Amelia Lau Carling – illustratör

A collection of poetry by one of the greatest Indigenous poets of the Americas about the vanished world of his childhood — that of the Maya K’iche’.Aquí era el paraíso / Here Was Paradise is a selection of poems written by the great Maya poet Humberto Ak’abal. They evoke his childhood in and around the Maya K’iche’ village of Momostenango, Guatemala, and also describe his own role as a poet of the place.Ak’abal writes about children, and grandfathers, and mothers, and animals, and ghosts, and thwarted love, and fields, and rains, and poetry, and poverty, and death.The poetry was written for adults but can also be read and loved by young people, especially in this collection, beautifully illustrated by award-winning Guatemalan-American illustrator Amelia Lau Carling.Ak’abal is famous worldwide as one of the great contemporary poets in the Spanish language, and one of the greatest Indigenous poets of the Americas. Ak’abal first composed his poems in K’iche’ in his mind before writing them down in Spanish. Key Text Featuresforewordbiographical informationpoemstranslation Correlates to the Common Core State Standards in English Language Arts:CCSS.ELA-LITERACY.RL.4.2Determine a theme of a story, drama, or poem from details in the text; summarize the text.CCSS.ELA-LITERACY.RL.5.4Determine the meaning of words and phrases as they are used in a text, including figurative language such as metaphors and similes.CCSS.ELA-LITERACY.RL.5.5Explain how a series of chapters, scenes, or stanzas fits together to provide the overall structure of a particular story, drama, or poem.CCSS.ELA-LITERACY.RL.5.7Analyze how visual and multimedia elements contribute to the meaning, tone, or beauty of a text (e.g., graphic novel, multimedia presentation of fiction, folktale, myth, poem).CCSS.ELA-LITERACY.RL.6.2Determine a theme or central idea of a text and how it is conveyed through particular details; provide a summary of the text distinct from personal opinions or judgments.CCSS.ELA-LITERACY.RL.6.5Analyze how a particular sentence, chapter, scene, or stanza fits into the overall structure of a text and contributes to the development of the theme, setting, or plot.

En este encantador libro-álbum, un ratoncito, Chico Canta, salva a su familia del pequeño pero astuto Gato-Gatito, gracias a su agilidad mental y su conocimiento de otro idioma.Chico Canta, el menor de doce hermanos, es un ratoncito travieso y temerario que vive con su familia en un viejo teatro. A todos les encanta subir al palco. Desde allí miran los espectáculos y luego gritan, “¡Bravo, bravo!” con el público, cuando cae el telón.La señora Canta vive arreando a todos sus hijos de un lado a otro, y a Chico en particular. Siempre les dice: “¡Pronto! ¡Pronto! Hurry! Hurry!” Ella habla muchísimos idiomas: español, inglés e italiano, pero también araña, grillo y polilla. También anima a sus hijos a desarrollar sus propias capacidades lingüísticas: “¡Bravo, bilingüe!” les dice siempre.Una noche, después de una maravillosa puesta en escena de Los tres cerditos, la familia de ratones está a punto de caer entre las garras del Gato-Gatito. Una vez superado el susto, los ratoncitos se animan a montar su propia versión de la obra. Sigue una actividad intensa: el señor Canta supervisa la costura de los disfraces y la construcción de la escenografía, mientras la señora Canta dirige a las grillos músicos, a las arañas escenógrafos y a las polillas acomodadoras del público. Pero cuando al fin llega la noche del estreno, la verdadera estrella resulta ser Chico Canta. Desde la escena, el ratoncito detecta al Gato-Gatito en la sombra y enseguida utiliza su maravilloso don para los idiomas para evitar el desastre.Las tiernas ilustraciones de Amelia Lau Carling, reflejan todas las emociones que viven Chico Canta y su familia: sus alegrías y hazañas, sus temores y triunfos. Todo esto, contra el telón de fondo del viejo y elegante teatro.Una nota de la autora Pat Mora describe cómo ella y su hija Libby escribieron esta historia, inspiradas en un chiste bilingüe que leyeron en un libro de cuentos méxico-americanos.

International Latino Book Award for Best English Picture BookIn this delightful story two young children, Ray and Amelia, discover the old New Mexican tradition of los abuelos for the first time. Long ago, in the cold midwinter of northern New Mexico, village men would go up into the mountains, disguise themselves as scary old men and then go down to the village to see who had been good and who had been bad. The abuelos -- wearing masks and covered with soot -- would tease the children and then have them sing or dance around the fire.This midwinter masquerade, which contains elements of Spanish and indigenous Pueblo culture, as well as sharing features common to solstice celebrations in other parts of the world, died out in New Mexico for a time, but has been occasionally revived in recent years.

This edition is in Spanish. In this delightful story two young children, Ray and Amelia, discover the old New Mexican tradition of "los abuelos" for the first time. Long ago, in the cold midwinter of northern New Mexico, village men would go up into the mountains, disguise themselves as scary old men and then go down to the village to see who had been good and who had been bad. The abuelos -- wearing masks and covered with soot -- would tease the children and then have them sing or dance around the fire.This midwinter masquerade, which contains elements of Spanish and indigenous Pueblo culture, as well as sharing features common to solstice celebrations in other parts of the world, died out in New Mexico for a time, but has been occasionally revived in recent years.