Alma Flor Ada
Author of Gathering the Sun: An Alphabet in Spanish and English
About the Author
Alma Flor Ada was born in 1938 in Cuba. She has authored several children's folktales including "Encaje de Piedra" which earned her the Marta Salotti Gold Medal, "The Gold Coin" which won the Christopher Award, and "Gathering the Sun" which received the Once Upon a World Award. "The Lizard and the show more Sun/La Lagartija y el Sol" won her a Gold Medal from the National Association of Parenting Publications, and she was awarded an Accolade from the American Folklore Association for "Mediopollito/Half-Chicken". Her title "Under the Royal Palms: A Childhood in Cuba" won the Pura Belpre Award. In addition to writing, she is a professor at the University of San Francisco. (Bowker Author Biography) show less
Series
Works by Alma Flor Ada
Mediopollito: Cuento Tradicional en Espanol e Ingles / Half-Chicken: A Folktale in Spanish and English (1995) 89 copies, 5 reviews
Celebrate Cinco de Mayo with the Mexican Hat Dance (Stories to Celebrate) (2006) 69 copies, 8 reviews
Celebrate St. Patrick's Day with Samantha and Lola (Stories to Celebrate) (2006) 64 copies, 2 reviews
Celebra Hanukkah con un cuento de Bubbe / Celebrate Hanukkah with Bubbe's Tales (Spanish Edition) (Cuentos Para Celebrar / Stories To Celebrate) (2007) 52 copies, 2 reviews
Merry Navidad!: Christmas Carols in Spanish and English/Villancicos en espanol e ingles (2007) 33 copies, 2 reviews
Teatrín de Don Crispín / Roll 'n' Role ( Puertas al Sol / Gateways to the Sun ) Spanish Edition (2001) 29 copies
Me gustaria tener… (Libros Para Contar / Stories for the Telling) (Spanish Edition) (2016) 10 copies
Arenas Y Trinos/ Sand and Song: Abecedario Del Río/ the Abcs of the River (English and Spanish Edition) (1920) 10 copies
Una Semilla de Luz - Derecho a la Igualdad - 1 (Derechos Del Nino) (Spanish Edition) (2000) 9 copies
Crayones/ Crayons: Journal-b (Puertas Al Sol/ Gateways to the Sun) (Spanish Edition) (2000) 5 copies
Acuarela Journal C / Watercolors Journal C: Diario del artista/ Watercolor Painter (Puertas Al Sol / Gateways to the Sun) (Spanish Edition) (2000) 4 copies
El Panuelo De Seda / The Silk Handkerchief (Cuentos Con Alma / Stories with Alma) (Spanish Edition) (1993) 2 copies
The Corn Seed 2 copies
Libros para contar (Audio)(Serie Cuentos para todo el ano) (Libros Para Contar / Stories for the Telling) (Spanish Edition) (2008) 2 copies
Cuenta cuentos 1 copy
Tipi tipi ton 1 copy
Daniel's Mystery Egg 1 copy
Hagamos Tecolote 1 copy
Cucarachita Martina 1 copy
HIJA, SISTER 1 copy
Celebrate Fourth of July with Champ, the Scamp (Cuentos Para Celebrar / Stories To Celebrate) (2006) 1 copy
Cuentos Para Celebrar (Audio) (Cuentos Para Celebrar / Stories To Celebrate) (Spanish Edition) (2008) 1 copy
Jordis Star 1 copy
Ratón Perez 1 copy
In the cow's backyard 1 copy
Los Zorros 1 copy
Comprehensive Language Arts 1 copy
Stories for the Telling (AUDIO)(Serie Stories for the Telling) (Libros Para Contar / Stories for the Telling) (2008) 1 copy
Minuto eterno.: Poemas, canciones y una fabula poetica. Segunda edicion. (Spanish Edition) (2018) 1 copy
Un día de picnic 1 copy
¡Vamos de fiesta! 1 copy
Pedro Salinas: El diálogo creador (2a Edición): Prólogo de Jorge Guillén (Spanish Edition) (2017) 1 copy
Dolores Salvador: Maestra de maestras.: Segunda edición (Quinta Simoni) (Volume 10) (Spanish Edition) (2017) 1 copy
Associated Works
Alexander, Who's Not (Do You Hear Me? I Mean It!) Going to Move (1995) — Translator, some editions — 3,181 copies, 74 reviews
Harvesting Hope: The Story of Cesar Chavez (2003) — Translator, some editions — 1,505 copies, 73 reviews
Tagged
Common Knowledge
- Canonical name
- Ada, Alma Flor
- Birthdate
- 1938-01-03
- Gender
- female
