From: Kathleen Horning <horning>
Date: Tue, 07 Mar 2000 08:28:21 -0600

Ginny, I appreciate your pointing out the wide range of types of books that were honored by the 2000 Belpre committee.

I continue to have great admiration for the excellent photo-essays of George Ancona, who's been doing these sorts of books for over 20 years. It seems that in the last ten years or so he's really explored the various aspects of Latino, specifically Mexican-American, heritage, in his books for children. I think "Barrio" is his best book yet. It really gives a sense of how big a part Jose's community
(both school and neighborhood) play in his life as it shows him in the context of San Francisco's Mission District.

Ancona's color photographs in "Barrio" are stunning! There's so much to look at in each one of them and one can find lots of subtle detail in the photos upon closer examination. For example, Jose is surrounded by beautiful murals whenever he's out and about in his neighborhood. In one photo, however, where he's posing with his soccer trophies, the cement wall behind him is painted plain white but if you look closely at it, you will see a child's pencil drawings on the wall. Could it be the work of an aspiring young muralist?



Kathleen T. Horning (horning at education.wisc.edu) Cooperative Children's Book Center University of Wisconsin-School of Education 4290 Helen C. White Hall 600 North Park St. Madison, WI 53706 608&3930 FAX: 608&2I33
Received on Tue 07 Mar 2000 08:28:21 AM CST