The Legacy of Storytelling
My grandmother on my Dad’s side knew how to tell a story. A lifetime New Yorker, this old Polish woman ‘s tall tales could have you wrapped around her finger tighter than the knot holding her babushka around her head. We kids once questioned her if a story she was telling was true and she replied, “Does it really matter? A good story is a good story.” Grandma passed down the storytelling gift to my father, whose tales of growing up in New York are captivating as he litters his own personal adventure with historical tidbits. One involves a time in his wild twenties when he and bunch of friends threw a raging party at a barn “out in Jersey somewhere” and trashed it, being responsible for the damages. So what did they think to do? Throw another party to pay for the first. This time it was in the Audubon Ballroom, where Malcom X was assassinated a few years later in 1965. The party promised lots of alcohol, which it did not provide, and ended in a large brawl and police presence. But when you grow up in Washington Heights, your cop friend pretends to rough you up, yell at you, and throws you out the back door to a narrow escape from a night in jail. My dad has a million stories just as intriguing and New York time stamped as these. Our family joke is that his stories have numbers, a reference to a joke he tells. When he starts with an old story we’ve all heard before, one family member undoubtedly calls out “47!” to poke fun at the recurring story. But then we all gather around to hear it again. If you listen closely or ask the 81 year old the right question, you can sometimes catch a tidbit or truth he never revealed before. This -is the magic and addiction of listening to a good story.
In The Last Cuentista, by Donna Barba Higuera, Petra’s grandmother Lita has the same magic of storytelling that my Grandma and Dad have. From the first three pages, I instantly connected with Petra’s love for her grandmother’s cuentos. Lita longed to be a storyteller just like Lita, as I am attempting to conjure the storytelling magic from my lineage into my picture book writing now. Then Petra and her family take a huge risk and choose to travel on ships leaving earth to a planet called Sagam, outside of the solar system. They were promised all sorts of things about the journey, the destination for a new life on a new planet, but things take a turn when Petra and her brother Javier are separated and asked to go into pods into a stasis stage and receive information downloaded into their brains while they sleep on the way to Sagan. I know, it sounds very science fictiony, and it is. While this is usually not my genre, this 320 page young adult book gripped my attention every step of the way. When Petra awakes, units of 70 years later, she is not at Sagan, and everything her family is promised has gone awry. The Collective has taken over, eliminated autonomy of thought and has reprogrammed people to be of one mind, erasing Earth’s history, storytelling and uniqueness. Petra then discovers how her own cuentos, her stories from Lita with a sprinkling of her own, are a gift to those around her. Petra uncovers the truth about the Collective, and plans to save who she can and fight to keep her stories alive. This young adult book is October’s adult recommended reading for the book pairing. If my summary was not enough of an enticement, it has also won all of these awards:
Winner of the John Newbery Medal
Winner of the Pura Belpré Award
TIME's Best Books of the Year
Wall Street Journal's Best of the Year
Minneapolis Star Tribune's Best of the Year
Boston Globe's Best of the Year
BookPage's Best of the Year
Publishers Weekly's Best of the Year
School Library Journal's Best of the Year
Kirkus Reviews' Best of the Year
Bank Street's Best of the Year
Chicago Public Library's Best of the Best
New York Public Library Best of the Year
A Junior Library Guild Selection
Cybils Award Finalist
This month’s children’s book for October’s book pairing also honors the legacy of storytelling. Planting Stories: The Life of Storyteller and Librarian Pura Belpre by Anika Aldamuy Denise, illustrated by Paola Escobar is a beautiful story that takes place mostly in New York City, where the author Anika lives. Pura Belpre was the first Puerto Rican librarian in New York city, who made her way into a job she loved, storytelling at the library. She was the first bilingual assistant of the New York library. This story had bits and pieces that again brought to mind my own family history, including how Pura arrived on a ship to New York, just like my great grandparent did from Poland. My grandmother was born in 1915, and Pura was born in 1921, and both women lived in Manhattan in the same lifetime. My Dad grew up in New York city attending libraries and learned to read, and I couldn’t help but wonder if he ever crossed Pura’s path. This picture book has bright and detailed illustrations, which capture the reader, featuring classic Latinx folk tales such as Raton Perez. Pura’s life at the library couldn’t help but bring her love of her culture to the library through puppets and Puerto Rican folklore. She eventually became a children’s picture book author of Perez y Martina. Pura’s life shows little readers that being the “first” to break a barrier is possible, that honoring your own heritage is important, and that dreams can come true.
Storytelling is a natural gift that children are born with. If you listen to any 3-7 year old, they can tell all kinds of stories - true, invented, embellished, twisted, hysterical, inappropriate and amusing. But boy, do they love to tell a story. My reflection from this moth’s book pairing offered me some deep questions to discuss with my nine year old:
Do you feel like I value/listen to your stories?
What real story would you like to tell me that maybe you’ve never shared?
What invented place do you visit in your mind or dreams?
Who is your favorite imaginary friend or character you invented?
What is your favorite story we’ve ever read together?
What is your favorite story you’ve read?
What is your favorite story a family member has told you?
What is the oldest story you know?
Storytelling is a centuries old tradition honored by this month’s book pairing, The Last Cuentista, by Donna Barba Higuera, and Planting Stories: The Life of Storyteller and Librarian Pura Belpre by Anika Aldamuy Denise, illustrated by Paola Escobar. Both authors this month are Latinx writers, in addition Paola, who illustrated Planting Stories. I honor these storytellers as October 15th wraps up Hispanic Heritage Month, which can be the tipping point for consciously reading Latinx stories in the future.
In summary, I have thoroughly enjoyed this month’s book pairing, which has inspired me to continue to work at my own storytelling craft until I am a published author. If Pura can do it, so can I! I hope you find inspiration in this month’s books. Your story is worth telling. It leaves a legacy. Happy reading, storytelling and don’t forget to enter this month’s giveaway of October’s book pairing here.
