Digging for Words

Jose Alberto Gutierrez

and the Library He Built

Schwartz & Wade Books

(Penguin Random House)

(pub. 9.8.2020) 

40 pages

A True Tale with

A Cherry On Top   

A uthor: Angela Burke Kunkel
       and illustrator: Paolo Escobar

C haracter: Jose Alberto Gutierrez

O verview:

 

"In the city of Bogata, in the barrio of La Nueva Gloria, there live two Joses. One is a boy who dreams of Saturdays-- that's the day he gets to visit Paradise, the library. The second Jose is a garbage collector. From dusk until dawn, he scans the sidewalks as he drives, squinting in the dim light, searching household trash for hidden treasure . . . books! Some are stacked in neat piles, as if waiting for José. Others take a bit more digging. Ever since he found his first book, Anna Karenina, years earlier, he's been collecting books--thick ones and thin ones, worn ones and almost new ones-- to add to the collection in his home. And on Saturdays, kids like little Jose run to the steps of Paradise to discover a world filled with books and wonder.

With an evocative text by a debut author, and rich, stunning illustrations from an up-and-coming Colombian illustrator, here is a celebration of perseverance, community, and the power of books."

T antalizing taste: 

"Jose walks home from the garage. He pauses on the step to unlock the door, balancing books in the crook of his arm.

 A few pages to read, a few hours to  dream, and then it is a new day. Tonight, he revisits Macondo, a magical village deep in the jungles of Colombia, and he is lost in a place where time moves by its own rules."

And something more:  The Author's Note explains that "over ten million people live in the city of Bogota, Colombia. There are only nineteen libraries. There was no library in La Nueva Gloria barrio until 2000, when Jose Alberto Gutierrez took matters in his own hands.

A lifelong Bogota resident, Gutierrez is a former garbage collector who is known as the Lord of the Books... Today, in addition to running his library, Gutierrez directs the foundation he established, La Fuerza de las Palabras (The Strength of Words), which provides reading material to schools, organizations, and libraries across Colombia... Gutierrez himself went back to school in his fifties. It took  him three years to earn his high school diploma, but in building his library, he  empowered himself as  well as others."

Planting Stories

The Life of Librarian
and Storyteller Pura Belpre

(Harper Collins Publishers)
(pub. 1.15.2019) 
40 pages

A True Tale with
A Cherry On Top   

A uthor: 
 Anika Aldamuy Denise

 and illustrator: Paola Escobar
 
C haracter: Pura Belpre

O verview: 
     "Follow la vida y el legado of Pura Belpre, the first Puerto Rican librarian in New York City.
     When she came to American in 1921, Pura carried the cuentos folkloricos of her Puerto Rican homeland. Finding a new home at the New York Public Library as a bilingual assistant, she turned her popular retellings into libros and spread story seeds across the land. Today, these seeds have grown into a lush landscape a generations of children and storytellers continue to share her tales and celebrate Pura's legacy.
     This portrait of  the  influential librarian, author, and puppeteer reminds us of the power of storytelling and the extraordinary woman who opened doors and championed bilingual literature."

T antalizing taste: 
     "In the children's room, she lights the story hour candle ... and begins:
     Her eyes dance! Her voice sings!
     Pura's words paint a picture of a little house with a round balcony, where Martina, a beautiful Spanish cockroach, meets Perez, a handsome and gallant mouse. El ratoncito Perez y la cucarachita Martina, a tale from the tamarind tree.
     When Pura's story is done, each child makes a wish on the candle, and, with a wisp of air ... whoosh! La vela is blown out.
     Now Pura has a wish, too: to plant her story seeds throughout the land."

And something more: I always like learning what inspired the creation of a book. In the Author's Note, Anika Aldamuy Denise writes: "The seeds of the idea for this book first took root as I stood in the New York Public Library's central branch, gazing up at a large black-and-white photo of Pura Belpre: author, storyteller, and the first Puerto Rican librarian in New York City.  Seeing the larger-than-life image of this remarkable boricua woman I'd long admired, I felt a swell of pride and, along with it, the warmth of recognition. For Pura's photo brought to mind my titis (aunts): first-generation mainland Americans whose parents migrated to New York from Puerto Rico...  Now each year the American Library Association recognizes outstanding works of literature by Latinx authors and illustrators with the Pura Belpre Award."