Alma Flor Ada

Celebrate a PowWow with Sandy Starbright
Celebra un Powwow con Sandy Starbright

BOOK DESCRIPTION

Story:

It is Sandy’s birth­day, and she and her fam­ily are get­ting ready to travel to a pow­wow. Sandy is thrilled to received so many spe­cial birth­day presents, which make up a beau­ti­ful cos­tume, per­fect for the tra­di­tional dance she will per­form at the pow­wow. All she is miss­ing is her moc­casins, but they are nowhere to be found. What Sandy doesn’t know is that her father has a won­der­ful birth­day surprise.

Non-fiction:

An overview of the his­tory of Pow­wows and their many expres­sions with out­stand­ing pho­tographs in bright colors.

SERIES DESCRIPTION

Each of the twenty four books in this col­lec­tion ded­i­cated to some of the most impor­tant hol­i­days and fes­tiv­i­ties cel­e­brated in the United States is the com­bi­na­tion of two books in one. The first part is an engag­ing real­is­tic fic­tion story beau­ti­fully illus­trated by a diver­sity of illus­tra­tors. The sec­ond part is a non-fiction piece that explains the his­tory and sig­nif­i­cance of the hol­i­day or cel­e­bra­tion. This sec­ond part is illus­trated with bright and unique pho­tographs that will allow chil­dren to wit­ness the celebration.

The fes­tiv­i­ties addressed include:

• Cel­e­brate Mar­tin Luther King Jr. Day
• Cel­e­brate PowWow
• Cel­e­brate Chi­nese New Year
• Cel­e­brate Hal­loween & Day of the Dead
• Cel­e­brate Mardi Gras
• Cel­e­brate Thanksgiving
• Cel­e­brate St. Patrick’s Day
• Cel­e­brate Hannukah
• Cel­e­brate Cinco de Mayo
• Cel­e­brate Kwanzaa
• Cel­e­brate Fourth of July
• Cel­e­brate Christ­mas & Three Kings Day

For more details in the series and the val­ues it presents see the series descrip­tion: Series Sto­ries to Cel­e­brate / Cuen­tos para cel­e­brar. There is also an indi­vid­ual page, like this, for each of the books in the series.

Les­son plans and ques­tions to guide the Cre­ative Read­ing Dia­logue can be found on the San­til­lanaUSA web­site: www.santillanausa.com/cuentosparacelebrar.htm

CDS DESCRIPTION

There are two CDs with the read­ings of the twelve sto­ries in Eng­lish and two CDs with the read­ings of the twelve sto­ries in Spanish.

The CDs will allow chil­dren to fol­low a pro­fes­sional read­ing aloud indi­vid­u­ally or in groups.

They can be ben­e­fi­cial to chil­dren learn­ing a sec­ond lan­guage, whether Eng­lish or Span­ish, since they will be able to read the book in their stronger lan­guage and then lis­ten to the record­ing in the sec­ond lan­guage, or vice versa.

AUTHOR’S NOTE

The first time I saw a pow­wow, many years ago in Col­orado, it left in me an indeli­ble impres­sion. I was fas­ci­nated by the dances, but even more moved by the sense of fam­ily, friend­ship, and sol­i­dar­ity that per­me­ated the whole event. I knew some­day I would like to write about it.

Isabel and I feel great respect for all indige­nous peo­ple in the World and great admi­ra­tion for Native Amer­i­can cul­tures and their artis­tic expres­sions. Isabel keeps a small, but mean­ing­ful col­lec­tion, of paint­ings, ceram­ics and hand­crafts cre­ated by Native Amer­i­can artists. Above all we have won­der­ful Native Amer­i­can friends. In the book we thank Christy and Leni Prairie Chicken who have blessed our home and life with their presence.

Since I am one of the two authors of this book, I can share my side of the story. You can visit www.isabelcampoy.com to read what the other author has to say.

Many read­ers are intrigued about how two authors col­lab­o­rate to write a book. If you share this curios­ity you may enjoy read­ing how Isabel Cam­poy explains this expe­ri­ence in the chap­ter authored by her “Writ­ing in Col­lab­o­ra­tion: One plus One is One or Two” in the book Alma Flor Ada and You, vol­ume II pub­lished by Libraries Unlimited.

READERS’ RESPONSES

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