BOOK DESCRIPTION

CANCIÓN
Canta el agua en la roca,
el pájaro en la rama
y el poema en la página.

Todo es canción (Everything is Song) gathers some of the most recognized poems by Alma Flor Ada. The 142 pages, in a delightful format, have been illustrated by María Jesús Álvarez. In a 7 pages introduction ¿Qué es poesía? the author explains in clear prose the basic elements of Spanish poetry: Poesía en verso y prosa. El verso libre. La rima. La aliteración. El metro. Imágenes y metáforas. La visión poética are some of the themes explored.

The poems have been grouped by thematic interests: Mi cuerpo y yo [My Body and I], Con los que más quiero [With Those I Love], En la escuela [At School], Para reír y jugar [To Laugh and Play], Aires de la ciudad [City Airs], Somos amigos [We Are Friends], ¡Cuántas delicias! [How Many Delicious Treats], Vuelan y nadan, trepan y saltan [They Fly and Swim, Climb and Jump], Hojas, frutas y corolas [Leaves, Fruits and Petals], Sol y espuma [Sun and Foam], Sueños y fantasías [Dreams and Fanatsy], La fuerza de la palabra [Word Power].

AUTHOR’S NOTE

What a joy to see my poems collected this way! Poetry has been a very important part of my life. My grandmother, Dolores Salvador, instilled in me the love for poetry since I was very small. She would recite poems and invite me to recite with her. Some of her favorite has been written by my own grandfather, Medardo Lafuente Rubio, other’s by José Martí. She created her own music for some of Martí’s poems leaving with me the legacy of the particular enjoyment poetry, whether recited or sung, will always bring me. How I hope the children who have access to this book will enjoy the poems it contains and someday discover that they can also write their own poems.

Book Reviews

Criticas. School Library Journal

Ada has edited a number of lovely books of traditional rhymes, but Todo es canción (Everything Is Song) gives her a chance to showcase her own poetry. The selections are organized by theme. “For Laughing and Playing” includes traditional rhymes, with tales of cats and mice and hens. “In School” includes counting rhymes, and “My Books” is a gift for librarians everywhere to share with children. There are selections that will encourage movement, and those that can be adapted as fingerplays. “Sun and Foam,” “Dreams and Fantasies,” and “The Power of Words” all contain thoughtful and powerful pieces. The whole is summed up in the final poem, in which Ada celebrates the song in everything around us, and ends by saying, essentially, “Because you have been born, life wants to sing.” This book is to Latino children what Robert Louis Stevenson’s A Child’s Garden of Verses is to English-speaking youngsters. It is not just a poetry anthology, but truly a lasting contribution to Latino literature that belongs in every library that serves young Spanish-speakers and their parents.
–Tim Wadham, St. Louis County Library, MO

Video

These anthologies contains stories and thoughts written by children, teachers, and parents. Excellent as an inspiration for the writing classroom.

Note from the editor

For many years Isabel Campoy and I have been promoting the idea that we are all authors and that everyone should be invited to put his feelings, dreams, experiences in writing in order to preserve and share them. We have described the process that will achieve these goals in the book Authors in the Classroom.

The idea behind anthologies like the one presented here is to offer models of writings by teachers, children and parents that can be an invitation to facilitate listening to every voice and developing true learning communities supported by a strong

There are six titles in this collection of Teachers’, Children’s and Parents’ writing:

• Así pasaron muchos años
• En un lugar muy lejano
• Érase que se era
• Y colorín colorado
• Y fueron felices

Those who want a single book to have children learn to read in Spanish will find Tecolote [or its two versions Rin Rin or Colorín] a very engaging and practical book based on the Creative Reading Methodology as described below.

Tecolote combines in a book the content of the first four books of the Hagamos caminos series [Partimos, Andamos, Corremos and Volamos]. After introduces the vowels it offers engaging texts created by direct syllable combinations formed with the letters S, P, N, T, M, L and D and few high frequency words are introduced also in engaging ways: y, un, una, es, son, del, al.

