Awards

• Commended for Americas Award for Children & Young Adult Literature (Ages K-3) 1997
• Short-listed for Bluebonnet Awards 2000
• Winner of Tomas Rivera Mexican American Children's Book Award 1997

Overview

Tomas is the son of a migrant worker who spe nds his days working in the fields and his nights listening to his grandfather''s tales. Based on a true story, this book illustrates what libraries and education can make possible. '

Full Product Details

9780679804017

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Reviews

A charming, true story about the encounter between the boy who would become chancellor at the University of California at Riverside and a librarian in Iowa. Tomas Rivera, child of migrant laborers, picks crops in Iowa in the summer and Texas in the winter, traveling from place to place in a worn old car. When he is not helping in the fields, Tomas likes to hear Papa Grande's stories, which he knows by heart. Papa Grande sends him to the library downtown for new stories, but Tomas finds the building intimidating. The librarian welcomes him, inviting him in for a cool drink of water and a book. Tomas reads until the library closes, and leaves with books checked out on the librarian's own card. For the rest of the summer, he shares books and stories with his family, and teaches the librarian some Spanish. At the end of the season, there are big hugs and a girl exchange: sweet bread from Tomas's mother and a shiny new book from the librarian - to keep. Coldon's dreamy illustrations capture the brief friendship and its life-altering effects in soft earth tones, using round sculptured shapes that often depict the boy right in the middle of whatever story realm he's entered. (Kirkus Reviews)

Author Information

Pat Mora, a Chicana educator, is a published poet and the author of several books for children. Raul Colón was awarded the Silver Medal by the Society of Illustrators for Always My Dad, his first children's book.

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