Alma Flor Ada

I Don’t Want To Melt
¡No quiero derretirme!

BOOK DESCRIPTION

Some­times fate seems inevitable, as in the case of the snow­man who must melt when Spring arrives. But his friends, the birds, the squir­rels, and the mice fam­ily, all come up with a spe­cial plan to help the snow­man. A delight­ful and mov­ing tale in its own right, the story is also a vivid por­trayal of the water cycle and the cycle of the seasons.

One of the beloved titles of the series Sto­ries the Year ‘Round, or in Span­ish, Cuen­tos para todo el año. The com­plete sto­ries of the series are:

SPRING
A Rose with Wings
A Sur­prise for Mother Rab­bit
The Empty Piñata

PRIMAVERA
Rosa alada
La sor­presa de Mamá Coneja
La piñata vacía

SUMMER
How the Rain­bow Came to Be
After the Storm
In the Cow’s Backyard

VERANO
Cómo nació el arco iris
Después de la tor­menta
La hamaca de la vaca

FALL
The Kite
What Are Ghosts Afraid Of?
“Turkey for Thanks­giv­ing?” “No, Thanks!”

OTOÑO
El papalote
El susto de los fan­tas­mas
–¿Pavo para la Cena de Gra­cias? –No, gracias.

WINTER
The Golden Cage
I Don’t Want to Melt
It Wasn’t Me

INVIERNO
La jaula dorada
¡No quiero der­re­tirme!
No fui yo

CDS AND CASSETTES DESCRIPTION

Facil­i­tat­ing that chil­dren lis­ten to the sto­ries as recorded by the author has a spe­cial value. They can hear in the author’s voice just exactly how exactly the author wished to con­vey the sto­ries feel­ings and emo­tions, empha­sis and sus­pense. I par­tic­u­larly like to read aloud and to record my read­ings so, for me, it was par­tic­u­larly joy­ful to record these twelve sto­ries in Eng­lish and Spanish.

The sto­ries can be found in indi­vid­ual cas­settes in Eng­lish and Span­ish, one for each book of the series, or in CDs in Eng­lish and Span­ish ver­sions. Each of the CDs con­tains the twelve sto­ries of the series.

A Spe­cial Bonus

Because these sto­ries have been so beloved by chil­dren, I con­ceived the idea of given them an extra dimen­sion. I have rewrit­ten the 12 sto­ries in Span­ish in verse for­mat. And Suni Paz, with her incom­pa­ra­ble cre­ativ­ity, has put them to music. So the Span­ish cas­settes and CD con­tain not only the story as pub­lished in the book told by me, but also the story retold in verse form and sang by Suni.

AUTHOR’S NOTE

The twelve books of this series are some of my best well known books among bilin­gual teach­ers and their stu­dents. They are also very dear to my heart since the inspi­ra­tion for most of them comes from my own children’s childhood.

The major source of inspi­ra­tion for this book comes from my chil­dren, which are depicted as the four chil­dren in the story. One win­ter, while we were liv­ing in Detroit, they made a snow­man. We were about to leave for Florida, to spend Christ­mas with my mother, when I saw my youngest son, Gabriel, approached the snow­man and whis­per: “Please, do not melt.” It was for me a very ten­der moment.

Remem­ber­ing that delight­ful instant years later inspired me to write I don’t want to melt.

Many of the details, in the story, like using small coconuts gath­ered in Miami for the snowman’s but­tons are true.

This story has been a favorite of many teach­ers who wel­come being able to explain the cycle of water through a mean­ing­ful story. It has also been appre­ci­ated by chil­dren who have to undergo mov­ing or other sorts of major change in their lives.

READERS’ RESPONSES

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