Alma Flor Ada

Celebrate Mardi Gras with Joaquín, Harlequin
Celebra el Mardi Gras con Joaquín, arlequín

BOOK DESCRIPTION

Story:

Dis­guised as a har­le­quin, Joaquín enjoys the Mardi Gras cel­e­bra­tion with his fam­ily, but he gets lost in the crowd. His fam­ily searches every­where for him, and they find one har­le­quin, and another, and yet another, but none are Joaquín. But there is one sure way of telling which one is Joaquín. Find out how.

Non-fiction:

An overview of his­tory and cel­e­bra­tion of Mardi Gras with strik­ing photographs.

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

Since I am only 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.

Both Isabel Cam­poy and I have had great love for the city of New Orleans and have been fas­ci­nated by its history–first Span­ish, then French, later part of the United States, by its archi­tec­ture, and by its music.

We had just fin­ished this book which was about to go to press when Hur­ri­cane Kat­rina dev­as­tated the Mex­i­can Gulf coast of the United States and the city of New Orleans. Our hearts that had been cel­e­brat­ing the rich­ness of New Orleans music and cul­ture were filled with deep love and com­pas­sion, which we con­tinue to feel and we have great admi­ra­tion for those who assisted in the res­cue and all who are still striv­ing to rebuild their homes and their hope.

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

If you have enjoyed read­ing or shar­ing this book, I would very much like to hear from you. Please click here to send your comments.