Dr. Seuss' Day

Just as March begins, we have the celebration of Dr. Seuss’ Day which is on March 2. This Friday all over the United States is the Read across America in honor of Dr. Seuss.  Dr. Seuss is a very familiar name to many children and educators for his contribution to children’s literature which includes the emergence of beginner’s books.

     Dr. Seuss is the pen name of Theodor Seuss Geisel.  He was born in 1904 and died in 1991.  He was a writer, a cartoonist, an artist, book publisher and animator.  One of best known books is Green Eggs and Hams.  His memorable character The Cat in the Hat has gone beyond existing within the pages of a book and has appeared in films and recently PBS has created a series inspired in this memorable children’s book.

     Dr. Seuss took up the challenge to create books that could be enjoyed by children using a limited amount of words.  The book The Cat in the Hat was written using 220 words.  This book was a response to an article as well as a book titled Why Johnny Can’t Read which identified the reason of literacy problems in children due to books that did not appeal their interests and were according to these writers “boring”.

     Dr. Seuss’ creativity brought to the children’s literature world characters like The Grinch, Horton and the unforgettable Cat with his very particular hat.  His illustrations were unique and admired not only by children but adults alike.  His writing style was usually in rhyme which makes these books very appealing to children.

     Dr. Seuss’ contribution will always be remembered because he brought a different perspective to children’s literature.  His books are fun to read but still with a vocabulary easy for children that are starting the journey to the fascinating world of literature.  Writing with a limited amount of vocabulary is a challenge not many writers can successfully achieve, but Dr. Seuss did it and has inspired writers to continue writing books that are fun, creative while motivating our children to become lifelong readers.

     So this Friday, let’s celebrate Dr. Seuss’ birthday reading and sharing books with our loved ones.

Update of Library Committee

Dr. Aida Caceres, Prof. Artemio Penalbert and Prof. Carmen Milagros Torres

     The Library Committee has been collaborating with the Library professors to accomplish the goals set this academic year.  The following is a summary of the status of the different activities completed or that are in process of completion:

Use of an electronic format to present updates of the work being done in the committee	Completed and in process through the blog “The Owl’s Bookshelf”
Preparation of the instrument to be used for the survey of the resources acquired by the UPRH Library	The instrument has undergone several revisions with recommendations from the Library Committee members, the library professors, the English Department chair and Dr. M.I. Candelaria. The next step is a formal meeting with OPAI former ODU personnel to receive the final revision before the survey is conducted.  The petition has been sent electronically and the committee is waiting for the date of meeting.
Preparation of the English BA students’ questionnaire about library use.	This questionnaire was originally prepared by Dr. Larry Myers.  Prof. Carmen Milagros Torres made some modifications and was administered last year.  The instrument is being revised so the needs of data for this year can be included.  This questionnaire’s revisions will be discussed in March meeting with the library professors and a formal petition to OPAI personnel has also been sent in electronic format.
Study about the resources available in the library of a BA course.	The course selected for this study is INGL 4326- Children’s Literature.  In March the committee will meet with the Library Professors to discuss how this study will be conducted.  The goal is to begin this study in March.

     As soon as OPAI revise the instrument for the faculty and student survey, the committee will communicate with the English Department to conduct these surveys.  It is our goal to do so during the month of March.

     In addition during the week of February 13, the Library Committee sponsored the campaign, “A Worm Hello” to invite the English faculty to register and follow “The Owl’s Bookshelf”.  It is the committee’s goal to have at least 10 followers from our university community.  The campaign will continue with other Departments in the following weeks.

     The Library Committee wants to thank The English Department as well as Library professors with their support with this project.  We also want to invite you to collaborate with writings and suggestions.  Dr. Jesus Lopez sent the committee an interesting link about Virginia Wolfe that will be soon posted.

Pura Belpre: A Librarian Who Brought Puerto Rican Literary Tradition to New York

The name Pura Belpre can be familiar to some readers because of the award established to honor Latino writers and illustrators of children’s books that present the Latino culture and experience.  That is how I met this extraordinary woman whose legacy goes beyond having her name in a prestigious children’s award.

     Pura Belpre was born in Puerto Rico in Cidra.  Her year of birth is debated within the years 1899, 1901 and 1902.  She lived in several towns of Puerto Rico as she grew up in the island.  Some of her registered residences were Cayey, Arroyo Guayama and Saturce.  In Santurce she graduated from Central High School. She even studied for a year in The University of Puerto Rico, Rio Piedras Campus before traveling to New York.

     When her sister got married, Belpre traveled to New York and decided not to return to the island.  Here she had the opportunity to work as a librarian, a position that her sister didn’t accept because of her recent marriage.  And she became the first Puerto Rican librarian in New York and probably of the whole nation and one of the first black personnel in the New York Public Library.

