Tejas Star Book Award

   Region One Education Service Center recently inaugurated a new category of recognition of children's books - BILINGUAL.  Check their website to see the current titles nominated for the next round.  Its self-description: "The Tejas Star Book Award was created by the Region One ESC Library Advisory Committee to promote reading in general and for readers to discover the cognitive and economic benefits of bilingualism and multilingualism. All the children of Texas will have the opportunity to select their favorite book from the Tejas Star list during the month of February 2010."

The volumes have not been reviewed for their having Texana content, but some are likely to apply.  The Tejas Star Book Award Committee selected the following books for the 2009-2010 Tejas Star Book Award.

 

Alire Sáenz, Benjamin. (2008). A Perfect Season for Dreaming/Un tiempo perfecto para soñar. El Paso, TX: Cinco Puntos. Esau Andrade Valencia (illus.). Lluis Humberto Crosthwaite (trans.). ISBN: 978-1-933693-01-9. Gr. 1-5.

Anaya, Rudolfo. (2007). The First Tortilla: A Bilingual Story. Albuquerque: University of New Mexico Press. Amy Córdova (illus.). Enrique R. Lamadrid (trans.) ISBN: 978-0-8263-4214-0. Gr. 3+.

Brown, Monica. (2007). My Name is Gabito/Me llamo Gabito. Flagstaff, AZ: Luna Rising. Raúl Colón (illus.). ISBN: 978-0-87358-908-6. Gr. K-3.

Costales, Amy. (2007). Abuelita Full of Life/Abuelita llena de vida. Flagstaff, AZ: Luna Rising. Martha Avilés (illus.) ISBN: 978-0-87358-914-7. Gr. K-2.

Garza, Xavier. (2008). Charro Claus and the Tejas Kid. El Paso, TX: Cinco Puntos. ISBN: 978-1-933693-24-8. Gr. 2-5.

Gonzalez Bertrand, Diane. (2007). We Are Cousins/Somos primos. Houston: Piñata Books. Christina E. Rodriguez (illus.). ISBN: 978-1-55885-486-4. Gr. K-3.

González, Lucía. (2007). The Storyteller's Candle/La velita de los cuentos. San Francisco: Children's Book Press. Lulu Delacre (illus.). ISBN: 978-0-89239-222-3. Gr. 3-6.

Read more about the program, criteria, and voting process at:  http://www.esc1.net/12931098115329437/blank/browse.asp?a=383&BMDRN=2000&BCOB=0&c=54607&12931098115329437Nav=|864|&NodeID=864

Reading in Fort Worth

Can a Statue be a Role Model?  by YelmelNoBrainer

Some rights reserved Creative Commons

http://www.flickr.com/photos/yelmelnobrainer/42065170/

Littlest Dancer

Littlest Dancer by cybertoad

Some rights reserved Creative Commons

http://www.flickr.com/photos/cybertoad/269796073/
(At the Dallas State Fair)

Miniature Texas Capitol Building

Miniature Texas Capitol Building

(at Austin Children's Museum)

by abbamouse Some rights reserved Creative Commons

http://www.flickr.com/photos/abbamouse/4021463982/

Derby Girl - Shauna Cross

Ambrosia Salad reviews Derby Girl (the movie's Juno) by Shauna Cross.  For YA and adult.  An extract from the review reads:

Bliss' "only friend is the beautiful Pash Amini who moved into town and shares the same indie rock spirit as Bliss. They spend most of their free time slaving away at the "Oink Joint," a gross barbecue restaurant that all the local hicks frequent. The only thing that gets them through the hell of small town Texas life is each other. That, and imagining finding the perfect rocker boyfriends whilest getting the hell out of Bodeen.// But everything seems to change when Bliss picks up a flier for Roller Derby while shopping in downtown Austin with her mother and sister one day."

Read more at

http://ambrosiasaladbookreviews.blogspot.com/2010/01/derby-girl-shauna-cross-rating-7-out-of.html

Texas Roots of Spanish Educators

In Armando Rendón's "Somos en escrito" a posting The roots of Texas education planted in Colonial Spanish days by Brownsville native Dr. Lino García, Jr., Professor Emeritus of Spanish Literature at University of Texas-Pan Ameican, provides a lengthy revival to and extension to Max Berger's earlier work "Education in Texas during the Spanish/Mexican Periods" in the July 1947 Southwestern Historical Quarterly.  The commentary covers the Indian mission efforts, local schooling, government decrees, supportive land grants, etc.  The primary focus is San Antonio but other locales are included.  Read more at

http://somosenescrito.blogspot.com/2010/02/roots-of-texas-education-planted-in.html

another version from last September is at

http://www.brownsvilleherald.com/articles/heritage-102606-hispanic-month.html

Angela 1 - David Bedford

     Angela 1: Starting Over.  A novel by David A. Bedford.  NY:  Eloquent Books, 2009.  hardback with pictorial front. 188 pages ISBN 978-1-60860-755-6  $25.95  http://www.eloquentbooks.com

           

Yes, Angela's got a zit.  Add to that the impending divorce, the move from San Antonio to Corpus Christi, the difficult last name, and to top it off her mother enrolls her in the honors courses. And now the Kitty Kat girls are out to get her.  But Angela has a couple of good friends in Fiona and Benjie, who frankly admits he likes her curls.  She performs well in classes and enjoys Mr. Romero's history classes even if some of the adults think him subversive – gee, he even respects, encourages, and explains the lessons to his students. 

Before the dance contest, the Kitty Kats get that jerk Leroy to "attack" her for which Angela flips him and sends him the hospital for which the principal suspends her of all things.  Her mother pulls a Corleone and gets her right back in.  And the story goes on from there.

In the short 16 chapters, author David Bedford relates in a fasting moving narrative proving life's troubles can be overcome and one can even come to enjoy Corpus as a new home by the sea. 

            The volume may be most readable by YA honors students in high school or even middle school.  Good work, Bedford!