Submitted by county youth coordinator Janis!
The Storyteller’s Candle (La velita de los cuentos) by Lucia Gonzalez and illustrated by Lulu Delacre. This story is about two cousins that moved to New York from Puerto Rico in the winter of 1929. They are missing their homeland and the sunny days of December in Puerto Rico. They are also worried about The Three Kings finding them in their new home in New York. One day, a magical thing happened at school. “A visitor appeared in their classroom, a gifted storyteller and librarian Pura Belpré, the first Latina librarian in NY Public Library. She opened the children’s eyes to the public library and its potential to be the living, breathing heart of the community. The library, after all belongs to everyone – whether you speak English, Spanish or both.” The Storyteller’s Candle is a bilingual picture book. It honors the real-life Pura Belpre, the first Puerto Rican librarian hired by the New York Public Library System, who actively advocated bilingual story hours, bought Spanish language books, and implemented programs based on traditional holidays.
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