The following readings are created with direct syllabic combinations formed with the consonants B, F, V, G, C, LL, R, Q, J, C, Ñ, H, Z, Ch.

Finally less frequent consonants like W, K, X are introduced as well as blends.

At the end of this book children have been introduced to all possible syllables in the Spanish language in a progressive way, always building on what is already known. The texts are complimented by the extraordinary illustrations by Ulises Wensell, author also of the art in the workbook.

Many stories included in this book have been recorded as songs by Suni Paz and can be found in Música amiga: Fifí, Violeta va de paseo, El gato del mago, La gallina Picotina, La burrita, El loro Ala de Oro, La ratite Roequeso, Josefina y sus amigos, El ciempiés y la cigarra, El hada Hadaluna, Los ocho chivitos and many more.

Proof that Tecolote, as well as the other Hagamos caminos books, truly achieved their purpose of offering engaging text even though with controlled syllables is the popularity reached by these songs. Those who teach and sing them would seldom suspect that they were created with a limited number of syllabic combinations.

The Hagamos Caminos series components

Books:

• Partimos
• Andamos
• Corremos
• Volamos
• Navegamos
• Exploramos
• Tecolote / Rin Rin / Colorín

Components for each title:

Student Book, Student Workbook, Teacher’s Guides, Cassettes

The DVDs: Hagamos caminos, Creative Reading and La Lectura Creadora explore the principles of the approach used in these materials

A Creative Reading Methodology

The battles between proponents of phonic-based methods and whole-language methods of reading instruction have been harmful to both children and teachers, as they have obscured the values that each approach has to offer.

Hagamos caminos has been developed combining the benefits of both phonics and whole-language approaches. It offers a fun and effective process for the acquisition of reading skills in Spanish. It includes engaging texts by Alma Flor Ada as well as artistic illustrations by Ulises Wensell, an internationally acclaimed artist.

This approach ensures success by using syllables as the basis for decoding, and by systematically building upon previously-learned syllabic combinations. At the same time, these books engage children’s imagination and strengthen their natural motivation for reading by offering meaningful literary texts as reading materials.

The illustrated workbooks promote language and concept development along with offering practice in reading and writing. The workbooks are also illustrated by Ulises Wensell offering an opportunity to enrich children’s aesthetic experiences as well as learning to read images as well as text.

Teachers who have used these materials report that even the most reluctant readers discover the joy of making meaning from a written text. The brief and friendly teacher’s guides explain the use of the program as well as how to use the Creative Dialogue approach to actively engage students in the discovery of their own role as protagonists of their lives.

Author’s Note

Origins of Hagamos Caminos

Reading was such a passion for me as a child that when I became a teacher it was difficult to accept that many of my students had never discovered the joy of reading. An facilitating that all children discover the gift of interacting with books, not only to discover what they had to say, but to find in them inspiration and models for their own life adventure became a very strong concern.

The success of the teaching materials for high school students which I published in Lima, Perú, during the 60s led Boris Romero, owner of Editorial Arica first, Editorial Brasa later, to be willing to try publishing my first book for children, Sonrisas, a collection of retellings of popular stories, poetry and some very brief texts that would suffice to meet the somewhat daunting requirements of the reading curriculum.

While other reading texts used in Peru at the time devoted long pages to topics like school, studying, home, etc. in Sonrisas and the books that followed in what became the Edad de oro reading series these topics were treated in brief engaging ways. The bulk of the books were stories and poetries.

What a joy it was for me while riding the bus to return home from teaching to see all over the city of Lima children sitting at their front doors reading and rereading their reading text. I knew that for many it would be the only book they had, but that they wanted to keep on reading it was a proof of the importance of offering children texts that would engage their imagination.

The success of those first reading anthologies, Cascabel, Sonrisas, Alegrías, Maravillas, Triunfos left me with the desire of being able to create others.

The art of Ulises Wensell

When already living in the United States I saw the books El retorno de la primavera and El emperador y las pájaros published by Editorial Altea in Spain and illustrated by Ulises Wensell I was so fascinated by Ulises’ art that above all I wanted to write books he would illustrate.

