MARCH 1997
about
the Children's Book Press
SELECTIONS FROM
CHILDREN'S BOOK PRESS
Pioneer publisher of multicultural literature
for children
Reviewed by Tiffany Midge
MY FIRST BOOK OF PROVERBS
MI PRIMER LIBRO DE DICHOS
by Ralfka Gonzalez and Ana Ruiz
Introduction by Sandra Cisneros
Children's Book Press, San Francisco,
1995, Hardcover: $15.95; 32 pp."Some of these dichos I am too old to understand and some I am not yet old enough. But whether you are a big child or a little child, whether they are familiar or new, Dichos will fill you with a wise and foolish laughter."
From the introduction by Sandra Cisneros
Funny, wise, playful, this bilingual collection of popular Mexican American proverbs and eye-candy, folksy illustrations, provides a cheerful open window for the reader to gaze through on those dreary cloud-gathered days. San Francisco artists Ralfka Gonzalez and Ana Ruiz have combined their talents to create an exuberant and zany picture book for children of all ages, with dichos (proverbs) like El que anda con lobos a aullar se ensea: "If you hang out with wolves you will learn how to howl", and quien canta su mal espanta: "sing every day and chase the mean blues away."
Gonzalez and Ruiz began searching out the material for Mi Primer Libro De Dichos by traveling throughout Mexico and the United States and, with a small tape recorder in hand, they asked people they met about their favorite dichos. By the end of their travels, the artists collected hundreds of dichos, what they thought of as bits of distilled wisdom. Ruiz aptly describes them as "kisses of language. There is one for each occasion and they appear to remind us that we are not alone."
Gonzalez' and Ruiz' artwork in this book embraces whimsy, stuns with color, and tickles the heart's strings with a fanciful set of characters like pineapple-headed senoritas, watermelon mermaids, bumble bee people, and barbell pumping peppers. Many of these characters were born in Gonzalez' dreams and others are borrowed from the childhood myths he grew up with in San Antonio. Mi Primer Libro De Dichos is an explosion of cactus, snails, papayas, cardiac muscles, rockets, roses, bananas and multicolored roosters. It is a delicious and exquisite ride.
CALLING THE DOVES
EL CANTO DE LAS PALOMAS
Story by Juan Felipe Herrera
Pictures by Elly Simmons
1995, Hardcover: $14.95; 32 pp."I was born in the tiny town of Fowler'the raisin capital of the world." My mother and father were farmworkers, and I grew up traveling with them through the mountains and valleys of California."
Juan Felipe Herrera
Calling The Doves is the compelling story of Mexican American poet Juan Felipe Herrera's migrant farmworker childhood. Told in expressive and lyrical language, Herrera paints a mythical and tender portrait describing his boyhood memories. He gives us memories such as eating breakfast under the open sky; listening to Mexican songs in the little trailer house his father built; his mother delighting the family with recitations of poetry.
"Sometimes my mother would surprise us at dinner by reciting poetry. Over a plate of guisado (a spicy tomato stew) and a hard flour tortilla, she would rise to her feet with her hands up as if asking for rain. Rhyming words would pour out of her mouth and for a moment the world would stop spinning."
The artist Elly Simmons is an internationally exhibited painter. Her picture book Magic Dogs of the Volcanoes, written by Manlio Argueta, was praised for her rich use of color and magical imagery. Because of Simmons' dedicated past work with the United Farmworkers in the Central Valley of California, she felt a personal connection to the subject matter of Calling The Doves. Her artwork utilizes a palette of softly blended colors, mingled with the diverse rich textures of the outdoor scenery of the California landscape.
Calling The Doves offers a unique glimpse into migrant family life and shares with the reader the strong connection of family love, of hope and celebration, and the richness of the land.
THIS
LAND IS MY LAND
Pictures and stories by George Littlechild
1993, Hardcover: $15.95; 32 pp.
"I paint at night. I'm inspired to paint at night. I stand outside staring at the night sky and I begin to dream. The sky is like a doorway into the other world, the Spirit World."
George Littlechild
Plains' Cree artist George Littlechild is the recipient of international praise and admiration for his intense and brilliantly colored compositions. In his first children's book, This Land Is My Land, Littlechild captures the vitality, dreams, and stories of Native Peoples, and by drawing inspiration from the history of his ancestors and from his personal experiences, he begins a candid and powerful journey of remembrance, understanding, and healing. In the book's dedication, Littlechild writes: "For my ancestors: I thank you for surviving when so many did not. You make me proud of who I am because of who you were."
Littlechild's paintings are bold, vivid and gorgeously inventive. Many of his works include collagebeadwork, feathers, shells, and photographs decorate the canvases, providing a tactile integrity to the images. Star shapes, horses, circles, and moons in provocative colors delight the eye, and in each shape a story is found and told.
"I painted four buffalo because four is a sacred number. These four represent the millions who have died. Four is also a healing number. It appears in all my work. There are four directions, four seasons, four elements, and four kinds of animals (those who walk, those who fly, those who swim, and those who crawl.)"
This Land Is My Land offers children and adults a view of history from the Native People's perspective, and George Littlechild's autobiographical stories and powerful paintings are sure to activate imaginations, extending hope and understanding.
Children's Book Press is a nonprofit publisher of multicultural and bilingual literature for children, supported in part by grants from the California Arts Council. Write for a complimentary catalog to:
Children's Book Press
246 First Street, Suite 101
San Francisco, CA 94105.
© The Raven Chronicles 1997