Author: Yuyi Morales Copyright: 2018
One of the first things that I fell in love with in this books is all the illustrations! Wow. The vibrancy. The mixed mediums of acrylics, pen, and ink. The little details of the inclusion of the author's personal artistry and home accessories that were photographed or scanned into the book made the book so engaging.
This video is a great resource for teachers to use to show students the author and illustrator purpose. In this video, Yuyi Morales describes how she incorporated various illustrative symbolism throughout the book. She discusses her inclusion of monarch butterflies throughout the book because of her research in understanding that by the time they migrate to the U.S., they are the fourth generation! Meaning that by the time they get to the U.S., there will be such an abundance of butterflies that they would represent such a greater force and support from each other. Just like with individuals or groups of people that migrate to other countries, they tend to lean on each other because of the commonality of culture and experience of a new home. She also included other animals such as snakes and bats throughout various parts of the book. These both symbolize learning how to gain strength in times that seem overwhelming. Along with this she discusses her symbolism of a volcano to represent feminism strength of being a warrior in a new country, just like her character portrayed throughout the book and ways other people became welcoming in helping the character find the strength to gain a voice.
With this symbolism, students can discuss how those illustrative aspects represent the theme of building a future. As stated above, there are a lot of illustrative details and symbolism that helps define the strength needed to build a future in another country. The strength of going through obstacles of having to learn a new language, expectations, and overall new life.
Pura Belpré Award
This children's book was awarded the
Pura Belpré Award for its illustrations. This award is given to Latinx authors and illustrators whose books portray the Latinx culture expressively.
When reading the title of the book, the first idea that came to mind is the idea of being a "dreamer" in the United States. Recently in politics, the term "dreamers" has been defined as an individual who was brought to the U.S. as immigrants at a young age. As I started to read the story however, it became more clear that this was not the topic of the book. Rather, Yuyi Morales takes the reader on a journey of her #OwnVoice experience of bringing her two month old child across the border from Mexico to Texas. She incorporates her emotions of isolation of being in a new country and not being able to communicate or know social expectations. Not only using words to express uncertainty in a new country, Yuyi Morales used illustrations to correspond with the character's thoughts and emotions. One page that I particularly was drawn to was when the mother and child reached America and were welcomed with clouds of comments of, "say something", "what?", and "speak English". An interesting choice that Morales made with these illustrations was to make this English words backwards. It obviously shows how unwelcoming society can be when there are stereotypes, biases, and prejudice of oppressed populations. Along with these word choices, Yuyi Morales incorporated several Spanish words in the text. I had to look up several. Here are the list of the words:
-Amor: love
-Migrantes: migrants
-Caminantes: hiker
-Si se puede: yes we can
-Lucha: fight
-Sonadores: dreamers
Going through the book, I was intrigued to read the mixture of English and Spanish. For being someone who speaks only English, it made me as a reader become more insightful and empathetic for the author. It made me analyze how reading a different language can be overwhelming, confusing, and may lead to misunderstandings.
When the story got to the part about being introduced to a public library, I believe this experience of a public library may be missed by many students. I enjoyed reading the short texts on the page of how the author discussed that through reading, she learned to have a voice. The illustrations of being introduced to an entirely new experience of having resources to books displays the importance and impact books have on people.
"Books became our languages. Books became our home. Books became our lives" (Morales, 2018, p. 19-20).
Looking at the page above, the librarian is giving them freedom to explore books that become more meaningful to their lives as immigrants. It introduces them to a new language. A new understanding. According to Yuyi Morales, she stated that the libraries that she visited when she came to the U.S. were inviting and the librarians were all welcoming in finding books that were interesting and inspirational for her as an immigrant. As a future educator, I feel like this is what we are supposed to do for our students. We want books to be a source of increased imagination where they can see themselves inside the story in some way.
This book specifically demonstrates how books can change someone's life.
For Yuyi Morales, books allowed her to find a voice in a new place. Her new home.
References
ALA. (2019). Pura Belpré Award. Retrieved from http://www.ala.org/alsc/awardsgrants/bookmedia/belpremedal
Morales, Y. (2018). Dreamers. China: Holiday House Publishing, INC.