- Education
- Universidad Camplutense Madrid (Deplima de Estudios Hispanicos)
Pontificia Universidad Catolica del Peru (PhD)
Harvard University - Occupations
- professor
children's author - Organizations
- University of San Francisco
- Short biography
- Alma Flor Ada is an award-winning Cuban-American author of children's books, poetry, and novels. A Professor Emerita at the University of San Francisco, she is recognized for her work promoting bilingual and multicultural education in the United States.
Born in 1938 in Camagüey, Cuba, she grew up in a family of storytellers, poets, and educators, hearing traditional tales retold by her grandmother, father, and uncle. At the age of fifteen, she traded a quinceañera party for summer school in the United States, thus beginning her life as a bilingual person. After completing high school in Cuba, she earned a scholarship to attend Loretto Heights College. After a year at Barry College in Miami, she earned a Diploma de Estudios Hispanos with an Excellency Award at the Universidad Complutense de Madrid. She completed her Ph.D at the Pontificia Universidad Católica del Perú. She was awarded a Fulbright Scholars Exchange Grant and appointed a Radcliffe Institute scholar at Harvard University and prepared her dissertation for publication, Pedro Salinas: El diálogo creador.
In 1970, she and her four children relocated permanently to the United States. She currently resides in Marin County, California, and has nine grandchildren.
(source: Wikipedia) - Nationality
- Cuba (birth)
USA - Birthplace
- Camaguey, Cuba
- Places of residence
- San Mateo, California, USA
Chicago, Illinois, USA
Detroit, Michigan, USA
Atlanta, Georgia, USA
Lima, Peru
Massachusetts, USA (show all 11)
Madrid, Spain
Salamanca, Spain
Miami, Florida, USA
Denver, Colorado, USA
Camaguey, Cuba - Map Location
- USA
Members
Reviews
Prolific children's author Alma Flor Ada presents twenty-eight brief poems—one for each letter in the Spanish alphabet**—in this picture book celebration of Mexican American migrant farm workers. From the Árboles (Trees) that bear the fruit harvested by the young narrator's parents to the Zanahoria (Carrot) that is the color of the sun, these brief snippets offer insight into the hard work and loving family life of the farmworkers that harvest so much of America's produce. Written by show more the Alma Flor Ada in Spanish, the poems are translated into English by the author's daughter, Rosa Zubizarreta (who has translated other books by her mother as well), and illustrated by Simón Silva, himself the son of farmworkers...
I found Gathering the Sun: An Alphabet in Spanish and English quite lovely, appreciating the sense of strength, solidarity and love in these poems, which together form an engaging narrative. I really liked the fact that the book is bilingual, and arranged alphabetically by the original Spanish words, as this subtly emphasizes to English readers that the worldview of the narrative is centered around a different language, and organized around that language. This is, in itself, broadening in perspective. I don't know that I loved the poems, as poems, but I did like the feelings they evoked, and I especially liked the one for "Farmworkers," which emphasizes gratitude to the hard workers who harvest the produce we eat each day. The accompanying artwork from Simón Silva, who made his debut here, were created in gouache, and are colorful, expressive and engrossing. The illustrations for "Mexico," which centers a gorgeous Mayan sun disk, particularly stood out. Recommended to anyone looking for bilingual Spanish-English alphabet books with a little more substance, as well as to those seeking children's books about the migrant farmworker experience.
