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Viewing: Blog Posts Tagged with: revista iguana, Most Recent at Top [Help]

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1. Kids' Spanish mag to close. Virginia Alanis novel. Deep Down Dark.

By: Contributing Bloguistas:, on 10/10/2014
Blog: La Bloga (Login to Add to MyJacketFlap)
JacketFlap tags: Cricket magazine, Iguana magazine, Carus publishing, revista iguana, hector tobar, children's spanish magazine, deep down dark, Love Field, Virginia Alanis, Add a tag

Two years ago, my first children's story in Spanish appeared in the national magazine, Iguana. El Viaje de Clarisa la Flaquita is a fable written in Spanish. It follows the journey of a brown, skinny, young girl ant who learns to struggle against and overcome problems that life never seems to stop throwing in her path and was inspired by the burdens carried by first-grade, immigrant children I use to teach. I'm still proud of that story and was glad it would be available for some time, which is why I was not happy to receive the following (bold type - my emphasis):

"Dear Iguana family and friends,

I am heart-broken to inform you that the last issue of Iguanawill be Nov/Dec 2014. Cricket Media (Carus Publishing) has decided to stop production of all Spanish language magazines. The company is shifting its focus towards China. As a result, Marc and I are no longer employed by Cricket Media. It is unfortunate that Cricket Media did not fully commit to growing the brands despite the evidence that subscriptions were increasing.

We are in the process of getting Iguana back. However, it is currently financially infeasible for us to continue publishing Iguana. Marc and I want to thank all of you for your continued support and loyalty over these past ten years. It is thanks to you that Iguana was able to enrich the lives of many children. We hope that our paths may cross in the future and we can work together again.

Thank you, thank you so much from the bottom of our hearts.

Christianne Meneses Jacobs, Founder/Editor, Marc Jacobs, Art Director

"Querida familia de Iguana y amigos:

Con el corazón destrozado les anuncio que la última edición de Iguana será la de noviembre/diciembre 2014. Cricket Media (Carus Publishing) ha decidido dejar de publicar todas las revistas en español y enfocarse en el mercado en China. Como resultado, Marc y yo ya no estamos trabajando para Carus. Desafortunadamente, los ejecutivos de Cricket Media no estaban completamente comprometidos en desarrollar las revistas a pesar de la evidencia de que las suscripciones estaban aumentado.

Estamos en el proceso de que nos regresen Iguana. Sin embargo, en estos momentos se nos dificulta economicamente continuar publicando Iguana. Marc y yo les queremos dar las gracias a todos por su continuo apoyo y lealtad en estos últimos diez años. Es gracias a todos ustedes que Iguana pudo enriquecer la vida de muchos niños. Esperamos que nuestros caminos se vuelvan a cruzar en el futuro y podamos trabajar juntos otra vez.

Gracias, muchísimas gracias desde el fondo de nuestros corazones.

Christianne Meneses Jacobs, Fundadora/Editora y Marc Jacobs, Director de Arte"

Whatever the merits of my fable, kids in my classrooms loved this magazine. I bought copies for school libraries and always had back issues in my room. Now, the magazine is threatened and might never publish again. As Virginia Alanis notes below: "Each month, approximately 50,000 US Latinos turn eighteen years of age." So, it's difficult to understand how Iguana's publishers are ceasing its publication. That they are "shifting focus toward China" might make sense; there are more Chinese kids than U.S. latinos. But here is the original press release when first taking over Iguana.

"Cricket Magazine Group’s Iguana to bring Spanish language, learning and culture to 7-12 year-olds

"In an interest to [sic] better serve the 50 million Latinos in the U.S., Cricket Magazine Group/Carus Publishing, a division of ePals, proudly announces the addition of Iguana magazine, its first Spanish-language magazine for children, ages 7‐12. Iguanawill expose children to the beauty of the Spanish language and the richness of Latin American culture and heritage. The magazine received a 2009 Children's Publication Award from the National Association of Multicultural Education.

"Iguana is a Spanish language magazine for children who grew up learning and speaking Spanish. Each issue engages children with interesting text, beautiful illustrations, and intriguing photographs across a wide variety of new and interesting topics including history, geography, science, technology, language arts, math and more. Iguana's interesting content motivates children to read, reinforcing reading skills in Spanish and encouraging Latino cultural preservation."

It appears Carus is dropping their "proud" commitment to "better serve the 50 million Latinos in the U.S." But you can see for yourself what a great full-color, illustrated magazine Iguanawas, at this interactive sampler. It will be missed by more than me.

To get Carus Publishing's explanation for shutting down Iguana, I contacted them this week, and their computer answered: "We received your correspondence and will respond within two business days." That would be this coming Tuesday, and if I receive anything I'll append it to this post. You can contact Christianne M. Jacobs for further information about Iguana's future ([email protected]) or Karen Dudra (kdudra [@] caruspub.com) about Carus Publishing's decision. I assume publishing rights to my Clarisa story will revert to me, so I'll be seeking to get it published as a picture book.

Virginia Alanis about her forthcoming novel

"I wrote Love Field so readers could inhabit the 1980s and 1990s and smile at the things I took so seriously as a young woman. Even though I created outrageous characters and situations in my novel, I remained true to the basic thematic elements of a coming-of-age novel. I think of Love Field as Jane Eyre for Latinos, literary fiction about a girl in high school who runs away from home rather than return to Mexico with her family. She has the added baggage of making an early marriage, a jealous husband, and murderous in-laws—all while attending college."

Alanis's debut novel, Love Field, will be published in 2015, but in the meantime you can read her summary.

Deep Down Dark

Check out noted director/author Jesus Treviño's Latinopia documentary video on Hector Tobar's novel.

