Author Showcase
By F. Isabel Campoy and Alma Flor Ada, for The Children’s Book Review
Published: September 16, 2011
by Alma Flor Ada (Author), F. Isabel Campoy (Author), Ulises Wensell (Illustrator)
Reading level: Ages 4 and up
Hardcover: 32 pages
Publisher: Rayo; Bilingual edition (March 8, 2011)
Oh, I had ten little puppies,
Ten little puppies had I . . .
Count along in Spanish and English as each one of the ten adorable puppies disappears from the pages—it’s a bilingual bonanza! Colorful and playful illustrations by artist Ulises Wensell, a vibrant rendition of the classic Spanish nursery rhyme by Alma Flor Ada and F. Isabel Campoy, and a delightful English adaptation by Rosalma Zubizarreta will make this edition an instant family favorite. And you can find more information at the back of the book about the puppy breeds featured. Puppies have never been so irresistible!
Yo tenía diez perritos,
diez perritos tenía yo . . .
Ahora puedes contar, en inglés o en español, cada uno de los diez adorables perritos mientras van desapareciendo de las páginas. ¡Una verdadera joya bilingüe! Las originales y divertidas ilustraciones del artista Ulises Wensell, la vibrante versión de la rima clásica de Alma Flor Ada y F. Isabel Campoy, y una excelente adaptación en inglés de Rosalma Zubizarreta harán que este libro sea indispensable en todos los hogares. Puedes encontrar más información acerca de las razas de los cachorros en la parte posterior del libro. ¡Nunca has visto perritos más irresistibles!
“Vibrant colored-pencil and watercolor illustrations are done in deep hues of green, pastels, and earth tones to create realistic images that capture the spontaneous, playful, and affectionate nature of the pups. … The English translation skillfully utilizes rhyme to maintain the story’s authenticity while accurately reflecting the original poem. … Large, appealing illustrations will make this a favorite for storytime presentations; an excellent source in helping children to develop prereading skills, and a fun way to introduce them to early math concepts such as addition and subtraction.” —Cristi Jenkins, Fort Vancouver Library District, WA (School Library Journal)
Add this book to your collection: Ten Little Puppies/Diez perritos
A note from F. Isabel Campoy
As I reflect on my life as an author I realize that the 100[+] books I have published have all been a statement of what it means to be Latino. In a poem (Suni Paz composed music for it) I say:
Mia es la historia Mine is a history
culta, honrada y valiente. honest, educated, fearless.
Mío el orgullo Mine is the pride,
de ser Latina y suficiente. of being Latina, no less.
I realized that there are no Latinos in México or Guatemala, El Salvador or Cuba. There are no Latinos in any of the 20 Hispanic Countries. There, there are Mexicans and Guatemalans, Salvadorians or Cubans. The name Latino has been adopted in the US by English speakers to refer to the Spanish-speaking population in this country. Latinos are then a new culture, separate from that of their countries of origin, wider, more complex and in many ways richer. And I wanted our Latino children to know that.
So, in co-authorship with Alma Flor Ada, we created a plan to furnish young readers with tools that would help them choose their own identities as Latinos in the U.S. When we wrote books about Hispanic lands we talked about the new frontiers of our identity, no longer just México or Guatemala, Cuba or Puerto Rico, but also Bolivia and Argentina, Chile and Uruguay, Spain and Honduras. We invited readers to meet poets born in all ages and all countries from the Mayan A’Kabal to, Octavio Paz, Gabriela Mistral or Federico García Lorca. To read the biographies of Benito Juarez and Fernando Botero, José Martí and César Chavez and to broaden their horizon towards inclusion, to add a second language, not substitute their heritage language by English.
A few years ago, as the third generation of our families was born in the U.S. and abroad, we realized that they needed a common past and we published books such as ¡Pío Peep!, Mamá Goose, Merry Navidad, and Animal Nursery Rhymes. They are all bilingual books because some of these children speak only English, others only Spanish and we hope that they will master both languages sometime soon. Our surprise has been that it is the mothers of young Latino children, the ones that wait in line for our signature in Conferences. They want to keep the memory of their own mothers and the joy of their own childhood, as contained in the pages of those nursery rhyme books. Hopefully, they will sing to their children those same songs, and will teach them the games they played, and will realize that children can learn two languages simultaneously without much problem.
For more information, visit: http://www.isabelcampoy.com/
The Author Showcase is a place for authors and illustrators to gain visibility for their works. This article was provided by the author. Learn more …
A version of F. Isabel Campoy’s note originally appeared on Paper Tigers, an internet magazine.