What a gift for children if I could create engaging reading texts that would be complemented by the magic of Ulises’ work.

When Editorial Hijos de Santiago Rodríguez, a publisher with a long tradition of publishing text books in Spain, offered me the opportunity to write a reading series for Spanish-speaking children in the United States my only requirement was that they would offer Ulises a contract as the illustrator.

The production of these books was a long saga… at the end the project was bought by Fondo Educativo Interamericano, in México, through the good offices of Juan José Fernández Gaos.

The idea of producing reading series for different Latin American countries did not quite come through.

A one volume initial book, similar to the traditional “cartillas” but with the creative texts and Ulises art was published in México as Tecolote, in Colombia as Rin Rín and in Panamá, for all of Central America, as Colorín.

In the United States Addision Wesley published the first six volumes of the project: Partimos, Andamos, Corremos, Navegamos and Volamos.

Suni Paz Music

One wonderful complement was that when I suggested Suni Paz could sing the various songs from the popular tradition included in the program, songs like De colores, Tengo una muñeca, Caballito blanco, Salta la tablita, etc. Suni in turn proposed that she wanted to also create original music for my poems and many of my stories in verse form and even for some that were not in verse but she found had an internal rhythm that make them apt to be sang.

Suni recorded over one hundred songs for this project, which were first published in a set of 3 cassettes that included my reading of the text in the books and of additional folktales.

Later, as the program went out of print, the songs Suni had recorded for Hagamos caminos were reproduced in the Música amiga program which contains some new songs with lyrics by Isabel Campoy.

A new life for Hagamos caminos

After the Hagamos caminos program had been out of print for a few years, McGraw Hill Mexico reprinted Tecolote as well as Partimos, Andamos, Corremos and Volamos as well as their workbooks.

These books and workbooks are now available through DelSol Books.

The Hagamos Caminos series components

Books:

• Partimos
• Andamos
• Corremos
• Volamos
• Navegamos
• Exploramos
• Tecolote / Rin Rin / Colorín

Components for each title:

Student Book, Student Workbook, Teacher’s Guides, Cassettes

The DVDs: Hagamos caminos, Creative Reading and La Lectura Creadora explore the principles of the approach used in these materials

A Creative Reading Methodology

The battles between proponents of phonic-based methods and whole-language methods of reading instruction have been harmful to both children and teachers, as they have obscured the values that each approach has to offer.

Hagamos caminos has been developed combining the benefits of both phonics and whole-language approaches. It offers a fun and effective process for the acquisition of reading skills in Spanish. It includes engaging texts by Alma Flor Ada as well as artistic illustrations by Ulises Wensell, an internationally acclaimed artist.

This approach ensures success by using syllables as the basis for decoding, and by systematically building upon previously-learned syllabic combinations. At the same time, these books engage children’s imagination and strengthen their natural motivation for reading by offering meaningful literary texts as reading materials.

The illustrated workbooks promote language and concept development along with offering practice in reading and writing. The workbooks are also illustrated by Ulises Wensell offering an opportunity to enrich children’s aesthetic experiences as well as learning to read images as well as text.

Teachers who have used these materials report that even the most reluctant readers discover the joy of making meaning from a written text. The brief and friendly teacher’s guides explain the use of the program as well as how to use the Creative Dialogue approach to actively engage students in the discovery of their own role as protagonists of their lives.

Author’s Note

Origins of Hagamos Caminos

Reading was such a passion for me as a child that when I became a teacher it was difficult to accept that many of my students had never discovered the joy of reading. An facilitating that all children discover the gift of interacting with books, not only to discover what they had to say, but to find in them inspiration and models for their own life adventure became a very strong concern.

The success of the teaching materials for high school students which I published in Lima, Perú, during the 60s led Boris Romero, owner of Editorial Arica first, Editorial Brasa later, to be willing to try publishing my first book for children, Sonrisas, a collection of retellings of popular stories, poetry and some very brief texts that would suffice to meet the somewhat daunting requirements of the reading curriculum.

