Alma Flor Ada

Pin Pin Sarabín
Pin Pin Sarabín

BOOK DESCRIPTION

Songs and games bring together, every after­noon, chil­dren of diverse back­grounds. This won­der­ful cel­e­bra­tion of the magic of tra­di­tional folk­lore is also a start­ing point for dis­cussing the elim­i­na­tion of prej­u­dice and discrimination.

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.

Grow­ing up sur­rounded by peo­ple of very diverse social con­di­tions awoke very early in me the aware­ness of social inequal­ity and the desire to strive for its erad­i­ca­tion. At this very young age the magic of tra­di­tional games and songs brought us together with no dis­tinc­tions, and it gave me the reas­sur­ances that peo­ple can over­come any bar­rier or dif­fer­ence and join in com­mon purposes.

The love for the tra­di­tional folk­lore which enriched my child­hood has led me to incor­po­rate tra­di­tional rhymes in many of my poetry antholo­gies. It has also led to devote, in col­lab­o­ra­tion with Isabel Cam­poy, many books to share nurs­ery rhymes and other forms of the oral folk­lore, and to do it bilin­gually so that not only chil­dren of Latino her­itage can get to know their her­itage but other chil­dren can enjoy this trea­sury as well in ¡Pío Peep!, Mamá Goose, MooMuu, Merry Navi­dad and Ten Lit­tle Puppies/Diez per­ri­tos. Of the 120 poems included in the ten books of the series Música amiga, and the cor­re­spond­ing CDs, many are also from the folk­lore. What a joy to lis­ten to them in the out­stand­ing record­ings by Suni Paz.

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.