When I finally realized that I had a sort of a vein of gold that I had never tapped, it was like opening that treasure chest. My whole Mexican heritage was something that I could write about.
And so now when I talk to teachers, and when I talk to librarians, and when I talk to students, I say the trick is how we bring everything that we are to the page everything. So that if a student happens to love science and love bugs, I always say to him that was always something you could write about, because you were excited about it.
Well, culture is the same way. And when I’m using my books with students particularly with students who are bilingual, who are bicultural they make connections immediately. They’re so excited, because they see themselves.
I had a woman come up to me the other night at a poetry reading at a university in Colorado. She rushed in and had this present for me. And she said, “I want to give you this present, because I want you to meet this little boy.” And it was her son. And she said, “He never cared about books, until I read him Tomís and the Library Lady. And it had his name, Enrique, in it.” And she said, “And he has carried this book around ever since.”
Well, that was a very moving moment. We know that students read when they make connections. They need to make connections. And so including all of the rich cultures of the United States that’s another way that we help students to make connections with books.
