Kindlandia: Dachshund Serendipity Leads to Literacy Programs in Mexico

Part 2 of 2

​January and November 2013
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What could possibly top meeting three dachshunds and their wonderful owners at Cabo San Lucas’ El Paraiso Mall in January 2013?  Well, that following November, it was meeting more wonderful people at the Mall and the opportunity to begin a remarkable adventure with a Literacy Program in Cabo!
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Thom and I went to the El Paraiso Mall to experience the Day of the Dead Festivities. We wandered around viewing the individual altars built by mall employees to honor their loved ones. Each altar was as unique as the persons’ lives represented. Festive live music played as men and women in traditional dress danced. The scene before us was an array of color, sound, and motion.

In spite of all the activity, our attention was drawn to a white table covered with books. Many children sat around reading. The stillness of the children and their obvious rapt attention to the books in the midst of such busyness piqued our interest. We approached the group. It was then the second significant serendipitous event took place at El Paraiso Mall. We met Professor Alfonso Winston (Winston) and Nixania Barrangán (Nix). Winston has an extended career as an educator and Nix a career as a mediator of reading rooms, an author, and a storyteller. Only the day before, they had started their Literacy Program, Sala de Lectura Hermanita de Ysabela (Reading Room for the Little Sister of Isabela), part of the national literacy program Salas de Lectura (currently 2 million reading rooms). Winston and Nix explained about the limited access to books in the area. We watched in amazement as the children hungrily read their books oblivious to the festivities around them. 

I told them I was a children’s author and would be happy to donate a book. We made a date to meet the next day for breakfast. That serendipitous meeting at the El Paraiso Mall felt like a sign that they were on the right track for their literacy program.

The decision for Winston and Nix to dedicate their energies to literacy is commendable, but what led to this decision is no less than miraculous.

Mere months before we met, Winston was diagnosed with end-stage cancer. He gathered his family for a final farewell. During the visit, his young niece, Karolina, gave him a very precious gift. Karolina had struggled with health problems and been comforted by a little plush toy cat named Isabela. She gave Isabela to her Uncle Winston. Winston realized not only the significance of the present, but also how much Karolina wanted to help him. He felt he needed to accept the toy cat, but also wanted to ease the pain of her great sacrifice.

Winston and Nix decided they would daily send a photo to Karolina to show what Isabela was doing and how she was helping her Uncle Winston. They sent photos of Isabela wearing her seatbelt, reading a book, eating a meal, taking a nap, and sitting with Winston during treatments. Which brings me to the next significant part of this story. Winston was able to participate in a trial treatment and his cancer is holding steady!

The program’s name is significant. Sala de Lectura de Hermanita de Ysabela (Reading Room of the Little Sister of Isabela) refers to Karolina, the Little Sister of the toy cat Isabela! By Karolina giving up such an important possession, she influenced the name and the force behind the Literacy Program. Now when people hear the story of Karolina and the Sala de Lectura de Hermanita de Ysabela, they all want to meet this amazing generous girl who sacrificed so much for her uncle. Karolina’s health has improved, and her self-esteem has soared as she realizes how much she has contributed to the well-being of others.

In years past, Winston and Nix had helped organize local musical programs. They realized that often the community didn’t hear about special events or, specifically, that the children could not get to the event. They realized that to create their Sala de Lectura, they needed to go to wherever the children normally congregated: schools, gymnastic classes (there are always children waiting for their own class or for a sibling), parks, plazas, the mall, etc. The formula has produced great success! Over the last five years Winston and Nix have made books and author visits available to children in many venues. Sala de Lectura de Hermanita de Ysabela has greatly promoted and enriched literacy opportunities throughout the greater Cabo area. Sala de Lectura even has its own weekly radio show on Radio Differente at 4 p.m. Saturdays.

Over the past five years I’ve been frequently invited to join Winston and Nix and read my books. I was thrilled and honored when Winston agreed to translate my two TALL TALES children’s picture books into Spanish. A highlight was when my TALL TALES were featured at the Book Fair FeLCa’17.  Nix did a dramatic reading in a (home-made) costume of the A Tall Tale About a Dachshund and a Pelican, which you can see on YouTube here.

Winston interviewed me about writing (he interpreted into Spanish), and an entertainment duo (Sara Flores & Jérémy Le Guen) created two theatrical performance versions from How Dachshunds Came to Be: A Tall Tale About a Short Long Dog and performed them—one at their circus school in 2015 and one at the FeLCa’17 Book Fair! You can see the YouTube here.

All this came about because in January 2013 I chased down a man walking three standard dachshunds in El Paraiso Mall. He and his wife invited us to return for the Day of the Dead Celebrations the upcoming November. During that visit, while enjoying the festivities at El Paraiso Mall, we met Winston and Nix and soon became fast friends of Hermanita de Ysabel. Now, five years later, our world has been so enriched with dear friends, educators, and the children of Cabo. Today, while reading at Colegio Agustín, Manny, a student in the third-grade class asked if I’d write a book about them. Watch out Manny, the children of Cabo may get their own Blog Post! Five years ago, who would have dreamed …?