While other reading texts used in Peru at the time devoted long pages to topics like school, studying, home, etc. in Sonrisas and the books that followed in what became the Edad de oro reading series these topics were treated in brief engaging ways. The bulk of the books were stories and poetries.

What a joy it was for me while riding the bus to return home from teaching to see all over the city of Lima children sitting at their front doors reading and rereading their reading text. I knew that for many it would be the only book they had, but that they wanted to keep on reading it was a proof of the importance of offering children texts that would engage their imagination.

The success of those first reading anthologies, Cascabel, Sonrisas, Alegrías, Maravillas, Triunfos left me with the desire of being able to create others.

The art of Ulises Wensell

When already living in the United States I saw the books El retorno de la primavera and El emperador y las pájaros published by Editorial Altea in Spain and illustrated by Ulises Wensell I was so fascinated by Ulises’ art that above all I wanted to write books he would illustrate.

What a gift for children if I could create engaging reading texts that would be complemented by the magic of Ulises’ work.

When Editorial Hijos de Santiago Rodríguez, a publisher with a long tradition of publishing text books in Spain, offered me the opportunity to write a reading series for Spanish-speaking children in the United States my only requirement was that they would offer Ulises a contract as the illustrator.

The production of these books was a long saga… at the end the project was bought by Fondo Educativo Interamericano, in México, through the good offices of Juan José Fernández Gaos.

The idea of producing reading series for different Latin American countries did not quite come through.

A one volume initial book, similar to the traditional “cartillas” but with the creative texts and Ulises art was published in México as Tecolote, in Colombia as Rin Rín and in Panamá, for all of Central America, as Colorín.

In the United States Addision Wesley published the first six volumes of the project: Partimos, Andamos, Corremos, Navegamos and Volamos.

Suni Paz Music

One wonderful complement was that when I suggested Suni Paz could sing the various songs from the popular tradition included in the program, songs like De colores, Tengo una muñeca, Caballito blanco, Salta la tablita, etc. Suni in turn proposed that she wanted to also create original music for my poems and many of my stories in verse form and even for some that were not in verse but she found had an internal rhythm that make them apt to be sang.

Suni recorded over one hundred songs for this project, which were first published in a set of 3 cassettes that included my reading of the text in the books and of additional folktales.

Later, as the program went out of print, the songs Suni had recorded for Hagamos caminos were reproduced in the Música amiga program which contains some new songs with lyrics by Isabel Campoy.

A new life for Hagamos caminos

After the Hagamos caminos program had been out of print for a few years, McGraw Hill Mexico reprinted Tecolote as well as Partimos, Andamos, Corremos and Volamos as well as their workbooks.

These books and workbooks are now available through DelSol Books.

Reviews

Children Learn Spanish through Literacy
Bilingual Fun

“As a bilingual language educator and mom, I am always on the search for quality teaching materials that will engage children’s imaginations and curiosity, while promoting language development. I was thrilled to have the opportunity to use Hagamos Caminos series by Alma Flor Ada. I have been a fan of Ada for many years, and her book Pio Peep, was my children’s all time favorite! It was read to them each and every night when they were babies and toddlers. You can ask them today and they can easily recite all of the poems and rhymes in the book! Now that my kids are school age, this reading series is excellent for them as they are developing and enhanching their bilingual literacy skills…” Read more »

CD DESCRIPTION

Suni Paz has drawn from her extensive knowledge of Latin American folklore for the inspirational music that turns the poems in this book into memorable songs, an irresistible invitation to listen, to enjoy, to sing along.

CDS DESCRIPTIONS

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.

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.

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.

The special nature of each of these books led to very different and exciting recordings of each one. Friends or Amigos — This powerful tale of celebration of diversity has been read both in English and in Spanish by Alma Flor Ada. The listeners of the recording in Spanish will have a complementary experience. Alma Flor has rewritten the story in verse and Suni Paz has created music for the version in verse. Her beautiful performance gives additional charm to this poignant story of multicultural understanding.

