4.11.2011

Biblioburro

A True Story from Columbia
This post is part of Nonfiction Monday

hosted today by Apples With Many Seeds

 
Beach Lane Books (Simon & Schuster
(pub. 6.8.2010)
32 pages
 
A True Tale with A Cherry On Top

A uthor and illustrator: JEANETTE WINTER


C haracter: Luis Soriana who lives in La Gloria, Columbia
 
O verview from book flap: 
      "Join Luis and his trusty burros, Alfa and Beto, as they travel far and wide to bring treasured books to eager children in the remote villages of rural Columbia.
     Based on the inspiring life of a real man and his devoted burro team, here is a book to remind us of the immense power stories have to connect us all."

T antalizing taste:
      "And far away in the hills, candles and lanterns burn as the children read borrowed books deep into their night, too."

and something more:   Jeanette Winter's picture book biography, Biblioburro, with her characteristically simple (in the best sense) text and colorful illustrations, truly captures the power of books to connect to people.  A New York Times article (Oct 19, 2008), written by Simon Romero
states that the Biblioburro "idea came to [Luis Soriana] after he witnessed as a young teacher the transformative power of reading among his pupils, who were born into conflict even more intense than when he was a child."      
     The article concludes with the anecdote of an 18 year old young woman who "leafed through a copy of  'Margarita,' the classic book of poetry by Rubén Darío of Nicaragua, and began to read aloud. 


She went beyond where the heavens are
and to the moon said, au revoir.
How naughty to have flown so far
without the permission of Papa.

'That is so beautiful, Maestro,” [the young woman] said to the teacher. 'When are you coming back?'"

5 comments:

Tammy Flanders said...

I love this book and promote it to undergraduate student teachers regularly.
Thanks for joining this week's Nonfiction Monday event at Apples with Many Seeds. I'm glad to have found your blog.
Tammy

Jeanne Walker Harvey said...

Yes! It's a terrific one for classrooms. I enjoy reading your blog.

Shannon O'Donnell said...

This looks wonderful - and I love Jeanette Winter! Thanks, Jeanne.

I'm hoping to post my review of Astro this weekend. :-)

Jeanne Walker Harvey said...

thanks Shannon for your note! Yes, isn't she amazing?!

Marjorie said...

We love Biblioburro too and have just selected it as one of our 2011 Spirit of PaperTigers Book Set. I hadn't seen the article you mention - what a beautiful quotation.