Synopses & Reviews
Best Children's Book of 1999, Texas Institute of Lettersandmdash;now available in paper. Grandma Fina is walking through her neighborhood with her wonderful yellow umbrella. She loves her yellow umbrella! She stops to greet everyone she sees. Each one secretly thinks that Grandma Fina's ragged umbrella needs to be replaced with a new one.
Benjamin Alire Sand#225;enz is the author of two novelsandmdash;Carry Me Like Water and The House of Forgetting, which will be made into a full-length motion picture. He lives in El Paso, Texas.
Gerand#243;mimo Garcia is known nationally for his illustrations in A Gift from Papand#225; Diego, by Benjamin Alire Sand#225;enz and Tell Me a Cuento by Joe Hayes. He lives in El Paso, Texas.
Review
"Repetitious text, in both English and Spanish, that goes beyond basic vocabulary, will prove just challenging enough for second-grade readers. The story is also good for read-alouds; young listeners will chime in as Grandma Fina says all is 'wonderful.' Bright cartoon illustrations complement the text well." andmdash;
School Library Journal"The story will be an enjoyable read-aloud in either language as well as a title to offer to the newly independent reader who is not quite ready for a chapter book. Despite the proliferation of umbrellas, no rain falls in this sunny book and the umbrellas are used for protection from the heat." andmdash;ForeWord Magazine
Synopsis
Grandma Fina loves her yellow umbrella, but everybody else thinks it's old and raggedy.
Benjamin Alire S enz and Geronimo Garcia team up to tell us the story of Grandma Fina and her yellow umbrella. It's a sweet and delicious story that will nurture an appreciation for people of different cultures and ages. It goes like this: One day Grandma Fina is walking down the cozy streets of her neighborhood and shading herself from the summer sun with her yellow umbrella. She loves her yellow umbrella. As she goes along, she greets her son and daughter, her grandchildren and her neighbors. Everyone loves to stop and chat with Grandma Fina, but they all secretly think that her torn and ragged yellow umbrella needs to be replaced by a brand new one. They each decide that they will get her a special umbrella for her birthday. But what will Grandma Fina do with nine new umbrellas when she already has her wonderful yellow umbrella?
Synopsis
Grandma Fina loves her yellow umbrella, but everybody else thinks it's old and raggedy.
About the Author
BENJAMIN ALIRE Sand#193;ENZ was born in his grandmother's house in Picacho, New Mexico--on the outskirts of Las Cruces, New Mexico where Juliana in Hollywood is set. He was the fourth of seven children and was brought up in a traditional Mexican-American Catholic family. His family spoke mostly Spanish at home, and it was only through his education in the public schools that he learned to speak and write in English. He entered the seminary in 1972, a decision that was as much political as it was religious: he was heavily influenced by such Catholic thinkers as Thomas Merton, Dorothy Day, Cand#233;sar Chavez and the Berrigan brothers. After concluding his theological studies at the University of Louvain, he was ordained a Catholic priest. Three and a half years later, he left the priesthood. At the age of 30, he entered the Creative Writing Program at the University of Texas at El Paso. He later received a fellowship at the University of Iowa, and in 1988, he received a Wallace E. Stegner Fellowship in poetry from Stanford University. In 1993 he returned to the border to teach in the Bilingual MFA program at the University of Texas at El Paso. His most recent book of poetry, Elegies in Blue, was published by Cinco Puntos Press in 2002. This is his first book for young adults.