Planting Stories: Perfect Picture Book Friday

It's National Hispanic Heritage Month! What a wonderful opportunity to highlight Pura Belpre!

Title: Planting Stories: The Life of Librarian and Storyteller Pura Belpre
Author: Anika Aldamuy Denise
Illustrator: Paola Escobar
Publisher: Harper. 2019

Themes: Librarians, Biography, stories, Diversity, Puerto Rico

First Lines: It is 1921. Pura Teresa Belpre leaves her home in San Juan for a visit to Nueva York. Words travel with her: stories her abuela taught her. Cuentos folkloricos Pura retold in the shade of a tamarind tree., in Puerto Rico.

Why I love this book: 
It's about a librarian! Even better a librarian from Puerto Rico. She loved children, told stories and wrote stories which were published.

As I read her story, I think about storytimes in the library and the sense of simple pleasure they provided. "In the children's room, she lights the story hour candle . . . and begins:
To me there is still nothing as lovely as sharing stories with a group of children.

Pura crafted her own puppets to bring her stories to life. Folktales were shared en ingles y espanol. taking us back in time to a special place that lives on to this day.

There is a joyful gentleness in the illustrations. Many colors, but they are all a little bit muted, soft and feel like we are being taken back in time to the world of Pura Belpre.

Activities and Resources:
Learn more about the Pura Belpre medal
http://www.ala.org/alsc/awardsgrants/bookmedia/belpremedal

Learn more about National Hispanic Heritage Month
https://www.hispanicheritagemonth.gov/about/

Visit your public library. Get a library card. Attend a storytime or other program. Check out some folktales from around the world.

Make a puppet. I love sock puppets. Here's a how to link.

Write a story and act it out with your new puppet.

Be sure to check out Susanna Hill's Blog where you can look for reviews by book, title, and by themes. And you can check out her weekly #PPBF post along with links to many more wonderful posts here.

I would love to hear your thoughts about the books I share. Have you read them? Were they available at your library? Did you ask the library to purchase them? How did you use them in your classroom or library? Feel free to share the posts with family and friends. Reading is wonderful and sharing about books you love, helps authors, illustrators and publishers.

My apologies for missing accents on words. I have looked up how to get them to work on my laptop, but my laptop doesn't want to play the way other laptops do. I will get it figured out and will edit this post once I do. If only it were as easy as it is on my phone and tablet. (That might be the solution, but I would like one that allows me to do all the work in one place.)