7th School Reading 2020 in Los Cabos

January 22, 2020

Colegio San Agustín
Cabo San Lucas

Assistant for Academic Direction, Miss Tere Barrios, and I embraced like long-time friends. We corresponded diligently last year as I worked on a blog post about the Students of Cabo due to the urging of one of her students, Manny. During the question and answer session, third grader Manny piped up and earnestly asked, “Will you write a book about the children in Cabo?” How his request tugged at my heart strings! I replied that I couldn’t write a book, but I would write a story about the students I met in the Cabo schools. Director Tere helped me get a photo of Manny and last year passed along that blog post to him and his classmates.

Unfortunately, I did not get to see Manny on this visit as he was attending a different school this year.

Kindergartener Mathew greeted me in excellent English! “Hello, my name is Mathew. I’m 5½ years old!”

We read to two different groups. The preschoolers and kindergarten group we read to only in Spanish. The fourth through sixth graders we read in both English and Spanish. The older students seemed to accept the concept of change in the story. The youngsters seemed uncertain about the idea. “Things should stay the way they are,” said a kindergarten child.

Guests Kizzie, Nixania, and Professor Winston pose with Directora Académica Miss Rosana Romo Carrillo as she receives Tall Tales books on behalf of Colegio San Agustín

Preschoolers & Kindergarteners sit in rapt attention as Professor Winston reads his Spanish translation.

Professor Winston, Nixania, Colegio Owner the Directora General Miss Elvis De La Paz Carrillo, and Kizzie

As I left, Academic Director, Miss Rosana Romo Carrillo, the owner of the school clutched my hands and said, “Thank you for coming. Long after you are gone, your presence will be here through your books.”

With such a poignant and fitting comment I concluded my School Book Tour in Cabo this year.

Yes, these three Tall Tales are part of my legacy. These stories helped me:

to connect to the wider world and made me happy;
to delight in whimsy and celebrate kindness, honor diversity;
and to pay forward for all I have received in this life and I hope will remain long after I am gone!

What precious smiles to bid me farewell!

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.