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From Yesterday to
Tomorrow:
Stories Our Abuelitas
Told
Traditional tales open
our hearts to old voices
and new worlds, to
wondrous adventures and
ever lasting feelings.
Words like Había una vez
or Érase que se era,
hold for the listener or
reader the magic promise
of enchantment.
The stories retold in
our recent book Tales
Our Abuelitas Told or,
in the Spanish version
Cuentos que contaban
nuestras abuelas (Simon
& Schuster, 2006),
reflect the diversity of
our culture: some
developed in Latin
America from Indigenous
roots, others had their
origin in Africa or in
various regions of Spain
and go back to the
Hebrew, Arabic or Basque
traditions.
Their settings may be
Mexico or the Southwest,
Puerto Rico, Cuba or the
Amazon among many others.
They all keep children
spell-bound. Stories
like these enriched our
childhood and left our
imagination forever open
to new discoveries, to
the daring possibility
of dreaming better
worlds. Words like
¨happily ever after¨ got
transformed into lives
in search of
understanding and
compassion, lives
devoted to promote
access and equality for
all, social justice, and
peace. |
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Authors F. Isabel Campoy
(left) and Alma Flor Ada
(right)
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Because we have known
the power of words, we
have been using them to
share with Latino
children and youth the
vastness of their rich
heritage and to make
others aware of this
richness. Through the
ample collection
Gateways to the Sun, or
in the Spanish version
Puertas al sol
(Alfaguara/Santillana,
2004) we have invited
them, through poetry
anthologies, to delight
in the images and rhythm
of our great poets.
Through theatre
anthologies we give our
readers the opportunity
to explore their
feelings and those of
others. Biographies of
great figures like
Benito Juárez, José
Martí or César Chávez,
of creators like Frida
Khalo, Gabriela Mistral
or Luis Valdés give them
inspiration to fulfill
their own potentials.
Books on the art of our
numerous artists of all
times encourage them to
find beauty in art, in
nature and in their own
hearts, and the books
about Hispanic lands in
this collection depict
for them not only the
diversity of those lands
and their amazing nature
but particularly the
contributions their
people, beginning with
the indigenous cultures,
have made to the world.
 Nursery
rhymes are frequently
the first introduction
to poetry and the music
hidden in language, an
introduction whose joy
can last a lifetime.
During our frequent
travels and public
appearances we
constantly receive the
response of parents and
teachers to the nursery
treasures in the
bilingual books !Pio
Peep! (HarperCollins,
2003), Mama Goose (Hyperion,
2004) and our collection
of books and
accompanying CDs with
120 songs in the voice
of Suni Paz, Música
amiga (DelSol, 2000).
They tell us what a joy
it is to reencounter the
songs that made them
laugh, sing and dance in
their own childhood and
to share it with their
children, grandchildren,
nephews and nieces,
making sure these songs
will continue to live on.
And what greater joy for
us than to meet children
who know by heart our
poems and delight in
saying or singing them.
Recently, in Texas an
educator told us that
someone in the family
¨took away the nursery
rhymes book¨ leaving
everyone else ¨orphaned
of memories¨ until she
purchased six copies,
one for each sister, to
restore the vacuum left
by the missing original.
As parents and
grandparents ask us to
autograph books, or
expectant mothers wish
us to create a message
for their yet unborn
children, we delight
seeing that the interest
on this culture and the
commitment to create a
bilingual foundation for
their youth come both
from Spanish-.speaking
and English-speaking
families.
May the treasures we
received continue living
in the hearts of the new
generations
By
F. Isabel Campoy and
Alma Flor Ada. |