**This book was published in 1997, shortly before "ch" and "ll" were removed as separate letters from the Spanish alphabet. show less
I found Gathering the Sun: An Alphabet in Spanish and English quite lovely, appreciating the sense of strength, solidarity and love in these poems, which together form an engaging narrative. I really liked the fact that the book is bilingual, and arranged alphabetically by the original Spanish words, as this subtly emphasizes to English readers that the worldview of the narrative is centered around a different language, and organized around that language. This is, in itself, broadening in perspective. I don't know that I loved the poems, as poems, but I did like the feelings they evoked, and I especially liked the one for "Farmworkers," which emphasizes gratitude to the hard workers who harvest the produce we eat each day. The accompanying artwork from Simón Silva, who made his debut here, were created in gouache, and are colorful, expressive and engrossing. The illustrations for "Mexico," which centers a gorgeous Mayan sun disk, particularly stood out. Recommended to anyone looking for bilingual Spanish-English alphabet books with a little more substance, as well as to those seeking children's books about the migrant farmworker experience.
**This book was published in 1997, shortly before "ch" and "ll" were removed as separate letters from the Spanish alphabet. show less
When their mother tells them she is ready to be a grandmother and that it is time they found wives in this Spanish folktale, three brothers seek the counsel of the wise old woman living on the cliff by the sea, for there were no marriageable women in their area. Advised to seek a castle surrounded by an orange grove, on the other side of the mountain, and to bring the three golden oranges they would find back to the old woman, the brothers set out. The elder two, Santiago and Tomás, ignored show more the woman's instruction to stick together, setting out on their own both on the journey out, and on the return. It was the youngest, Matías, who followed instructions, managing to pick the three oranges, free his brothers, and return with his orange to the old woman. Santiago and Tomás, by contrast, landed in the castle's dungeons twice. Because the oranges had been separated, Matías was denied his bride for a time, working in the fields while a sweet white dove comforted his mother. It was only when he freed the dove from a painful thorn that Matías finally found his bride, Blancaflor, who has been enchanted by a wizard, together with her two sisters (the other oranges) and her mother (the tree)...
I picked up The Three Golden Oranges with some anticipation, thinking that I already knew the story, and eager to see it presented in picture book form. After all, I had read and enjoyed Ralph Steele Boggs and Mary Gould Davis' collection, Three Golden Oranges and Other Spanish Folk Tales, in which the eponymous story chronicled how a young man found his bride through a similar quest. As it happens, the version presented here by author Alma Flor Ada and illustrator Reg Cartwright is somewhat different—to start with, it features three brothers rather than one—although it is clearly related. I greatly enjoyed this retelling, both from a storytelling perspective and from a visual, aesthetic one. So many classic folktale elements are here—the three brothers, of whom only the youngest is sincere and true; the quest for a bride or bridegroom; the enchanted heroine or hero, who must be freed by their intended spouse—and they are woven together into an engaging whole. I finished the book intrigued by the figure of Blancaflor, a young maiden enchanted into an orange who is apparently a well-known character in Spanish folklore and legend, appearing in numerous tales. The accompanying illustrations, done in oil paint, are expressive and engaging, with a beautiful palette of colors and a lovely folk sensibility. Recommended to young folklore enthusiasts, and to anyone seeking traditional tales from Spain. show less