"On August 5, 2010, thirty-three miners were trapped underground following a mine cave-in at the Chilean town of Copiapó. Pulitzer Prize-winning journalist and novelist Hector Tobar obtained exclusive access to the miners and tells their story in his novel Deep Down Dark. Latinopia asked Tobar how the novel came about.

Es todo, hoy,

RudyG, a.k.a. Rudy Ch. Garcia, author of El Viaje de Clarisa la Flaquita, in print for a limited time

0 Comments on Kids' Spanish mag to close. Virginia Alanis novel. Deep Down Dark. as of 10/11/2014 12:13:00 PM

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2. One day after CT. Thoughts from one ex-teacher

By: Contributing Bloguistas:, on 12/14/2012
Blog: La Bloga (Login to Add to MyJacketFlap)
JacketFlap tags: revista iguana, elementary students, school security, El Viaje de Clarisa, CT shootings, discussing CT with students and kids, children and CT, Add a tag

by RudyG

The 2012 Holiday Season. The day after CT.

When I was still a bilingual elementary teacher of first and second grade mexicanitos in the Denver area, tragedy was a monthly, or more, occurrence. Getting evicted from their homes, their father put in jail, their mother losing her job, not having food in their house, or electricity or water, an older brother wounded in a drug deal, unmarried sister pregnant, or health problems--from open-heart surgery for a six-year-old to daily monitoring of another for severe asthma--were the news that entered our classroom. Teachers deal with the effect such incidents have on the learning environment, even if it seems to affect only one child. It's not just life; in some kids' cases, it is a normal part of life.

When another Columbine took place, such as the five mass shootings that occurred in the last six years, I'd introduce the issue to my five through eight-year-olds. Kids talk amongst themselves, hear adults and older siblings talk, catch some of the meaning of media news, watch photos and videos on their home TVs. They know something happened, but not always from an adult's perception capable of filtering the real from the hysterical, part of the reason I took the question head-on.

The misinterpreted "2012 end of the world" supposedly coming with the end of the Maya baktun is an example of this perception problem. I was forced to deal with this earlier this year with first graders, because some children, primarily from evangelical-worshipping families, had anxious looks bordering on panic when they talked amongst themselves. You can imagine that this might affect the learning in a room.

Getting the question out in the open didn't resolve all of every child's anxiety. But it cleared the air some. With the baktun, the children learned where the math and calendrical calculations came from and who the Maya were and what the Spanish conquistadors et al did to Mexico's indigenes and how all that tied to the children's own past. At least, I covered those at a first grade level, reaching to help six and seven-year-olds' at their thinking level.

If I still had a classroom, this next Monday I would have to deal with CT, because the kids would start the morning with that in their heads. The kids that came, that is, because there would inevitably be one or two who didn't because of parents' anxiety about having their kid in an elementary school thousands of miles from CT.

I'll not conjecture on what I would exactly say to kids next Monday, nor how I'd facilitate the discussions. But I always have started with: 1. What did you hear; 2. What questions do you have; 3. What do you think and feel about it; and 4. Are you scared of anything at this moment? And then the discussion would go, back and forth, revealing sometimes incredibly distorted facts, sometimes engendering tears, and more often, deep insights guided by the innocence and simple empathy that little children possess.

There's more to how the process would be completed that I won't delve into. Writing about it, drawing their feelings on paper, questions they should ask their parents that weren't deal with (especially religion-related ones), among others.

In fact, it's impossible to shield little ones against the deluge of news, talk and visual evidence about CT. Better to try to equip them with facts, let them openly express their thoughts and feelings about it and provide them an arena where they can learn and assuage some of their sense of helplessness.

Below is the preamble to the Constitution. The capitalizing of words is how it was composed and approved. In my opinion, the capitalized elements that I bolded relate directly to the failings connected to CT. I don't feel a need to explain those. I do note that the Founding Fathers did not capitalize what I underlined--the common defence. What they felt didn't need such emphasis is sadly the one place where most of our tax money is wasted.

We the People of the United States, in Order to form a more perfect Union, establish Justice, insure domesticTranquility, provide for the common defense, promote the general Welfare, and secure the Blessings of Libertyto ourselves and our Posterity, do ordain and establish this Constitution for the United States of America,

Beginning from the Reagan era, mental health was chopped and continues today to be an area "ridiculously underfunded." A pivotal area relating to the general Welfare and domestic Tranquility.

Of course, as there should be, the issues of gun control and school security have already begun inundating our national dialogue. The first one is a natural, but not the total answer. The second is unachievable. Any madman with half a mind can bypass any forms and procedures to get into a school.

The most lamentable reaction to CT, in my view, will be the added security measures and equipment that teachers and school children will be subjected to. Leading them to fel and believe that they and every school are supposedly dangerous places. It propagates fear without at the same time being capable of assuring better security from some madman.

Worse yet, will be how such measures heighten our individual worries about our kids, our homes, our neighborhoods. Some Americans will give into that fear and will retreat further into their homes. Because our world is not safe. Is threatening. Must be filled with madmen.

And they will welcome additional tax money spent on police, military, surveillance, security screening, coming from an acceptance of the pitiful idea that giving up our privacy, civil rights and freedoms over to the authorities will somehow be better for our children. The same thing that happened after 9/11.

And then the Constitution would read COMMON DEFENSE, with the previously capitalized words relegated to lower case. And that would be a much more complicated discussion to have with the little ones.

by Rudy Ch. Garcia, author of El Viaje de Clarisa, featured this month in Revista Iguana. A children's fable written in Spanish. It follows a skinny, young girl (an ant) who learns to struggle and overcome the problems that life seems to never stop throwing into her path. Something possibly too relevant to our children.

3 Comments on One day after CT. Thoughts from one ex-teacher, last added: 12/16/2012