El día de los muertos

My husband and I recently celebrated our 6th wedding anniversary. Six years ago today, we were honeymooning in Puerto Vallarta, Mexico as the town was getting ready for the día de los muertos/Day of the Dead holiday. Marc and I were in a cab headed to a nearby beach, when we passed by a beautiful cemetery all decked out in marigolds and other traditional Day of the Dead decorations.

Then we saw something strange . . .

A young woman was crossing the street carrying a human head under her arm.

Luckily, it turned out to be just a mannequin head. She was on her way to the neighborhood beauty school.

Like the mannequin head, the Day of the Dead holiday isn't half as scary as it seems at first glance. It is simply a time to remember and honor loved ones who have passed away. There is even a sense of whimsy to the holiday, almost like our Halloween. One of the most popular symbols of the holiday is the calavera, or skull.


And speaking of The Day of the Dead . . .

Here are some great children's books that celebrate the fun side of the Mexican holiday:

San Vicente, Luis. The Festival of Bones = El Festival De Las Calaveras. El Paso, Tex: Cinco Puntos Press 2002.

Morales, Yuyi. Just a minute: a trickster tale and counting book. San Francisco: Chronicle Books, 2003.

Da Coll, Ivar. El Día de Muertos.
[New York, NY]: Lectorum, 2003.

Winter, Jeanette. Calavera Abecedario: A Day of the Dead Alphabet Book. Orlando: Harcourt, 2004.



Ancona, George. Pablo recuerda: la fiesta del Día de los Muertos. New York: Lothrop, Lee & Shepard Books, 1993.

Posted by Rebecca Hickman at 12:43 PM

Pura Belpré Book Award

Invited from Yuyi Morales on Vimeo.

One of the highlights of the American Library Association Conference in Chicago was the Pura Belpré Book Award Celebración. The award is presented to Latino/Latina writers and illustrators whose work best portrays, affirms, and celebrates the Latino cultural experience in an outstanding work of literature for children and youth.

Here is a list of the 2009 Medal and Honor books for illustration:

Winner:

Morales, Yuyi. Just in Case: A Trickster Tale and Spanish Alphabet Book. New York: Roaring Brook Press, 2008.

Honors:

Dorros, Arthur, and Rudy Gutierrez. Papá and Me. New York: Rayo/HarperCollinsPublishers, 2008.

González, Lucía M., and Lulu Delacre. The Storyteller's Candle.
San Francisco, Calif: Children's Book Press, 2008.

Tafolla, Carmen, and Cordova, Amy. What Can You Do With a Rebozo?/ Que puede hacer con un rebozo? Paw Prints, 2009.

And here is a list of the 2009 Medal and Honor books for writing:

Winner:

Engle, Margarita. The Surrender Tree: Poems of Cuba's Struggle for Freedom.
New York: Henry Holt and Co, 2008.

Honors:
Morales, Yuyi. Just in Case: A Trickster Tale and Spanish Alphabet Book. New York: Roaring Brook Press, 2008.

González, Lucía M., and Lulu Delacre. The Storyteller's Candle.
San Francisco, Calif: Children's Book Press, 2008.

Jiménez, Francisco. Reaching Out. Boston: Houghton Mifflin Company, 2008.