud. As the teacher began to read, the little girl continued to color, seemingly uninterested in what was going on at the front of the room. The teacher read one page, then the next. Suddenly, the little girl in the back of the room looked up and shouted, "That book is about ME!" She put down her crayons, and walked to the front of the room. She wriggled herself in between two students right in front of the teacher, and listened to the rest of the story with rapt attention. She had heard what mattered to her heart....Validated and Affirmed.

Golden Domes and Silver Lanterns is beautiful and authentic. It is not text heavy, and the illustrations are exquisite, making it a wonderful choice for early readers. This journey through daily colors, peeking into the life of a young Muslim girl, will be intriguing and enjoyable for young and older readers alike. 

There is great instructional possibility about world religions and culture. Students will be able to ask questions and make observations about similarities and differences in family traditions, beliefs and practices.  In addition, it provides an excellent opportunity for Muslim students to be the "experts" as they help to explain/discuss important Islamic terms like "hijab" or "Eid", as they come to life with Mehrdokht Amini's gorgeous, colorful pictures.

This book is a beautiful, responsive read! Go get it!

Zora and Me by Victoria Bon, T.R. Simon

Historical Fiction

Grade Level: 4-7

Interest Level: 4-7

Themes: racism, segregation/Jim Crow south, storytelling, curiosity and imagination, southern roots/life, absence of father’s

Sensitivity Issues: Use of the ‘N’ word, black males die (not graphic)

This book is delightful. The voice of the narrator will draw the audience into the world of the small, all black, community of Eatonville, Florida and Zora Neale Hurston's friends and family. We get a glimpse of how Zora's creative imagination keeps everyone trying to figure out if her stories are truth, lies, or just the way she makes sense of the world. We do learn that early on, Zora is confident of her ability to tell stories and entertain others with them.

This book was written to be read aloud, in true folklore/tall-tale fashion. It has great instructional possibility. The language is rich, the historical facts are compelling, and the dialogue creates humor and suspense. The female leads are strong, and well developed for the books 180 pages. Zora's curiosity, and imagination are central to the movement of the story. The book also contains a biography of Zora Neale Hurston, and a timeline of her life.

The book does have a few sobering moments, as it opens with man being killed by an alligator. Subsequently, we learn that the main characters father left town to find work, and never returned, a traveling man the children meet and befriend is found murdered with his head missing, and then a strange, quiet man who is the subject of Zora's tall-tales dies in his sleep. All of this misfortune concerning the men of Eatonville however, lends itself to many discussion and instruction possibilities, not the least of which is Zora's "coming of age" and learning the truth about life. These truths, include one characters decision to "pass" for white which is the source of both confusion and tragedy. Zora wades through it all within her circle of family, friends and support and does so with audacious determination and curiosity.

Firebird by Misty Copeland

Biographical Verse

Grade Level: K-3

Interest Level: K-5

Themes:  perseverance, believing in yourself, overcoming obstacles, determination, hard work, following your dreams

Firebird, by Misty Copeland is a picture book that you want in your collection. Especially, but not only for little brown girls dreaming of dancing, but for any girls dreaming of being something or somewhere that  rejects their skin color, body type and/or circumstance.

Copeland’s story is authentic because it subtly captures the dreams and the fears of children who want to be more than their experience dictates. It also reflects the very real barriers of rejection that marginalized people face. 

It is not text heavy, and Christopher Meyer’s illustrations are perfect for picture walks through the text with beginning readers.   While the text is simple enough for those learning to read, it is also rich in imagery and figurative language, making it instructionally appropriate for many grade levels. Copeland’s figurative language is sprinkled with a few dance terms, and there is a beautifully, effective culturally specific simile “pirouetting tightly as the curls on our heads”. This will resonate with  many little black girls dreaming of doing things that black girls “don’t do”. We know from Copeland’s real life story, that this tale has a  happy ending. She teaches of not giving up, or listening to the naysayers, but instead pressing on as she did to spin wishes for other children.

Copeland ends her book with an inspirational letter to her readers telling of her journey from a little girl who didn’t fit in,  to the second African American soloist at the American Ballet Theater. 

Beautiful book. Don't walk, dance to get it.

Why We Can't Wait 

“Perhaps it is easy for those who have never felt the stinging darts of segregation to say, “Wait”…..When you are fighting a degenerating sense of ‘nobodiness’ – then you will understand why we find it difficult to wait.” Why We Can’t Wait, Martin Luther King Jr.

Perhaps it is easy for those who have never struggled to read. Perhaps it is easy for those who know how to sit still, be quiet and listen all day. Perhaps it is easy for those who look, sound and act like the teacher. Unfortunately, too many students understand that “degenerating sense of nobodiness” on a daily basis.  Who are the students in our classrooms who experience that “nobodiness” regularly?

In this text, King explained the urgency felt by those who had endured enough. They had endured enough nobodiness. They had endured enough disrespect, humiliation, violence and despair. There are students that we see everyday who have endured enough. They have endured enough of being told everything that they have done wrong, but little of what they have done right. They have endured enough of not being told the rules to the game that they are losing. They have endured enough of “only” someone’s else story in the book and someone else’s picture on the wall.  We should feel an urgency to be responsive to those who have endured enough.

We are in a “We Can’t Wait” moment, right now. As protests rage on our streets, as the gap between the “haves” and the “have nots” grows ever wider, and the options for those ignored and underserved in our classrooms become even more invisible, we can’t wait.

We can’t wait to learn who are students are. We must take an interest in the skills and gifts that they bring to the classroom, especially those that we don’t usually value as “school appropriate” talents and gifts. We should not wait to learn the difference between cultural behaviors and misbehaviors. We cannot wait  to recognize our “first thought” before it becomes a deficit response, and we can not wait to validate and affirm through authentic texts so that EVERY student sees him or herself  when they open the book in class.

Responsive Reads is here because we can’t wait.