Author : Alma
Flor Ada
3rd Grade and up
Bajo las
palmas reales
Under the Royal Palms
Bajo
las palmas reales, Softcover, Spanish, Book, Alma
Flor Ada, 3rd
Grade and up, 9781603963961, $12.95
Under the Royal Palms, Hardcover,
English, Book, Alma
Flor Ada, 3rd
Grade and up, 9780689806315, $17.99 Watch
$333.83 for the Story Collection Pura Belpre Spanish Set, Including 20%-Off, Free Shipping, and No Sales Tax : 2 Hardcover Spanish Book, 8 Hardcover Bilingual Book, 19 Softcover Spanish Books, and 12 Softcover Bilingual Books
$42.31 for the Alma Flor Ada Collection Spanish Set, Including 20%-Off, Free Shipping, and No Sales Tax : 3 Softcover Spanish Books
Pura Belpre Award
Winning Book in 2000 for Narrative
American Library
Association, Best Books of the Year 2000
Center for Latin American Studies, America´s Commended List
National Council of
Teachers of English, Notable Book in the Area of Language Arts
Video : Colorin
Colorado Interview, Spanish
Video : Colorin
Colorado Interview, English
In this companion volume to Alma Flor Ada's "Where the Flame Trees Bloom", the author offers young readers another inspiring collection of stories and reminiscences drawn from her childhood on the island of Cuba. Through those stories we see how the many events and relationships she enjoyed helped shape who she is today.
We learn of a deep friendship with a beloved dance teacher that helped sustain young Alma Flor through a miserable year in school. We meet relatives, like her mysterious Uncle Manolo, whose secret, she later learns, is that he dedicated his life to healing lepers. We share the tragedy of another uncle whose spirited personality leads to his love of flying...and the crash that takes his life.
Heartwarming, poignant, and often humorous, this collection encourages children to discover the stories in their our own lives -- stories that can help inform their own values and celebrate the joys and struggles we all share no matter where or when we grew up.
The
Pura Belpré Award honors Latino writers and illustrators whose
work best portrays, affirms and celebrates the Latino cultural experience in a
children's book. Alma Flor Ada was named the winner of the Belpré Author
Award for Under the Royal Palms: A Childhood in
Cuba,
published by
Atheneum Books.
In a heartwarming and loving portrayal of her childhood days in Cuba, Ada
describes her deep friendship with a beloved dance teacher in Under the
Royal Palms. Readers meet relatives and share the tragedy of the
loss of Ada's beloved uncle. Photographs enhance the diary-like portrayal
of Ada's early years.
Where the Flame
Trees Bloom, encourages children to discover the stories in their own
lives and to celebrate the joys and struggles we all share no matter where or
when we grew up," said Yolanda Bonitch, chair of the Pura Belpré Award
Selection Committee.
Born in Camagüey, Cuba, Ada is professor of multicultural education at the
University of San Francisco. She is a renowned author, translator,
scholar, educator, storyteller and advocate for bilingual and multicultural education. Ada received a bachelor's degree from Universidad Central de
Madrid in Spain and a master's degree and doctorate from Pontificia Universidad
Catolica del Peru.
The award was announced
January 17, 2000 during the American Library Association (ALA) Midwinter Meeting
in San Antonio.
The award is administered by the Association for Library Service to
Children (ALSC), a division of ALA, and REFORMA, the National Association to
Promote Library Services to the Spanish Speaking.
Listen to Vienna Rose read Under the Royal Palms to you. A marvelous example of the magical encounter between a child and books that we wish for all children. And here's an earlier reading by Vienna Rose.
Powells : In this companion volume to Alma Flor Ada's Where the Flame Trees Bloom, the author offers young readers another inspiring collection of stories and reminiscences drawn from her childhood on the island of Cuba. Through those stories we see how the many events and relationships she enjoyed helped shape who she is today. We learn of a deep friendship with a beloved dance teacher that helped sustain young Alma Flor through a miserable year in school. We meet relatives, like her mysterious Uncle Manolo, whose secret, she later learns, is that he dedicated his life to healing lepers. We share the tragedy of another uncle whose spirited personality leads to his love of flying...and the crash that takes his life. Heartwarming, poignant, and often humorous, this collection encourages children to discover the stories in their our own lives — stories that can help inform their own values and celebrate the joys and struggles we all share no matter where or when we grew up. Synopsis : The author recalls her life and impressions growing up in Cuba. In this companion volume to Alma Flor Ada's Where the Flame Trees Bloom, the author offers young readers another inspiring collection of stories and reminiscences drawn from her childhood on the island of Cuba. Through those stories we see how the many events and relationships she enjoyed helped shape who she is today. We learn of a deep friendship with a beloved dance teacher that helped sustain young Alma Flor through a miserable year in school. We meet relatives, like her mysterious Uncle Manolo, whose secret, she later learns, is that he dedicated his life to healing lepers. We share the tragedy of another uncle whose spirited personality leads to his love of flying...and the crash that takes his life. Heartwarming, poignant, and often humorous, this collection encourages children to discover the stories in their our own lives — stories that can help inform their own values and celebrate the joys and struggles we all share no matter where or when we grew up.
