Module 10: Tomas and the Library Lady by Pat Mora Illustrated by Raul Colon

Summary: Tomas and his family have to leave Texas for work in Iowa. His family are migrant workers and move from place to place in the summer and winter. Tomas spends his time with his brother Enrique playing and brining water to his parents. He also likes listening to his grandfather stories. One day his grandfather tells him that he should go to the library to learn more stories to tell. Tomas goes by himself and meets the kind librarian who invites him in for a cup of water. She asks Tomas what he likes to read about and gather books about dinosaurs and tigers for him. Tomas returns each day getting lost in the story books and then share them with his family. He also begins to teach the librarian how to speak Spanish. The last word that Tomas teaches the librarian is good bye because it is time for him to return home in Texas. Tomas leaves some sweet bread with her and in turn the librarian gives him a new book to take on the road.

Citation: Mora, P. (1997).Tomas and the library lady. New York, NY: Random House.

Impressions: This story was a nice little insight to a little boy’s life. This book was based off of a real life person named Tomas Rivera who was motivated by the librarian and grew a love of reading because of her. It is very inspirational and shows a desire for learning and reading. I liked that it featured som words in Spanish because it really gave the story some character.  

Reviews:

From Kirkus Reviews

A charming, true story about the encounter between the boy who would become chancellor at the University of California at Riverside and a librarian in Iowa. Tom†s Rivera, child of migrant laborers, picks crops in Iowa in the summer and Texas in the winter, traveling from place to place in a worn old car. When he is not helping in the fields, Tom†s likes to hear Papa Grande's stories, which he knows by heart. Papa Grande sends him to the library downtown for new stories, but Tom†s finds the building intimidating. The librarian welcomes him, inviting him in for a cool drink of water and a book. Tom†s reads until the library closes, and leaves with books checked out on the librarian's own card. For the rest of the summer, he shares books and stories with his family, and teaches the librarian some Spanish. At the end of the season, there are big hugs and a gift exchange: sweet bread from Tom†s's mother and a shiny new book from the librarianto keep. Col¢n's dreamy illustrations capture the brief friendship and its life-altering effects in soft earth tones, using round sculptured shapes that often depict the boy right in the middle of whatever story realm he's entered. (Picture book. 7-10)

Kirkus Reviews Associates. (August 1, 1997). Tomas and the library lady. Kirkus Reviews Online. Retrieved from  http://www.kirkusreviews.com/book-reviews/pat-mora/tomas-and-the-library-lady/#review.

From Booklist

Ages 4^-8. From the immigrant slums of New York City to the fields of California, it's an elemental American experience: the uprooted child who finds a home in the library. Mora's story is based on a true incident in the life of the famous writer Tomas Rivera, the son of migrant workers who became an education leader and university president. Far from his home in Texas, the small boy is working with his family picking corn in Iowa. Inspired by the Spanish stories his grandfather (Papa Grande) tells, Tomas goes to the library to find more stories. The librarian welcomes him into the cool, quiet reading room and gives him books in English that he reads to himself and to his family. He teaches her some Spanish words. Then, as in so many migrant stories, the boy must leave the home he has found. He has a new, sad word for her, "adios. It means goodbye." Colon's beautiful scratchboard illustrations, in his textured, glowingly colored, rhythmic style, capture the warmth and the dreams that the boy finds in the world of books. The pictures are upbeat; little stress is shown; even in the fields, the kids could be playing kick ball or listening to stories. Perhaps the most moving picture is that of the child outside the library door, his face pressed against the pane. In contrast is the peaceful space he finds inside, where he is free to imagine dinosaurs and wild adventure.

Rochman, H. (1997). Booklist Review. Retrieved from  http://www.booklistonline.com/Tomas-and-the-Library-Lady-Raul-Colon/pid=570525.

Suggestions:  This can be used in inspirational storytelling as well as for students who are bilingual. I think that they will enjoy the story. They can even write about what inspires them as a fun activity. The can discuss their favorite books and what they like to read about. This can help with book selections and suggestions for the library’s collection.