Thank you to everybody who so quickly responded to my request for South American
Picture books! I think I may expand my plans and visit all 7 continents + the
north pole (ending at Christmas with the Polar Express). I'm also planning to make
passports for each country - and we will stamp each continent as we travel. Here's
my plan for kindergarten - each week start on the floor by the rocking chair and
talk about where we are going - point it out on the globe - then have the kids
board the "airplane" (chair set up in a long row), buckle up, take off, etc. Then
read aloud books from each continent - one continent each week. Then land the
plane. I also hope to come up with some kind of souvenir ("book bit") for the kids
to take home each week.
I'm probably going to stay away from folk tales - because I do hit on folk tales in
almost every other grade. Most the time I get my book ideas from Judy Freeman's
books - Books Kids Will Sit Still For 3 (I also use her older editions of the
books). Everything in this book is so nicely laid out with expansion ideas and
grade levels. I simply borrow the books from my public library system - young kids
don't seem to care if I have the book in the library or not and this gives me much
better flexibility in planning. I can also borrow big books from my public library
- so that is very helpful also.
I also ended up searching Esme Codell's sight - and found exactly what I was
looking for - picture books from all seven continents. The link to this site is
http://www.planetesme.com/7continents.html#sa
Here's a hit of the suggestions I received from all the wonderful people at lm_net!
We're getting a new computer here at home and having trouble copying files - so I
think I'd better send this hit now before information is lost in the transition.
Thanks again!
Kristine Wildner
Librarian
Holy Apostles School
New Berlin, WI 53151
kwildner@afo.net
Use titlewave and do a boolean search on South America and tales for one thing.
You might be surprised by how many good titles you hit.
I believe Knutson has a good SA tale--but I do not remember the title.
Love and Roast Chicken
It is a trickster tale. It may be a bit long for Kindergarten but it is very cute.
The main character is a guinea pig.
You might try Great Kapok Tree by Lynne Cherry (that might be Central America,
actually, I'm not sure--but it's definitely the rainforest of some Central or South
American country.) or On the Pampas by Maria Cristina Brusca (a bit long for
kindergarten, but adaptable, I'm sure). Or what about a South American folktale
(and of course, the minute I say that, I can't bring any to mind. A search of our
local public library catalog under "south america" and "tales" brought up several
possibilities though. I can't recommend any of them personally, since I wasn't
familiar with the titles that came up, but you could try Jabuti the Tortoise by
Gerald McDermott, or Love and Roast Chicken by Barbara Knutson.)
The Amazon rain forest is in Brazil and I think that's the setting Lynne Cherry
planned on when she wrote this (now classic) picture book: "The Great Kapok Tree."
I suppose it could be any rain forest area in south or central America. I love
reading it aloud and doing special voices for the animals - the kids love it!
How about books set in the rainforest?
How about Saturday Sanchoco by Torres
Maria Lili and her grandmother barter a dozen eggs at the market square to get the
ingredients to cook their traditional Saturday chicken sancocho. Includes recipe
and Tonight is Carnival by Dorros
A family in South America eagerly prepares for the excitement of Carnaval
looking at the name of your school I am not sure if this book would be appropriate,
but my students at all grade levels like The Spirit of Tio Fernando (I forget the
author right now). It's about the Day of the Dead celebration in South America. I
did a project for a multicultural children's lit course last summer but it is at
school right now. If I come across any others I will let you know. Something fun
aout Tio Fernando is that at the market Fernando is given a special treat from one
of the vendors. All it is is a lollipop wrapped in a tissue to look like a ghost.
After reading this book I let my kids make a ghost to take home. Good luck.
