Alma Flor Ada

Stories The Year ‘Round
Cuentos para todo el año

SERIES DESCRIPTION

This series is com­posed of 12 books, in sep­a­rate ver­sions in Eng­lish and Span­ish. The twelve titles cor­re­spond to the twelve months of the year. There is a CD with all Eng­lish sto­ries and one with all Span­ish sto­ries, or indi­vid­ual cas­settes for each title.

The books have been beau­ti­fully illus­trated by award-winning illus­tra­tor Viví Escrivá. Her attrac­tive illus­tra­tions are both whim­si­cal and tender.

The 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

There is a spe­cial value to lis­ten­ing to a books read by the author. Such record­ings show just where the author wishes to con­vey feel­ings and emo­tions, empha­sis and sus­pense. When the text is put to music it acquires addi­tional inter­est for children.

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.

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.

Teach­ers con­stantly com­ment on the fact that many of the sto­ries lend them­selves to present or sup­port cur­ric­u­lar themes with­out loos­ing their inter­est as stories.

THEMES, VALUES AND HOLIDAYS REPRESENTED

Themes

• Ani­mal Sounds: In the Cow’s Backyard
• Birds, Eggs: A Sur­prise for Mother Rabbit
• But­ter­fly Meta­mor­pho­sis: A Rose with Wings
• Col­ors, Pri­mary and Sec­ondary: How the Rain­bow Came to Be
• Dis­abil­i­ties: The Golden Cage
• Fam­ily
  • Mother: The Kite, It Wasn’t Me
  • Grand­mother: The Golden Cage
  • Pets: The Kite, The Golden Cage
• Fes­tiv­i­ties, Piñatas: The Empty Piñata
• Health, nutri­tion, exer­cise: “Turkey for Thanksgiving?”
• Plants Cycle: After the Storm
• Respon­si­bil­ity: It Wasn’t Me
• Water Cycle: I Don’t Want to Melt

Val­ues

• Dif­fer­ent Point of View:What Are Ghosts Afraid Of?, The Golden Cage
• Diver­sity, Mul­ti­cul­tur­al­ism: A Sur­prise for Mother Rabbit
• Col­lab­o­ra­tion, Sol­i­dar­ity, Friend­ship: How the Rain­bow Came to Be, I Don’t Want to Melt, In the Cow’s Backyard
• Gen­eros­ity, Reci­procity: The Empty Piñata
• Free­dom: The Golden Cage
• Per­se­ver­ance, Inge­nu­ity: A Rose with Wings, The Kite, “Turkey for Thanksgiving?”
• Prob­lem Solv­ing: How the Rain­bow Came to Be, In the Cow’s Back­yard, “Turkey for Thanksgiving”

Fes­tiv­i­ties

• Valen­tine: It Wasn’t Me
• Easter: A Sur­prise for Mother Rabbit
• Cinco de Mayo: The Empty Piñata
• Hal­loween: What Are Ghosts Afraid Of?
• Thanks­giv­ing: “Turkey for Thanksgiving?”
• Christ­mas: The Golden Cage

READERS’ RESPONSES

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