5th School Reading 2020 in Los Cabos

Escuela Primaria Leónides Cota Collins
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Librarian Lety Aguilar welcomed us.

Today was my first opportunity to watch opening ceremonies for the beginning of a school day. I missed hearing the singing of their national and state anthems. I was present to hear the students recite something similar (although much longer) to our Pledge of Allegiance to their Mexican flag. A group of girls in school uniforms— acting as a color guard —presented the Mexican flag to the students and then placed it in its stand. Announcements were made, including information about “a visiting author who would read to students in the library!” I wonder who that could be?

Presenting & placing Mexican flag.

Opening ceremony. Pledge of Allegiance to the Mexican flag.

The students were especially attentive as Professor Winston shared the background of how we met and how I became active with the literacy program, Sala de Lectura de Hermanita de Ysabela.

​The students asked insightful questions:

Q. What was the illustrator Scott Ward‘s purpose for having one dog on each page looking out directly at the reader?
A. Relationships are important. Remember when you entered the library? I was at the door and I tried to greet each one of you personally with a handshake, direct eye contact, and a greeting. I wanted you to know that each one of you were important to me. It’s the same idea with the little dog looking directly at the reader. To connect is important and on each page, a little dog is reaching out to connect with the reader.

Q. Which do you prefer writing? Children’s tall tales or nonfiction?
A. I think we have different seasons in our lives. These past 11 years it was the right time for me to write and publish the children’s books.

A still shot from the video (not the video). Click the image to go to the video.

Presenting & placing Mexican flag.
A. Oh yes! I could see all three stories as cartoon movies. I especially think that they could be made into wonderful plays for children to perform in school or their communities.

In fact two plays have already been written for my first book, How Dachshunds Came to Be! February 2, 2015 Sara Flores & Jérémy le Guen, owners of Cabo LaCirco created a play performed at their Circus School.

It had a stunning opening scene using aerial acrobatics. Flores climbed up two silk cords and in seemingly effortless motion did a series of acrobatics in the air—it appeared as if she swam with schools of fishes or pods of whales as their images were reflected on the wall behind her.

Only the sound of Whale songs was heard as young and old alike sat mesmerized as the story of the little girl with her sea creature friends began.

How Dachshunds Came To Be was produced as  a theatrical play by Sara Flores & Jérémy le Guen, owners/teachers of the Cabo San Lucas Circus School, as described above. Using silk cords to perform acrobatic poses with sea creatures videos projected on the wall created a magical and mesmerizing opening (still shot below).  You can see the video HERE

A Tall Tale About a Dachshund and a Pelican: How a Friendship Came to Be HERE
Author and educator Anabella Barrigan Nixania presented a dramatization of Kizzie Jones’ & Scott Ward’s book, A Tall Tale About a Dachshund and a Pelican: How a Friendship Came to Be, at the Los Cabos Book Fair FeLCa ’17 at the Cultural Pavilion on March 4, 2017. She sewed a costume to portray the pelican on one side (Including feathers in her hair) and the dachshund Goldie on the other side. 

More questions from the students during our lively exchange:

Q. What are you writing next?
A. I am writing a memoir, several short stories from my life.

Q. Why won’t you write a fourth tall tale?
A. Perhaps you have a story that you could write and create a book? (The little girl’s eyes grew wide with the thoughts of possibilities!)

Q. How long did it take you to write this book?
A. It took me three years! I rewrote the draft 17 times! I needed to do a great deal of research about the plants and the seasons to be able to write the story. I also struggled with the most effective way to tell the story. Prose or poetry or a mixture? I finally decided on iambic tetrameter. Think “‘Twas the night before Christmas.”

Q. Tell us about the little girl.
A. I was intentional about not giving the girl a name. I want her to be every girl, every child. Because names often are closely related to nationalities or ethnicities, I wanted to avoid putting her in a specific box. Also in this book the illustrator Scott Ward chose not to show her face. We only see her from the side or the back of her raincoat. Scott felt the focus should be on the dogs and their transformations.

Q. How many languages do you speak?
A. I speak English and German. I spoke Korean well while I lived there. I am a bit rusty now. And I speak “Un poquito de español!”

Q. Do you have dogs?
A. Yes! Three dachshunds, of course!

This video shows the most poignant interaction with children so far. The kids coming to give me hugs was absolutely incredible. The crowning glory of my literacy tour here in Los Cabos this year.

I donated an English and a Spanish edition of my newest Tall Tale, A Tall Tale About Dachshunds in Costumes: How MORE Dogs Came to Be, to each school.
​You can get your own at your local bookstore via Indie Bound or from Amazon. You can see the whole 3-book series here.