Reading Latin America/Leyendo a Latinoamérica (Part I/Parte I) 

“América, tu histérica historia hemisférica, 
América, tu plata, petróleo y etcétera, 
Tus cúspides volcánicas telúricas quiméricas, 
América etcétera, etcétera, etcétera. 
No hay una libra que pese, lo que mi continente,
Ni un euro más honesto que las manos de mi gente.”
“Mundo Nuevo” by Luis Díaz, aka Intifada

It is that time of the year, when many schools, libraries and institutions commemorate Latinx Heritage Month (September 15-October 15)  to highlight Latinx authors, illustrators, creators, artists, and “famous people”. Although we are aware that a “heritage/history month” shouldn’t not be the sole period to celebrate and remember the life and work of historically marginalized peoples, it serves as a reminder that we are here, and that we are in schools, libraries, neighborhoods, and communities. 

Identities are socially and politically constructed descriptors to categorize (and exploit) humans, but also to encourage solidarity, connection through similarities, and tighten communities. In the United States, when we talk about Latinxs, it refers to people and communities of Latin American descent that are currently living in what we know as the United States. Even though some Latinxs are in constant contact, undergo circular migrations, divide their time, visit their families, or are generations away from their country of origin, there are people who are still living, working, existing and resting in Latin America. I’m not minimizing or erasing the contributions of Latinxs to children’s literature, but wanted to focus an attention to authors, illustrators and/or editors that are creating, residing or the majority of their body of work emanates from Latin America. Creators that are oftentimes invisibilize in the United States children’s literature landscape, when Latin America has a rich history of publishing, editing and creating books for children. 

This Latinx Heritage Month, I wanted to create a program or activity that would encourage my library community to access and read more books by Latin American creators. Oftentimes in my role as a children’s librarian, I’m asked by caregivers, educators and children for books “de allá”, books from Dominican Republic, Puerto Rico, El Salvador, Brasil, and Haiti. I browse through our catalog, our shelves, and my brain, to identify titles that would satisfy my library patrons’ needs and curiosity. I’m encountered by limitations and barriers from restricted vendors and distributors, the U.S. market, neoliberalism, collection development policies, funding and languages that impact what we have available in our library shelves. In spite of these factors and constraints, I decided to create a reading challenge so we could all collectively learn about, read and/or revisit Latin American children’s literature. 

First, I reflected upon what encompasses “Latin America”, and wanted to be as inclusive as possible. Latin America is a very large territory that includes a set of nations (and colonies) within North America, the Caribbean, Central America and South America. Its definition usually focuses on countries that were former Spanish colonies, but it also includes former (and current!) Portuguese, British, French and United States colonies. Many Latin American countries were under colonial rule by two or more of these empires, and its current literature offer is impacted by so. For this reading challenge, it was important to include Brasil, Haiti, Saint Lucia, and Dominica, due to their often neglect from Latinx/Latin American children’s literature, and the ongoing oppression, exploitation, and prejudice they face as well as the existence of these communities in our library neighborhood.  

Taking into account the geopolitical and imperial characteristics of Latin America and its peoples, I made a list of countries and started to search for books by authors and illustrators from those countries in our library catalog for our reading challenge…and what a challenge indeed. I focused on what we have available in our libraries, because it was important for us and our patrons, to have free access to books from Latin America and to boost what we already have in our collections. After hours of searching around, looking at authors and illustrators biographies, browsing anthologies, and searching specific names and titles I knew, I was able to develop a Reading Latin America/Leyendo a Latinoamérica list to share with my community. The list is not only to assist them in identifying titles to complete the reading challenge, but also to help in identifying the gaps that exist in our library collections, and maybe readers also identify Latin American titles, authors, and illustrators that we need to get in our libraries. This program/activity is a two-way stream that recognizes community members’ knowledge and experiences, that libraries and schools should acknowledge and take into account more. 

Figure 2. Image of some of the bookmarks include inside the titles of the Latin American children’s book display at my library 

In addition to the online list, I created a book display and added bookmarks to books that include the names of the creators and their countries. For the reading challenge they need to track the book title, the name of authors/illustrators, and their countries. Some library patrons may be inspired to read books from each Latin American country or various of them, while others may only focus on reading as much as possible from one specific country. I’m sharing this reading challenge with local public schools that regularly visit our library, and whose students, educators, and families emerge or have transnational connections with Latin America. 

Let’s see how the reading challenge goes and will share in Part II/Parte II, and hey, maybe you should join as well. 

In your school and libraries, are you often asked for titles by creators from Latin American countries? Which ones? How does your current classroom and library collections reflect the life and experiences of people from Latin America? 

Filed under: Programs/Programming