Alma Flor Ada

Barriletes
Barriletes

BOOK DESCRIPTION

The joy of fly­ing kites brings together chil­dren and adults. A val­i­da­tion of fam­ily tra­di­tions and sim­ple pas­times— and of the rela­tion­ships between peo­ple and their nat­ural environment.

AUTHOR’S NOTE

I am fre­quently asked, by chil­dren and adults alike, which, among the many books I have writ­ten is my favorite. I try to explain that I cher­ish each of my books, because I have writ­ten each one with love and they all have taught me some­thing about myself. But I must con­fess that my books of mem­oirs, Where the Flame Trees Bloom or Allá donde flo­re­cen los fram­boy­anes and Under the Royal Palms or Bajo las pal­mas reales, as well as those in the series Cuen­tos con Alma, have a spe­cial sig­nif­i­cance because with them I have not only tried to cap­ture the days of my child­hood but I have hon­ored the mul­ti­ple peo­ple who made my child­hood mem­o­rable. These books, as well as the mem­oirs I have writ­ten for adult read­ers, Vivir en dos idiomas have been my way of thank­ing those who enriched my spirit and taught me so much about try­ing to honor each day the gift of life.

Some of the great­est joys in my child­hood came from very sim­ple activ­i­ties, as I have shared in the five books of mem­oirs in the series Cuen­tos con Alma: The mak­ing of paper boats, in Bar­quitos de papel, the nurs­ery rhyme games, in Pin pin sarabín, fly­ing kites in Bar­riletes, the annual visit of the hum­ble cir­cus, in Días de circo and the street vendor’s calls in Pre­gones, all held joy and life lessons.

Fly­ing kites, which in Cuba we called bar­riletes, was one the most beloved activ­i­ties in my child­hood. My father was a great kite maker and see­ing him make the kites was as much a joy as fly­ing them. I can see his care­ful hands smooth­ing the paper so that it would not have a sin­gle wrin­kle, and can smell the “goma arábiga” , the golden pel­lets he boiled to cre­ate the glue.

My attempts, years later, to cre­ate kites for my own chil­dren inspired the book The Kite or El papalote.

READERS’ RESPONSES

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