I picked up The Three Golden Oranges with some anticipation, thinking that I already knew the story, and eager to see it presented in picture book form. After all, I had read and enjoyed Ralph Steele Boggs and Mary Gould Davis' collection, Three Golden Oranges and Other Spanish Folk Tales, in which the eponymous story chronicled how a young man found his bride through a similar quest. As it happens, the version presented here by author Alma Flor Ada and illustrator Reg Cartwright is somewhat different—to start with, it features three brothers rather than one—although it is clearly related. I greatly enjoyed this retelling, both from a storytelling perspective and from a visual, aesthetic one. So many classic folktale elements are here—the three brothers, of whom only the youngest is sincere and true; the quest for a bride or bridegroom; the enchanted heroine or hero, who must be freed by their intended spouse—and they are woven together into an engaging whole. I finished the book intrigued by the figure of Blancaflor, a young maiden enchanted into an orange who is apparently a well-known character in Spanish folklore and legend, appearing in numerous tales. The accompanying illustrations, done in oil paint, are expressive and engaging, with a beautiful palette of colors and a lovely folk sensibility. Recommended to young folklore enthusiasts, and to anyone seeking traditional tales from Spain. show less
A young girl celebrates her diverse family, and her multicultural heritage, in Alma Flor Ada's I Love Saturdays y Domingos, describing her Saturday visits with her father's parents - her European-American Grandma and Grandpa - and her Sunday (los domingos) visits with her mother's parents - her Mexican-American Abuelito y Abuelita. With activities and interests that mirror each other - sharing the history of their respective ancestors, playing with their pets, devising happy surprises for show more their favorite grandchild - the two sets of grandparents feature on facing pages of the book, allowing the narrator to switch back and forth between English, and a mixture of Spanish and English. The conclusion, in which both sets of grandparents attend the narrator's birthday party, and work together on a wonderful gift, highlights the ties of love that bind them all together.
I enjoyed this charming picture-book, both for its engaging story and for its dual narrative structure, which allows even those readers unfamiliar with the language to understand the various words and phrases in Spanish. Having already seen the same idea conveyed in English, they can easily guess what the Spanish portions means. I did feel at first - as I see a number of other reviewers have done - that the narrative favored Abuelito and Abuelita a little bit, showing them in a more positive light (Grandma and Grandpa watch a video of the circus with their granddaughter, while Abuelito and Abuelita take her to the circus itself; Grandma and Grandpa buy her some balloons, while Abuelito makes her a kite), but I think this may have been unconsciously done: an inadvertent result of the dual narrative mentioned above. Leaving that aside, I Love Saturdays y Domingos is still an engaging story, one I recommend to anyone looking for quality children's stories featuring multicultural and bilingual families. show less
I enjoyed this charming picture-book, both for its engaging story and for its dual narrative structure, which allows even those readers unfamiliar with the language to understand the various words and phrases in Spanish. Having already seen the same idea conveyed in English, they can easily guess what the Spanish portions means. I did feel at first - as I see a number of other reviewers have done - that the narrative favored Abuelito and Abuelita a little bit, showing them in a more positive light (Grandma and Grandpa watch a video of the circus with their granddaughter, while Abuelito and Abuelita take her to the circus itself; Grandma and Grandpa buy her some balloons, while Abuelito makes her a kite), but I think this may have been unconsciously done: an inadvertent result of the dual narrative mentioned above. Leaving that aside, I Love Saturdays y Domingos is still an engaging story, one I recommend to anyone looking for quality children's stories featuring multicultural and bilingual families. show less
What a rich and colorful book about the cultural aspects of latin america and mexico, as told through poetry and a child's understanding. The book with both spanish and english translations encapsulates the latin american culture in the lens of the fruit and vegetables that farm workers harvest and the traditions of family. for those children who have come from these rich pastoral traditions in latin america today, they will be filled with such amazing imagery both figurative and literal. I show more love how the book ends with the depictions of carrots carrying the same vibrant color as the sun when they bear fruit. Beautiful imagery. show less
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Statistics
- Works
- 262
- Also by
- 11
- Members
- 13,301
- Popularity
- #1,755
- Rating
- 4.1
- Reviews
- 388
- ISBNs
- 814
- Languages
- 2
- Favorited
- 1
