Dalia's Wondrous Hair/ El cabello maravilloso de Dalia
by Laura Lacámara
Spanish-language translation by Gabriela Baeza Ventura
ISBN:978-1-55885-789-6
Publication Date: May 31, 2014
Format: Hardcover
Pages: 32
Ages: 4-9
One night, while Dalia slept safely wrapped in her mother’s cool silken sheets, her hair grew and grew. By the time the rooster crowed, her hair had “grown straight up to the sky, tall and thick as a Cuban royal palm tree.” Her mother was amazed, and wondered what her daughter would do with her wondrous hair.
As Dalia looked at the flowers blooming in the garden, an idea sprouted inside her. She decorated her hair with leaves from the forest and mud from the marsh. Her mother was puzzled and could not imagine what she was. “Are you a leaf-crusted mud-tree?” she guessed incorrectly. That night, while Dalia slept safely cocooned in her mama’s sheets, something stirred and unfolded. When the rooster crowed, the girl ran outside and everyone watched in awe as she carefully unwrapped her towering hair. Could it be? Is Dalia a . . . blossoming butterfly tree?!?
In this whimsical bilingual picture book, Dalia’s hair becomes a magical force of nature, a life-giving cocoon. Author and illustrator Laura Lacámara once again delights children ages 4-9 with her vibrant illustrations and an imaginative story about a girl’s fanciful encounters with nature.
Bonus features include a guide for how to create your own butterfly garden at home, as well as a bilingual glossary of select plant and animal species native to the island of Cuba.
Dale, dale, Dale: Una fiesta de números/ Hit It, Hit It, Hit It: A Fiesta of Numbers
by René Saldaña, Jr.
Illustrations by Carolyn Dee Flores
ISBN: 978-1-55885-782-7
Publication Date: May 31, 2014
Format: Hardcover
Pages: 32
Ages: 4-8
“Today is my birthday, and I am so excited. / One piñata filled with candy. / Two hours until the party. / Three tables set for all of the guests.” Mateo counts to twelve as he anticipates the fun he’ll have at his party!
There will be family, friends and lots of goodies for the children: tops, marbles and even toy cars! But before the children can hit the piñata, they will sing the birthday boy a song and enjoy eating a delicious cake. And then Mateo will be “the happiest boy in the whole wide world,” because he gets to swing at the piñata first with everyone cheering him on: ¡Dale! ¡Dale! ¡Dale!
Acclaimed kids’ book author René Saldaña, Jr. creates another winner with his first picture book, illustrated in vibrant colors by Carolyn Dee Flores, for children ages 4-8. In this birthday-themed counting book, children will relish practicing their counting skills while dreaming about hitting a piñata at their very own fun-filled fiesta.
This year is the 15th anniversary for El día de los niños/El día de los libros! Happy birthday to this wonderful celebration of children and books from all linguistic and cultural backgrounds!
There are lots of celebrations going on and one I’m particularly excited about is the Pura Belpré Celebración at the ALA Annual Conference in New Orleans this June. Organizers tell us that they’re going to celebrate it as a Quinceañera with a traditional promenade. It’s going to be fabulous – we only hope we can sneak away from our booth long enough to participate!
For your collections, here are some Spanish and bilingual books to consider for your Día celebrations:
- Ada, Alma Flor and F. Isabel Campoy ¡MUU, MOO!: Rimas de animales/Animal Nursery Rhymes. Illus. Vivi Escriva. 2010
- Ada, Alma Flor and F. Isabel Campoy TEN LITTLE PUPPIES/Diez Perritos. Illus. Ulises Wensell. 2011
- Brown, Monica SIDE BY SIDE/Lado a lado. Illus. Joe Cepeda. 2010
- Dorros, Arthur MAMA AND ME. Illus. Rudy Gutierrez. 2011
- Dorros, Arthur RADIO MAN/Don radio. 1997 (paperback)
- Guy, Ginger Foglesong BRAVO! Illus. Rene King Moreno. 2010
- Guy, Ginger Foglesong MY GRANDMA/Mi abuelita. Illus. Vivi Escriva. 2007
- Lacamara, Laura FLOATING ON MAMA’S SONG/Flotando en la canción de mamá. Illus. Yuyi Morales. 2010
- Martinez, Rueben ONCE UPON A TIME/Habia una vez: Traditional Latin American Tales/Cuentos tradicionales latinoamericanos. Illus. Raul Colon. 2010
- Mora, Pat BOOK FIESTA! Illus. Rafael Lopez. 2009
- Mora, Pat WIGGLING POCKETS/Los bolsillos saltarines. Illus. Maribel Suarez. 2009
- Reiser, Lynn Tortillas and Lullabies/Tortillas y cancioncitas. Illus. Corazones Valientes. 2008
This list is by no means exhaustive (many of these authors and illustrators are prolific with rich and beautiful books in their backlist), but hopefully it’ll help get you started.
And make sure to check out the Día website – there’s a wealth of information about hosting your own Día event, events going
Last year, I completed illustrations for my first picture book. The Runaway Piggy, written by James Luna (Piñata Books / debuts Nov. 30, 2010) is a Latino take on the Gingerbread Man story, featuring a Mexican sweet bread cochinito (piggy cookie).
I had been sending postcard samples of my art to Piñata Books (an imprint of Arte Público Press) every six months or so for several years. I had never heard a peep from them until I received an email from the production manager asking if I would be interested in providing Piñata with a “character concept” for a new bilingual picture book called, The Runaway Piggy. I was thrilled! There were other artists trying out for the same job (four illustrators total, I later found out). Piñata would choose one illustrator based on the character concept they submitted, and that person would win the contract to illustrate the book. I jumped at the chance to break into children’s picture book illustration -- a long-held dream of mine.
