Allen Say writes and illustrates evocative picture books about family, culture, creative expression, and dreams. Many of his stories movingly express nuanced details about the immigrant experience, something Say and his family experienced first-hand. Say won the Caldecott Medal for Grandfather’s Journey, the story of his father’s own journey from Japan to the U.S. and back again. In this interview, Say vividly remembers his early apprenticeship in Tokyo with post-war cartoon master Noro Shinpei, describes a first career as a commercial photographer, and recounts how he finally returned to his love of storytelling through words and pictures.
The Alliance for Excellent Education is a Washington, DC-based national policy and advocacy organization that works to improve national and federal policy so that all students can achieve at high academic levels and graduate from high school ready for success in college, work, and citizenship in the twenty-first century. The Alliance focuses on America’s six million most at-risk secondary school students — those in the lowest achievement quartile — who are most likely to leave school without a diploma or to graduate unprepared for a productive future.
Alma Flor Ada is the award-winning author of more than 200 books for children. She is also a poet, storyteller, educator, mother, and grandmother. With a Ph.D. in literature and a lifelong love for stories, Ada has mastered the art of retelling traditional folktales and nursery rhymes from across Latin America. A native of Cuba who has also lived in Spain, Peru, and the United States, Alma Flor Ada writes poetry, picture books, and novels that offer rich, multicultural perspectives for all children.
Alphabet matching is an early literacy activity designed to help young learners recognize the uppercase and lowercase letters of the alphabet — a key skill for learning to read.
