U.S. readers definitely need more and more diverse books. Especially for children, both Anglo and the marginalized children of color. A bilingual book by Kat Aragon, published last month, relates to that need, as well as to the U.S. sickness of bullying. Below is the publisher's description of Boy Zorro and the Bully (El Niño Zorro y el Peleón).
• ISBN: 978-1-60448-027-6 • Paperback • $8.95• Ages 4 to 8 • 24 pages
• Bilingual English/Spanish edition
• Published: July, 2014
http://www.lecturabooks.com/
"Every day Benny Lopez woke up looking for a way to help people. One day he finds a mask and wears it while helping an elderly lady cross a busy street. With that act of grace, he becomes Boy Zorro—defender of good. Then, one morning at school, he helps stop a bully from intimidating another student. The bully is punished and sees the error of his ways. Boy Zorro made a difference. This book helps children understand that bullying is hurtful and wrong but when everyone does their part, it can be stopped."
The motto of Zorro's publisher, Lectura Books, is: "for English learners and parent involvement." Below are my thoughts as a former teacher of latino first-graders, and father of a boy and a girl.
Zorrito, I'll call him, uses his outfit to empower himself and begin acting like a "hero" of good deeds. He's a great role model taking pride in his kind acts. It's great that the principal, Ramos, is a latino.
When he has a school encounter with a bigger kid who's bullying another kid, the action gets going. Zorrito "makes a difference" by running to the principal when the bully threatens him. He snitches, is what kids would call it.Telling an adult is one correct thing to do. One, but not the only thing. This book would be a good start for kids to discuss how to deal with bullying, as long as the discussion is extended to other methods and questions.
Like, what if there's no adult around? What if the bully doesn't let you go to tell an adult? After you tell, how will you deal with the accusation that you're a snitch?
One book can't cover all of life's possibilities. As I said, Zorro is a good start.
Recent studies and reports on school bullying have shifted away from just telling an adult. As a parent, I know kids need to learn many other things. When to run away. How not to get backed into a corner. How to try to get other kid-bystanders involved. As a parent, I told my kid it was okay if he was sent to the principal's office because he was defending himself. (I can hear you teachers cringing out there.)
In Zorro, the latino principal holds an assembly, tells the bully to apologize and admit his mistakes. He gets a week suspended from school and detention for a month after that. Pure punishment.
Bullies are a U.S. epidemic. Newer studies and reports, again, advocate treating that sickness. A bully at home for a week will not necessarily cure himself. Detention is a junior form of prison solitary. I know principals who prefer to keep bullies in the school, give or get them counseling and teach them why their bullying needs to be corrected. It's no simple task.
In Zorro, the bully problem has a positive outcome. For that reason it can help parents and kids see that they don't need to tolerate bullying.To encourage more books from this author and other latinos' books aimed at latino kids, I also looked at the illustrations. What struck me was the skin color of the characters. One black boy is the only one with dark skin. I saw no real color distinction between latino kids and ones who are assumedly Anglo. I wasn't sure why complexions were done this way.
Unless something was intended that I haven't thought of, I'd suggest to the illustrator, Noel Ill, that the skin tones of his afroamericano character would work for some latinos.
Teachers of latinoamericano kids deal with the color line every day. Darker kids can get shunned by lighter-skinned latino kids. Many kids call their color "blanco," to not be identified with what class society considers an "inferior" color or "inferior" race, like indios. It's not the kids' fault, it's a prejudice from the country they were raised in. Books aimed at them need to acknowledge that some do have darker skin. Otherwise one of our major, latino characteristics would get whitewashed. I'm not sure if anything good is served by that.
Females in the book: girls in the background who don't speak or play any role in the story. From experience, I believe--and have read--that boys will like books that include girls, so long as they're engaging books. I'm uncertain there's value in leaving girls totally out of any book. (The only other female is the elderly woman--maybe Anglo--who Zorrito helps to cross a street.)
Latino boys do need more books like Zorro, as well as "boy books" with girls, especially, playing greater roles as they do in real life.
To help publicize Zorro, I'll give the author, publisher, and illustrator, for that matter, space here if they would like to explain more about the book. Yes, I've examined a lot about it; such books are important, especially given that few are published each year. Because I'm Chicano, have taught bilingual latino kids, and hope to publish books aimed at them, I have a great interest in examining the work of other latinos.
Our First Voice books should aspire to be superior to others being written. If expecting books to meet such a standard offends someone, I prefer that to my saying nothing about our literature needing improvement. And when mine are published, I'll ask help holding them to similar standards.
Es todo, hoy,
RudyG, a.k.a. a former bilingual teacher and still a father
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