Report created especially for South American Tales
This list contains 13 books
Author Title Level Points Interest Call #
Campoy, F. Isabel Rosa Raposa 3.0 0.5 LG E CAM
Dorros, Arthur Tonight Is Carnaval 3.8 0.5 LG E DOR
Gutierrez, Douglas Night of the Stars, The 3.1 0.5 LG E GUT
Ingpen, Robert R. Voyage of the Poppykettle, The 4.9 0.5 LG E ING
Knutson, Barbara Love and Roast Chicken: A Trickster Tale...the Andes
Mountains 3.1 0.5 LG 398.2 KNU
Lilly, Melinda Moon People: A Carib Myth, The 4.4 0.5 MG 398.2 LIL
Lilly, Melinda Mira and the Stone Tortoise: A Kulina Tale 3.6 0.5 MG
398.2 LIL
Lilly, Melinda Huatya Curi and the Five Condors: A Huarochiri Myth 4.7
0.5 MG 398.2 LIL
Lilly, Melinda Aletin and the Falling Sky: A Mocovi Myth 4.4 0.5 MG
398.2 LIL
McDermott, Gerald Jabuti the Tortoise: A Trickster Tale from the
Amazon 3.8 0.5 LG 398.2 MCD
Metaxas, Eric Monkey People, The 6.1 0.5 MG 398.2 MET
Van Laan, Nancy So Say the Little Monkeys 2.7 0.5 LG 398.2 VAN
Van Laan, Nancy Magic Bean Tree: A Legend from Argentina, The 3.7 0.5
LG 398.2 VAN
searched using Google and this Barnes & Noble link was
retrieved:http://browse.barnesandnoble.com/browse/nav.asp?visgrp=children's&N=711247+3022&Ne=711226+711247+3022&z=y.The
only book I've read from the list is Conejito, which I highly recommend.Dr. Isabel
Schon from the California State University at San Marcos maintains a database of
children's books in Spanish and English books about Latinos. There are many books
from South American in the database. The address is http://www.csusm.edu/csb/.
Joes Aruego illustrated 3 short trickster tales in Rosa Raposa. The
kindergarteners would like this book. I think the author's last name is
Campoy.Possibly Buzz Buzz Buzz by Veronica Uribe about siblings who can't sleep b/c
a mosquito is making too much noise. The frog takes care of the problem.
Both of these are set in South America.
There's The Great Kapok Tree: A Tale of the Amazon Rain Forest by Lynne
Cherry And these two folktale books are recommended in Judy Freeman's new book --
Love and Roast Chicken (K-3) by Barbara Knutson
Jabuti and Tortoise (PreK - 3) by Gerald McDermott
Easy to find - Google South America children's books.
Here is one find:http://falcon.jmu.edu/~ramseyil/mulsoutham.htm
I'm not sure that this will do the trick, but how about "Verdi" by J.
Canon? He's a tree python that lives in South America, although I don't
think that its actually stated in the book. Beautiful pictures and a
really cute story thought.
found a few titles in the Novelist K-8 database. I haven't read any of
them but thought I'd pass them along anyway:
* Saturday Sancocho by Leyla Torres (set in Columbia)
* Grandmother's nursery rhymes:Las nanas de abuelita: lullabies, tongue
twisters, and riddles from South America by Nelly Palacio Jaramillo
* Jungle Song by Miriam Moss (set in a South American rain forest)
* The Voyage of the Poppykettle by Robert Ingpen (set in Peru)
* Jaguar by Helen Cowcher (set in Venezuela)
The only recommended title I've come across so far is:
The streets are free by Kurusa. - Annick Press , Distributed in the U.S.A.
by Firefly Books (U.S.), c1995. Notes: Translation of: Calle es libre.
Based on the true story of the children of the barrio of San Jose de la
Urbina, Venezuela, who have no place to play.
How about The UMBRELLA by Jan Brett or The Great Kapok Tree by Cherry, I think.
Check out Lynne Cherry's "The Great Kapok Tree" Simple story, but the K's
will like the animals and it opens the door for environmental issues, if you
wanted to go in that direction too.
Lynne Cherry - Great Kapok Tree (rain forest setting)
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