Publishers Weekly :
In this handsomely designed companion volume to Where the Flame Trees Bloom, Ada
once again draws upon her experiences growing up in post-war Cuba. In a short
introduction, the author describes her hometown, Camaguey, as a "city of
contrasts" diverse religions and education and economic levels ("some
had so much and others had very little"). The 10 stories that follow do not
focus on these oppositions so much as the unique experiences of young Alma and
her extended family. Several memories poignantly expose the disparity between
those who have and those who have not, such as "Explorers," in which
young Alma and her cousin get lost in a marabu field and are aided and fed by a
poverty-stricken family. Others illustrate life lessons (for example, the
impossible but gleeful task of counting bats in flight for their nightly feeding
taught Alma to appreciate the process of an endeavor, rather than its
completion). But the best of these stories simply recreate a poignant or
humorous moment from the author's girlhood: Alma sipping from a porron (a small
clay pot) at school, lovingly filled with water by her mother; Alma's pride in
her uncle's daring turning to grief when he dies in an airplane crash. Many of
the stories stand well alone, but some take a meandering expository path to
recount a history or explain a term. These more formal (though often graceful)
tangents distance readers from the slices of life. Still, at the core of the
collection, there is a heartfelt portrayal of a quickly disappearing culture and
a vastly beautiful land. Ages 8-12.
School
Library Journal : Grade 4-7-This simple and graceful reminiscence of a childhood
in Cuba in the 1940s is a companion to Where the Flame Trees Bloom (Atheneum,
1994). Although not wealthy, the author's family lived comfortably with aunts,
uncles, and cousins in a large, shared family home in the small town of Camaguey.
Here any event beyond the ordinary became the focus of everyone's attention and
the fuel for many days of conversation. Each chapter includes an early memory or
experience of Ada's: nursing the baby bats that fell onto her porch, the
production of simple and inexpensive plaster figures
for nativity scenes, etc.
The author writes about the contrast of wealth and poverty in her country at
that time and of the people who made an impression on her, including a ballet
teacher who befriended her during a lonely year in a new school, and an uncle
and aunt who worked with lepers. Her observations of people lead to a series of
revelations that shaped her life. Black-and-white photographs of the author and
her family appear throughout.
The New York Times
Book Review : The success of ''Under the Royal Palms: A Childhood in Cuba,'' the
companion volume to Alma Flor Ada's ''Where the Flame Trees Bloom,'' derives in
no small part from its appeal to adults as well as children. The author, a
professor of multicultural education at the University of San Francisco who has
written a number of children's books, understands that to get to a child's
bedroom shelves, often a book must first enchant choosy adults to buy it. And
enchant this one does. The slim, handsome book is divided into 10
chapters, each a self-contained story about Ada's childhood half a century ago
in Camaguey, a city in the province of the same name in the center of Cuba,
known as the cradle of great poets and courageous freedom fighters. The stories
and the endearing black-and-white photographs of her family are woven into a
greater theme: everything Ada learned about life, she explains, she learned in
her small town, surrounded by family and nature. Although this feels preachy at
times, most parents would surely not mind the lessons. For instance, after
telling how she spent childhood evenings trying to count bats with her loving
grandmother, she draws an eminently sensible conclusion that could easily be
applied to many an apparently vain effort: ''On the many occasions when I have
later felt that I am once more trying to count bats, engaged in an impossible
task, I have allowed myself to laugh, happy to remember that some of the best
things in life are like counting bats: it was never the final count that
mattered, but rather the joy of seeing them fly.''
Kirkus Reviews : Of books comprising nuggets of memory there seems to be no end,
and in a companion volume to her Where the Flame Trees Bloom (1994, not
reviewed), Ada recounts small stories of growing up in the town of in Camagey,
Cuba. She captures with some feeling the powerful effect of scent on memory:
night jasmine, coffee, ylang-ylang, and her grandmother's perfume of lavender
and sage. She immortalizes sibling hurts and uncles' gifts, and writes of the
childhood mystery of adult conversations partially overheard and partially
understood. She is rich in family, attempting with her grandmother the
impossible task of counting bats as they fly, and smashing her favorite doll
when her dashing uncle dies in a plane crash. She is rich in memories of other
adults, too: Madame Marie, a French-Jewish refugee; Gilda, a dance teacher,
whose affection carried Ada through an impossible year at school. Some
repetition does not detract, and children might be moved by Ada's exhortation to
consider their own family stories.
CLASP : Alma Flor Ada offers stories about Cuba that would not otherwise be available to those of us living in the United States. This collection provides the reader with a close look at an active and loving extended family. It chronicles events that would probably stand out for lots of children growing up throughout history and across geographical boundaries: living in different houses, in the city and in the country... and the tragic death of a beloved young uncle. This volume provides information on a prolific author that is accessible and helpful to readers studying Latino writers."
Booktalks : Who knows where Cuba is? Alma Flor Ada takes us to Cuba and describes her memories as a little girl there. You will feel like you are right there feeling everything she is. As you read you will be able to see the photos of her family and friends which make it come to life even more. We all have fun times in our lives and we also have tragedies happen. Alma Flor Ada describes her Uncle's plane crash and I thought I was right there. To see what Cuba is like and Alma's memories of her childhood you must read "Under the Royal Palms" by Alma Flor Ada.
Alma
Flor Ada Collection Books :