Today’s book recommendation has a multiplicity of diversity in it – the book is bilingual and has a non-gender specific protagonist.
2015 Diversity Reading Challenge
Title: Call Me Tree – Llámame árbol
Written and illustrated by: Maya Christina Gonzalez
Published by: Children’s Book Press, an imprint of Lee & Low Books Inc., Bilingual edition (November 1, 2014)
Languages: English & Spanish
Themes/Topics: trees, equality, diversity, hispanic, gender
26 pages
Suitable for ages: 6-10
Opening:
I begin
Within
The deep
dark
earth
Nazco
Dentro
De la tierra
profunda
y oscura
Synopsis:
A lyrical bilingual story that follows one child/tree from the depths of Mami/Earth to the heights of the sky, telling a story about being free to grow, imagine and be who we are meant to be and honoring our relationship with the natural world.
Why I like This Book:
I appreciate the author’s choice to make this story gender free. We can all easily fall into boy-girl assumptions and expectations and the story provides narrators and listeners a context to discuss these norms/assumptions and their impact in the home/classroom. I was not surprised to see that other reviewers have assumed the main character is a boy, despite the lack of pronouns and ambiguity in the art. This only highlights the importance of such stories to me, which celebrate a child’s uniqueness.
The text is sparse and poetic, and reads fluently in both Spanish and English, making it a great bilingual text for even very young children. The metaphor of children as unique trees, all belonging, works well and the art rendered in watercolor, ink, and colored pencil is as bright, light and warm as the text. I enjoyed the diversity of the characters portrayed as well as the depiction of many of the children in the yoga poses! The celebration of a child’s connection to nature will also resonate with many children and adults. I would definitely recommend this for all progressive school libraries.
Activities/Resources:
This would be a great book for: earth day or national tree day, a poetry unit, diversity discussions or a class on gender and the importance of breaking free of our narrow gender binary norms.
Maya Christina Gonzalez did a great interview last month with the Huffpost on her decision not to use gender specific pronouns in this story. It was this interview that sent me straight to the NYPL to put the book on hold.
Lee & Low Books has a teacher’s guide for this book, which includes “a book summary, background, focus questions, vocabulary, discussion questions, reader-response and other writing prompts, English Language Learner support, and interdisciplinary activities. View and download the teacher’s guide.”
Other great resources cited on the Lee&Low website are:
www.reflectionpress.com/our-books/gender-now-activity-bookschool-edition
www.welcomingschools.org/pages/resources-on-gender-identity-and-children
www.tolerance.org/gender-spectrum
www.genderspectrum.org
www.outproudfamilies.com
In my 20's, with only my guitar and a rucksack, I wandered the continents, immersing myself in the lives of some wonderful people, projects and stories, which changed the way I view my responsibility to others and this earth. Right now I'm a European transplant in the US who writes books for children and young adults. Stories can help us not only navigate our world but can connect us to others, and allow us to inspire and help each other. I believe that equity and empathy should be at the core of our all actions, words, and stories.
I am also a school librarian and I get a kick out of book-matchmaking! And I use the pronouns she/her.
This and the previous book sound great. This kind of subject is dealt with way better than the controversial SexEd curriculum here in Ontario. 90% of kids stayed home today in protest.
What a shame it is so poor that nearly everyone boycotts it! There are a few great picture books out there now that are really reflective of a healthy view on gender.
Love the opening!