In order to execute the black and white character concept “audition” drawing, Piñata provided me with the manuscript and requested that I select a scene from the story to illustrate. I purposely chose a scene of medium complexity -- one that showed a lot of action, yet would not require a huge crowd or an aerial perspective. I worked almost one month on the research and creation of the drawing I would ultimately submit.
One of the biggest challenges for me with that first drawing was that the story was set in an inner-city neighborhood. I had avoided rendering buildings or cityscapes my entire artistic career. I had always been most comfortable drawing and painting “organic” earthy figures and shapes. Well, I needed to say goodbye to comfort and face my fears head on. I knew if I were going to draw buildings, I would have to find a way to make the buildings work for me, to somehow translate them into my own style. One morning, on a walk through my neighborhood in Venice, Calif., I took a turn down Abbott Kinney Blvd. I noticed the unique mixture of quaint and artsy-hip architecture, which created an atmosphere of a city street with a small-town feeling. I took out my notebook and pen and made sketches of my favorite doorways, windows and awnings. When I got home, I began doing the rough sketches for my concept drawing. At first, the buildings looked too stiff, as I had feared. That is when I stopped to look at other picture books for inspiration. This usually helps me free up and loosen up. It worked -- the solution was simple! I would curve the lines of the buildings and streets and make them just as alive and organic as any of the figures. The ske
Follow the virtual book tour and you can be the lucky winner of a signed copy of this wonderful bilingual book. Leaving a comment on any of the tour's host sites enters you in the drawing to win a copy of Floating on Mama’s Song! So I hope you will check out all the stops on the tour:
Monday, Aug. 30 - Floating on Mama's Song synopsis, reviews
http://www.dianebrowningillustrations.com/(Out of the Paintbox)
Tuesday, Aug. 31- Laura Lacámara (author) interview
http://www.onbeyondwordsandpictures.com/ (On Beyond Words & Pictures) Megan Frances
Wednesday, Sept. 1- Katherine Tegen (editor) interview -- book comes out today!
http://www.tinanicholscouryblog.com/(Tales from the Rushmore Kid)
Thursday, Sept. 2 - Yuyi Morales (illustrator) interview
http://www.latinbabybookclub.com/ (Latin Baby Book Club) René Colato Laínez
Friday, Sept. 3 - Announcement of contest winner!
http://www.dianebrowningillustrations.com/(Out of the Paintbox)
A la mamá de Anita le encanta cantar. Sus canciones son tan bonitas y felices que crean algo mágico: todo el que escucha su música se eleva y flota en el aire. Pero la mamá de Anita deja de cantar. ¿Logrará Anita recobrar los tiempos felices y los momentos mágicos para ella y su familia?
La lírica e inspiradora historia de Laura Lacámara y el arte espectacular de Yuyi Morales retratan una celebración mágica de la familia, la música y la felicidad.From North to South/ Del Norte al Sur
Floating on Mama’s Song
by Laura Lacamácara
Illustrated by Yuyi MoralesA few years ago, when a fellow artist suggested my images would be ideal for picture books, I signed up for a children’s book illustration class at Otis College of Art and Design. Students were expected to finish a black and white dummy and one full-color illustration by the end of the ten weeks. Our teacher believed in students illustrating their own stories, so I wrote the first draft of Floating on Mama’s Song simply to have something I could get excited about illustrating.
My initial inspiration for the story was to write about my mother, who had once been an opera singer in Havana. Imagining illustrating the character’s costumes and the lush tropical setting excited me artistically, but I still didn’t have a plot. Then, in the middle of the night, it came to me! What would happen if mama’s singing literally lifted her off the ground? Who in the story would love it and be supportive? Who might feel threatened by mama’s floating and want to stop it?
That’s when the story became deeply personal for me. I know first-hand how crucial creative expression can be to one’s happiness. My mother dropped her operatic career after she had had my brother and me, and our family fled Cuba. I often wondered how my mother’s life would have been different, if she had sung opera in the USA.
Growing up, it always seemed to be my father’s creative career as a graphic designer and illustrator that took center stage. Rental pianos, on which my mother could play classical music and accompany her arias, seemed to leave the house as quickly as they arrived. I can still hear my father’s familiar chant, “We can’t afford it.” Thus, the early drafts of Floating on Mama’s Song feature the father as the disapproving character who feels threatened by Mama’s singing.
Anyway, getting back to the process of manuscript to publication: One month after the children’s book illustration class at Otis ended, I joined SCBWI (the Society of Children’s Book Writers and Illustrators) and took my polished manuscript and dummy (with two full-color illustrations) to SCBWI’s “Illustrator’s Day.” I proudly displayed my creation there for all to see. No one paid the slightest attention to it, and I recall feeling crushed! Realizing I was suffering from a bruised ego, I dusted myself off and got back to seeking the next opportunity to present my work.
Fortunately, my brother’s friend knows several literary agents in New York. This friend, Phillip, liked my story and pictures, so he hooked me up with three agents to submit my work to. The first two agents passed on it, but the third one, Bill, liked my writing and illustrations, and he was specifically interested in representing Latino manu
Laura, Thanks for sharing the details of how it all happened!
Gonna have you autograph my copy when I see you next! xo suzy
Muchisimas gracias, Rene !!
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-- H ♥ ☮