From: Nina A Lindsay <NALINDSA>
Date: Thu, 19 Mar 98 15:31 CST

There is something VERY special about Alarcon's "Laughing Tomatoes" which makes it stand out to me. It is a bilingual book which is not translated. That is: the poet wrote both the Spanish and the English himself -- he is not only fluent, but poetic in both languages! I had the opportunity to ask Alarcon about the evolution of this book of poems -- I was curious to know whether he at the Oakland Public library had written in Spanish or English first. The answer: some in one, some in the other, some in both at the same time.
  Where else does anyone have the opportunity to read something like this in children's literature? I certainly don't know of any examples (but would love to hear if anyone else does). Yet it seems like it is something that should happen more frequently. I'm sure there are many many closet-bilingual children's book authors ....
 
  Nina Lindsay nalindsa at macc.wisc.edu
Received on Thu 19 Mar 1998 03:31:00 PM CST