    Belpre’s contribution in the New York Public Library is one that still today is still remembered.  When assigned to work in the children’s room of the library, she discovered that none of the stories she had heard as a child in Puerto Rico were available for children to enjoy in this branch. As Victoria Nunez writes in her article “Remembering Pura Belpre’s Early Career at the 135^th Street New York Public Library: Interracial Cooperation and Puerto Rican Settlement during Harlem Renaissance”,

            Belpre, as a Puerto Rican who had grown up in a family with a storytelling tradition,

            was aware of Puerto Rican folkloric tales and being in the environment of the library, she

            could have imagined the presence and power of those stories for Puerto Rican and

            non-Puerto Rican children alike. (56)

This statement reinforces what for so many years I have mentioned to students that take children’s Literature; traditional tales are the foundation of literary tradition and the inspiration for other literary genres such as Fantasy which I so much enjoy.

     Belpre didn’t wait for an opportunity to appear, but created the opportunity for children gto enjoy these Puerto Rican stories.  She took a storytelling course from Mary Gould Davis.  At that time, the New York Public Library only permitted to narrate stories if they were already published.  Belpre had mentioned that at that time only stories were told if it came from a book which was “a type of literacy based on published texts from earliest years. Whether library staff was aware or not of oral literacies, they sanctioned only written literacy.” (56)

     Belpre then went on to write those oral stories that she had enjoyed as a child.  It was in this storytelling course that she wrote “Perez and Martina” which was later published by Frederick Warne Company, the publisher of Beatrix Potter Peter Rabbit books.

     Pura Belpre became the best published writer from Puerto Rico of this period in the United States.  She went on to publish eight books.  She was a writer, a folklorist and a puppeteer bringing Puerto Rico into the walls of the libraries of New York.  She even made possible that the Three Kings Day was celebrated in these facilities. 

     It is important to remember Pura Belpre’s legacy.  She demonstrated the importance of preserving traditional tales which unites people of different cultures, reaffirms one’s identify and expand the creative potential of all of us.  If Belpre hadn’t published Martina the Cockroach story, many of us today would have lost an important piece of our oral tradition.

Bibliography

Gonzalez, L. (2008). The Storteller's Candle. San Francisco, CA: Children's Book Press.

Nunez, V. (Spring, 2009). Remembering Pura Belpre's Early Careerat the 135th Street New York Public Library: Interracial Cooperation and Puerto Rican Settlement during the Harlem Renaissance. Centro Journal, XXI(1), 53-77.

Friendship Beyond the Books

The Library Committee wishes you a very special St. Valentine's week full of friendship and great books.

Meeting with Dr. Candelaria

Prof. Carmen Milagros Torres and Dr. Candelaria(OPAI)

     On Thursday, February 9, 2012, Prof. Carmen Milagros Torres representing the Library Committee met with Dr. Candelaria of the institutional area of research of UPRH.
     The purpose of this meeting was to discuss the changes needed in the instruments created by the Library Committee before conducting the survey by the end of February.  Dr. Candelaria  gave very useful recommendations which will be incorporated in the revisions of these instruments.
    The Library Committee has in agenda for this semester to complete two important studies related to the library resources as well as students and faculty use of the library.  These studies are part of the legacy left by our former chair of this committee, Dr. Larry Myers. 

Anasesem: The Caribbean Children Ezine

Two years ago while looking for information on Caribbean Literature, I discovered Caribbean Literary Salon, a specialized social network where Caribbean writers, scholars and people like me who are interested in this field can share and read about interesting topics in Caribbean studies.  It was here that I discovered Anasesem, an e-zine created by Summer Edwards that promotes Caribbean Children’s Literature.

                This e-zine publishes original stories and poems by adults and children related to the Caribbean.  In the site you will find the guidelines for publishing not only your stories but illustrations.  Also this site has a bookstore that posts Caribbean books that Amazon has available.  What makes this bookstore unique for me is that Edwards has categorized the books by countries.  So if you are interested in finding what books are available in Amazon about Puerto Rican children’s literature, just click Puerto Rico.

                I love this site because it also provides interviews and book reviews in this fascinating area of study.  It has given me the opportunity to know the new books published in this field as well to get acquainted with the writers.  It has also given me the opportunity to publish some of my stories like in this edition that appears in this edition which I wrote when I taught Children’s Literature in 2009 as an example to pour quoi tales for the Teacher Candidates.

                I hope you will get motivated in also writing stories for children and submitting it to this e-zine.  Ms. Summer recently commented that one Anasesem’s goals for this year are to have more collaboration from children in the magazine. This is a great opportunity for our Teacher Candidates that are in Practice Teaching to motivate their students into creative writing.  I would love to see works from Puerto Rico published in Anasesem. Anasesem is now accepting submissions for their May issue.

                Anasesem also can be found in Facebook.