Culture 3

Bibliography
Mora, Pat. 1997. TOMÁS AND THE LIBRARY LADY. Ill. Raul Colón. New York, NY: Alfred A. Knopf. ISBN 0679804013.

Plot Summary
Tomás is a young migrant worker who travels with his family every year from Texas to the state of Iowa. His grandfather is a great story teller and Tomás enjoys listening to all of his stories. Tomás’ grandfather encourages him to go to the library to find even more stories. He is very nervous, but he goes to the library by himself, and here he meets a sweet and wonderful librarian who takes Tomás under her wing and shares her love of books with him.

Critical Analysis
This well written story paints a picture for us of a young boy’s experience with the library. In this story we see the struggles of a Mexican-American family. This family is an extended family of migrant workers that travel from Texas to Iowa every year picking fruits and vegetables. Tomás’ family includes his Mamá, Papá, Papá Grande, and his little brother Enrique. We see the important theme of family and how they all live and work together. The story is written in English, but there are many Spanish words integrated into the text. The words are sewn seamlessly into the text for a natural and authentic feel. The author typically says something in Spanish and it is followed by the English phrase. For example “En un tiempo pasado,” Papá Grande began. “Once upon a time…..on a windy night a man was riding a horse through a forest.” The author has a nice way of integrating the Spanish text so that it flows easily. The reader does not have to look up words in a dictionary or glossary because the English phrases follow the Spanish ones. The characters are all authentic and believable. We see Tomas as a likable and polite young boy, and his family is full of hard working and caring people. The librarian enjoys Tomas’s company and loves that she can share her love of reading with him. This theme is central to the plot. In the story Tomas and the librarian bond over their love of reading and Tomas helps the librarian to learn Spanish. We also see in the story that Tomas goes home and reads the books to his family, and it says that he reads to his family in both English and Spanish.

The book is beautifully illustrated with authentic looking pictures. The cover is done in subdued hues with greens and browns. It shows us a Hispanic young boy reading a book with a middle-aged Anglo woman. In the background there are dinosaurs. The whole story is illustrated using these brown and green colors. The pictures are well done and have an authentic feel to them. In one picture we see the car driving through dirt roads, and the reader can almost feel the heat and taste the dust. The illustrations definitely add an authentic feel to the story.

In the Story Notes we also find out that this book is based on the true story of Tomas Rivera who became a national education leader.

Review Excerpts

Booklist(February 1, 1998; Ages 4^-8. Based on a true incident in the life of the famous writer Tomas Rivera, the son of migrant workers, this picture book captures an elemental American experience: the uprooted child who finds a home in the library.

School Library Journal(October 1, 1997; Gr 2-4¿Tomás Rivera, who at his death in 1984 was the Chancellor of the University of California at Riverside, grew up in a migrant family. Here, Mora tells the fictionalized story of one summer in his childhood during which his love of books and reading is fostered by a librarian in Iowa, who takes him under her wing while his family works the harvest. She introduces him to stories about dinosaurs, horses, and American Indians and allows him to take books home where he shares them with his parents, grandfather, and brother. When it is time for the family to return to Texas, she gives Tomás the greatest gift of all¿a book of his own to keep. Colón's earthy, sun-warmed colors, textured with swirling lines, add life to this biographical fragment and help portray Tomás's reading adventures in appealing ways. Stack this up with Sarah Stewart and David Small's The Library (Farrar, 1995) and Suzanne Williams and Steven Kellogg's Library Lil (Dial, 1997) to demonstrate the impact librarians can have on youngsters.¿Barbara Elleman, Marquette University, Milwaukee, WI

Connections
Read and discuss these books by Pat Mora : Confetti
A Birthday Basket for Tia
The Night the Moon Fell