How Happy I Would Be or Me gustaría tener — Suni Paz has created original music for this cumulative book of rhyming words. Her whimsical rendition will charm all listeners.

The Song of the Teeny Tiny Mosquito or El canto del mosquito -– The original music created by Suni Paz compliments this whimsical cumulative tale. Her vivid performance captures the listener’s imagination until it seems that the mosquito is buzzing right in our ears.

Strange Visitors -– In this cumulative tale different animals appear each day of the week, each playing a different instrument until they all join in a wonderful Sunday jarana. The recording, done by a talented duo of a mother and her young daughter, presents the instruments in a joyful way that will facilitate that children learn to recognize their sound. The young listeners can join the daughter in her responses making the listening an interactive experience.

Who’s Hatching Here or ¿Quién nacerá aquí? – This predictable book invites children to guess, through the clues in the rhyming text, who will be the next animal hatching from a certain group of eggs. On her performance of the music Suni created for this book she incorporates special sound effects to contribute to the predictable clues.

These extraordinary recordings have been produced in individual cassettes in English and Spanish, one for each book of the series, and in Haitian Creole for Zanmi. There is also a CD in English and one in Spanish. Each of the CDs contains the five books of the series.

Book Description

This anthology of original poems for young children by Alma Flor and Isabel includes some of their favorites.

Award winning illustrator Claudia Legnazzi complements this book with her vibrant and delightful creations.

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, 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. As well as the poetry series of Gateways to the Sun / Puertas al sol which includes four volumes, in separate editions in English and in Spanish: Dreaming Fish / Pimpón, Laughing Crocodlies / Mambrú, Singing Horse / Mambrú, Flying Dragon / Chuchurumbé. The beautiful presentation of these books, where the artistic illustrations are a worthy companion to the poems gives both Isabel and myself immense satisfaction.

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.

Salta, saltarín is a new addition to this world of poetry all children should have access to.

Other works by the same illustrator

Claudia Legnazzi has been the illustrator of two other of my recent books published by Frog Street. The new edition of The rooster who went to his uncle’s wedding / El gallo que fue a la boda de su tío and Cristina y la rana / Cristina and the Frog.

Claudia was also one of the illustrators of the collection Gateways to the Sun / Puertas al sol. Among her work there she did outstanding illustrations for my play Serafina’s Birthday / El cumpleaños de Serafina included in the book Roll ’N’ Role / Teatrín de Don Crispín.

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.

Book Description

In this whimsical ABC book in Spanish each letter is represented by an animal which in turn introduces the next.

This book represents the playful rhymes that young children thoroughly enjoy. It will be a delightful way of making young children aware of initial letter/sound correlation, of individual letters, of the ABC, and of the names of many animals.

The excellent illustration by María de Jesús Álvarez, and the clever rhymes, makes this a book to be enjoyed by all.

Author’s Note

Animals were a very important part of my life and of my children’s lives. This is why it is not surprising that so many of my books are populated by animals.

I enjoy clever rhymes and delight when I see how much children appreciate them.

This playful book will invite them to anticipate which can be the next animal and a word that rhymes with the animal’s name is always the clue.

It always give me great satisfaction when I can have a book published that gives children joy while allowing them to enrich their vocabulary, acquire new concepts, and become stronger readers.

I hope this playful book will do just that.

And what a joy that it would have such beautiful illustrations by María Jesús Álvarez, who had already illustrated Celebra un PowWow con Sandy Starbright / Celebrate a Pow Wow with Sandy Starbright, one of the books from the Cuentos para celebrar / Stories to Celebrate series.

Correlations

This book can correlate to my other ABC books: Abecedario de los animales, Coral y espuma: Abecedario del mar, and Gathering the Sun.

Other books with rhymes are: Me gustaría tener / How Happy I Would Be and Una extraña visita / Strange Visitors.

A book that also offers prediction supported by the rhyme is ¿Quién nacerá aquí? / Who’s Hatching Here?

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.