From: Mgblatt at aol.com <Mgblatt>
Date: Tue, 14 Mar 2000 23:45:45 EST

Having been involved with the Pura Belpre Committe since it was a taskforce, I have a strong interest in this topic. Since the early 90's, the members of the taskforce and then the committee have eagerly looked forward to the day when we could find a larger and more diverse selection of children's and young adult books about the many different cultures that fall under the broad Latino heading. Ginny alluded to this when she spoke about the census question concerning Spanish/Latino/ Hispanic. Now that it is 2000, I am still waiting to see a larger body of literature for children that meets a high standard for literary and artistic merit and reflects Dominican culture, Puerto Rican culture, Colombian culture, Cuban culture, Mexican culture, etc. I would like all children to have picture books, novels, poetry, folklore and accurate informational books available about the many cultures of Latin America and the immigrants who have come from these cultures. As the Belpre award and the Americas award have become more widely known and cited by the publishers in their catalogs and publicity materials, I hope that the winning publishers and their competitors will bear in mind the importance of providing materials for all children about these rich cultures, just as the adult publishers have embraced authors such as Julia Alvarez, Esmeralda Santiago, Isabel Allende, Gabriel Garcia Marquez and others.

Melinda Greenblatt Library Consultant New Visions for Public Schools New York, NY
(Former Chairperson of the Pura Belpre Committee - 1998)
Received on Tue 14 Mar 2000 10:45:45 PM CST