Alma Flor Ada

Singing Horse
Mambrú

Book Descrip­tion

This over­size anthol­ogy, with vibrant and orig­i­nal illus­tra­tions, hon­ors poets from var­i­ous Spanish-speaking coun­tries or regions.

Each sec­tion opens with a poem to the coun­try or region. This is fol­lowed with a poem about a poet –as a way of mak­ing chil­dren aware that poetry is the prod­uct of poets which we respect and honor. Selec­tions from the spe­cific poet com­pletes the sec­tion. The coun­tries and poets included are:

Puerto Rico is rep­re­sented by poems by

• José Anto­nio Dávila

Méx­ico is rep­re­sented by poems by

• Fran­cisco Gabilondo Soler [“Cricrí”]

Argentina is rep­re­sented by poems by

• Juan Bautista Grosso

Venezuela is rep­re­sented by poems by

• Ali­cia Bar­reto de Corro

España is rep­re­sented by poems by

• Ángela Figuera Aymerich

Lati­nos are cel­e­brated through poems by

• Alma Flor Ada

Author’s Note

Poetry is a child’s best friend. A poem is a trea­sure that can remain with us for­ever. New words, new struc­tures, new images, ideas, val­ues and reflec­tions can be part of the poem’s gift. Rhyme, rhythm or cadence will facil­i­tate remem­ber­ing it.

A poem a day is an infal­li­ble pre­scrip­tion for an engag­ing class­room and happy chil­dren. Facil­i­tat­ing access of chil­dren to poetry has been one of my life quests.

Many years ago, in what now seems as another life time, when my chil­dren were grow­ing up in Perú I was able to pub­lish in Lima four poetry antholo­gies Poesía Menuda, Poesía Pequeña, Poesía Infan­til, Poesía Niña.

Later I was able to incor­po­rate won­der­ful poetry in the Hag­amos caminos read­ing program.

Pub­lish­ing Días y días de poesía an anthol­ogy with a poem for each day of the year has been one of my great­est sat­is­fac­tions in life. I know many class­rooms have incor­po­rated the idea of “a poem a day” thanks to that anthol­ogy. Col­lab­o­rat­ing with Lee Ben­net Hop­kins and Vio­let Har­ris to cre­ate the Eng­lish com­pan­ion to Días y días de poesía, the mul­ti­cul­tural anthol­ogy A Cho­rus of Cul­tures was an equally joy­ful experience.

Isabel Cam­poy and I have pub­lished a series of seven antholo­gies of poetry in Span­ish as part of the Cielo abierto Series: Gor­rión gor­rión, La rama azul, El Verde limón, Dulce es la sal, Nuevo día, Huer­tos de Coral and Ríos de lava. We are delighted to have included there poetry from the best poets from the Spanish-speaking world.

Recently we have pub­lished a series of books of rhymes from the oral tra­di­tion in bilin­gual edi­tions, in order that Eng­lish speak­ers can also get to know and enjoy our folk­lore: ¡Pío Peep! and MuuMoo are col­lec­tions of rhymes. Merry Navi­dad is a col­lec­tion of vil­lan­ci­cos or Christ­mas car­ols, and Ten Lit­tle Puppies/Diez per­ri­tos a book inspired on a tra­di­tional pop­u­lar rhyme.

The four poetry antholo­gies of Gate­ways to the Sun / Puer­tas al sol, in par­al­lel edi­tions in Eng­lish and Span­ish are another con­tri­bu­tion in the effort to make poetry acces­si­ble to all chil­dren. The beau­ti­ful pre­sen­ta­tion of these books, where the artis­tic illus­tra­tions are a wor­thy com­pan­ion to the poems gives both Isabel and myself immense satisfaction.

Poetry Series Gate­ways to the Sun

These poetry antholo­gies are divided in sec­tions fea­tur­ing poets from var­i­ous coun­tries from the Span­ish speak­ing world. The sec­tions open with orig­i­nal poems by Alma Flor Ada and F. Isabel Cam­poy cel­e­brat­ing the poets and the poet’s coun­try of ori­gin. Selected poems by the fea­tured poet com­pletes each sec­tion. The con­tri­bu­tion of Lati­nos is acknowl­edged as well as that of the anony­mous poets who cre­ated the rhymes of the tra­di­tional folk­lore, enrich­ing our heritage.

Art Series Gate­ways to the Sun

A wide vari­ety of gen­res, tech­niques, media, and his­tor­i­cal events in His­panic art are depicted in these over­size strik­ingly beau­ti­ful books. Each book includes repro­duc­tions of paint­ings selected from the best His­panic artists of all times, from clas­si­cal to con­tem­po­rary. Each paint­ing is accom­pa­nied by brief poetic readings.

Each book is paired with an inter­ac­tive jour­nal where chil­dren can learn more about art and begin their own artis­tic expressions.

Biog­ra­phy Series Gate­ways to the Sun

This series offers the biogra­phies of twelve sig­nif­i­cant fig­ures from var­i­ous coun­tries in the Spanish-speaking world, rep­re­sent­ing var­i­ous fields and occu­pa­tions. These his­tor­i­cal and con­tem­po­rary fig­ures are role mod­els, who over­came obsta­cles to make a dif­fer­ence in the world.

The­ater Series Gate­ways to the Sun

The­atri­cal adap­ta­tions of well known sto­ries and folk­tales as well as orig­i­nal plays are enhanced by beau­ti­ful art. The illus­tra­tions, by sev­eral His­panic artists, sug­gest cos­tumes, props and stage designs to help on the stag­ing of the play

• Rat-a-Tat Cat | Teatro del gato Garabato
• Roll ‘n Role | Teatrín de don Crispín
• Top Hat | Esce­nario de Polichinela
• Cur­tains Up | Teatro de doña Rosita

Lan­guage Series Gate­ways to the Sun

These frac­tured fairy tales books bring new twists to the lives of well-loved char­ac­ters from sto­ry­books. They pro­vide ample oppor­tu­ni­ties for lan­guage devel­op­ment as they use diverse forms of language.

• One, Two, Three… Who Can It Be? | Uno, dos, tres. ¡Dime, quién es?
• A New Home for the Seven Lit­tle Kids | El nuevo hogar de los siete cabritos
• Happy Birth­day, Lit­tle Red Rid­ing Hood | ¡Feliz cumpleaños, Cape­rucita Roja!
• A New Job for Pérez, the Mouse | Ratoncito Pérez, cartero

His­panic Lands Series Gate­ways to the Sun

Three over­size books on the rich­ness and diver­sity of the Spanish-speaking coun­tries of the Amer­i­cas. The poetic, but highly infor­ma­tive text, brings atten­tion to the extra­or­di­nary achieve­ment of the indige­nous peo­ple. The strik­ing illus­tra­tions are care­fully designed by Mae­stro Felipe Dáva­los. They offer ample infor­ma­tion to sup­port and enrich the text that reflects on the responses of human groups to the chal­lenges of their envi­ron­ment, and empha­size respect towards diver­sity, envi­ron­men­tal and eco­log­i­cal aware­ness, com­mu­nity involve­ment, and appre­ci­a­tion for education.

• The Quetzal’s Jour­ney | El vuelo del quetzal
• On the Wings of the Con­dor | En alas del cóndor
• Eyes of the Jaguar | Ojos del jaguar

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.