Category: Multicultural Books

For the 2014 Latin@s in Kid Lit Reading Challenge:

This turned out to be a bit more challenging than I thought is would be. My local public library usually has an excellent selection of books. I was very surprised when I did a keyword search for Latino/Latina and found very few titles. Fortunately, Latin@s in Kid Lit has pages of resources at the website, organized nicely by age in the navigation bar at the top of the page. Once I found specific titles to search for, I found my library did carry most of them after all.

Today I went with an older book, published in 2008. It has been pretty cold lately in many parts of North America, so that made me think of What Can You Do With a Rebozo? by Carmen Tafolla and illustrated by Amy Cordova.

The reader may have seen a woman wearing a rebozo and not known its name or cultural significance. A rebozo is a piece of woven fabric that is worn in Mexico. It is like a cross between a shawl and a scarf, and would be perfect for wrapping up in on a cold day.

In the story, a young girl finds many uses for a rebozo. She tries playful and imaginative applications like using a rebozo as a blindfold at a birthday party or as a pirate’s sash during a dress up game. She also discovers practical uses for the rebozo like covering up at night or carrying a baby. At the end of the book, the author challenges readers to come up with some uses for a rebozo of their own.

Besides being a fun and educational book, it also has some serious credentials. Author Carmen Tafolla, a professor at the University of Texas–San Antonio, was San Antonio’s first poet laureate. The book was an Américas Award Commended Title 2009, as well as a Pura Belpré Award Honor Book for illustration in 2009 (Note:  both these award sites would be good places to look for books for the Latin@s challenge).

What Can You Do With a Rebozo? is a lovely introduction to a unique piece of Mexican culture. It would be a wonderful selection for the ALA’s El día de los niños/El día de los libros celebration on April 30, 2014 or any opportunity to learn about world cultures.

Extension activities:

• Pull out art work or photographs showing women wearing or using rebozos (Frida Kahlo often wears one) to share
• Show children actual rebozos, or shawls or scarves if you don’t have access to authentic ones. Allow the children to free play with them and see what happens.
• Serape or rebozo craft at Crayola (serapes were typically worn by men)

Also available:  What Can You Do With a Rebozo?/¿Qué puedes hacer con un rebozo? (English and Spanish Edition) (English and Spanish Edition)

Age Range: 3 – 7 years
Hardcover: 32 pages
Publisher: Tricycle Press (April 1, 2008)
Language: English
ISBN-10: 1582462208
ISBN-13: 978-1582462202

Look for 2014 Latin@s in Kid Lit Reading Challenge books on the third Wednesday of each month.

Interested in multicultural children’s books? Follow the our pinterest board.

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Behind the scenes here at Wrapped in Foil we have lined up some exciting opportunities to share multicultural books this year. To kick the year off with a bang, let’s start with the 2014 Latin@s in Kid Lit Reading Challenge.

The challenge is pretty straightforward:  read one book a month that is written by a Latin@ author and/or includes Latin@ characters, settings, themes, etc. from January 1, 2014-December 31, 2014.

How to participate: post somewhere that you are joining the 2014 Latin@s in Kid Lit Reading Challenge and then sign up in the comments of the Reading Challenge announcement including a direct link to your post. They also request that you copy and paste their reading challenge logo onto your site. Go to the announcement page for other suggestions how to participate and great suggestions for books and resources.

Some books we’ve already reviewed:

Parrots Over Puerto Rico by Susan L. Roth and Cindy Trumbore and illustrated by Susan L. Roth (review)

The Good Garden: How One Family Went from Hunger to Having Enough by Katie Smith Milway and illustrated by Sylvie Daigneault (review)

Ellen Ochoa: The First Hispanic Woman Astronaut by Maritza Romero (review)

Valerie Petrillo’s A Kid’s Guide to Latino History:  More than 50 Activities (review)

Can’t wait to add to the list.

Are you participating? If you’d like, let us know!