{"id":4803,"date":"2019-01-27T00:01:15","date_gmt":"2019-01-27T06:01:15","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/blaine.org\/sevenimpossiblethings\/?p=4803"},"modified":"2019-01-27T10:50:25","modified_gmt":"2019-01-27T16:50:25","slug":"7-imps-7-kicks-623-featuring-paola-escobar","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/blaine.org\/sevenimpossiblethings\/?p=4803","title":{"rendered":"7-Imp\u2019s 7 Kicks #623: Featuring Paola Escobar"},"content":{"rendered":"

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“The seeds she has planted, the roots that grew shoots into the open air of possibility, have become a lush landscape into which she steps, as though she has never left.”<\/em>
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\nIn honor of tomorrow morning’s ALA Youth Media Awards, during which the winners of the Pura Belpr\u00e9 Award will be announced, I’m sharing some spreads today from Anika Aldamuy Denise’s<\/a><\/strong> Planting Stories: The Life of Librarian and Storyteller Pura Belpr\u00e9<\/a><\/strong><\/em> (HarperCollins, January 2019), illustrated by Paola Escobar<\/a><\/strong>. <\/p>\n

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The Pura Belpr\u00e9 Award \u2014 established in 1996 and named for Belpr\u00e9, who was a librarian, puppeteer, and storyteller \u2014 is presented to a Latino or Latina writer and illustrator, whose work best portrays the Latino cultural experience in children’s and YA lit. Denise’s picture book biography tells the story of Belpr\u00e9’s adult life, beginning in 1921 when she left her home in San Juan for what was supposed to be a one-time visit to New York for her sister’s wedding. “Words travel with her,” writes Denise, “stories her abuela taught her. Cuentos folkl\u00f3ricos Pura retold in the shade of a tamarind tree, in Puerto Rico.” Belpr\u00e9 ends up staying and working at the New York Public Library as a bilingual assistant. Finding no stories on the shelves that are from Puerto Rico, she tells them herself during story hour (where she lit a “story hour candle”) and also creates her own puppets to make the stories come alive in the library. “Spanish-speaking immigrants who once thought the library wasn’t for them,” the author writes in a closing note accentuating Belpr\u00e9’s legacy, “now felt at home.”
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“It is 1921. Pura Teresa Belpr\u00e9 leaves her home in San Juan for a visit to Nueva York. …”<\/em>
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\nSharing these stories isn’t quite enough for Belpr\u00e9, so she writes one to submit for publication. P\u00e9rez y Martina<\/em> is published and is eventually followed by other books. As noted in the closing note, they became the first mainstream Latinx children’s books published in the U.S. Planting Stories<\/em> also covers Belpr\u00e9’s marriage to African-American composer and violinist Clarence Cameron White, as well as her work in cities across the country to tell stories. Belpr\u00e9’s story is wrapped up in 1961 when she returns to the library after her husband’s death and sees other librarians at work \u2014 using puppets, sharing her books, and making story time come alive, as she did in her career. <\/p>\n

It’s a reverent tribute to a groundbreaking librarian (and I love how the Spanish words incorporated into the text are not<\/em> italicized). The illustrations are from Paola Escobar, who previously has been published overseas, as I understand it. She currently lives in Bogot\u00e1, Colombia. Here are a couple more spreads:
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“In the children’s room, she lights the story hour candle … and begins …”<\/em>
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“… Now a published author and storyteller, Pura travels from branch to branch. …”<\/em>
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\nPLANTING STORIES: THE LIFE OF LIBRARIAN AND STORYTELLER PURA BELPR\u00c9. Text copyright \u00a9 2019 by Anika Aldamuy Denise. Illustrations \u00a9 2019 by Paola Escobar. Illustrations reproduced by permission of the publisher, Harper, an imprint of HarperCollins Publishers, New York.<\/em><\/p>\n

Note for any new readers: 7-Imp\u2019s 7 Kicks is a weekly meeting ground for taking some time to reflect on Seven(ish) Exceptionally Fabulous, Beautiful, Interesting, Hilarious, or Otherwise Positive Noteworthy Things from the past week, whether book-related or not, that happened to you. New kickers are always welcome.<\/p>\n

* * * Jules’ Kicks * * *<\/strong><\/font>
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1)<\/strong><\/font> Librarians who light story hour candles!<\/p>\n

2)<\/strong><\/font> I’m excited to hear the ALA Youth Media Awards<\/a><\/strong> tomorrow.<\/p>\n

3)<\/strong><\/font> I’m about to finish Kelly Yang’s<\/a><\/strong> Front Desk<\/em>, which is so good. I know it’s gotten some Newbery buzz and figured, for that reason, I’d have it done before tomorrow’s awards announcements. (I’ve done a pretty-okay job this year of having read a lot of other great novels that also happen to be getting Newbery buzz, but I’d not read this one.) I like Front Desk<\/em> so much I think I’ll read it again \u2014 but this time out loud to my daughters.
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4)<\/strong><\/font> Eisha and her boyfriend visited this week! (Eisha co-founded this blog with me \u2014 back in the day.) <\/p>\n

5)<\/strong><\/font> I am, of course, 100% behind this article<\/a><\/strong>. <\/p>\n

6)<\/strong><\/font> My daughter sewed her own Catbus<\/a><\/strong> (from the movie My Neighbor Totoro<\/em>).<\/p>\n

7)<\/strong><\/font> Gillian Anderson in Sex Education<\/em><\/strong><\/a>. <\/p>\n

What are YOUR<\/font><\/strong> kicks this week?<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

“The seeds she has planted, the roots that grew shoots into the open air of possibility, have become a lush landscape into which she steps, as though she has never left.”(Click to enlarge spread)   In honor of tomorrow morning’s ALA Youth Media Awards, during which the winners of the Pura Belpr\u00e9 Award will be […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":4,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[21,2],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-4803","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-seven-good-things-before-monday","category-picture-books"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/blaine.org\/sevenimpossiblethings\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4803","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/blaine.org\/sevenimpossiblethings\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/blaine.org\/sevenimpossiblethings\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/blaine.org\/sevenimpossiblethings\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/4"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/blaine.org\/sevenimpossiblethings\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=4803"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"http:\/\/blaine.org\/sevenimpossiblethings\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4803\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/blaine.org\/sevenimpossiblethings\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=4803"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/blaine.org\/sevenimpossiblethings\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=4803"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/blaine.org\/sevenimpossiblethings\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=4803"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}