Armando and the Blue Tarp School
The story of a young Mexican boy living in a colonia (trash dump community) who takes the first steps toward realizing his dream of getting an education.
Armando's family is pepenadores, trash pickers, living off things they can use, recycle, and sell from the city trash dump. Armando works with his father to help support the family, but he also finds things for himself--pencil stubs, a notebook, and an old paint set--with which to write and paint.
One summer Señor David arrives and begins teaching school on a blue tarp spread on the ground. Armando's parents finally decide that learning may help him find different work when he grows up, so he begins attending the blue tarp school. The children learn to read and write in Spanish and English. They learn math. And they draw, much to Armando's delight.
When a fire in the colonia burns down several homes, it is Armando's picture of the fiery night that helps bring outside support and money to construct a school building. The story is inspired by the work of David Lynch, a teacher from New York who first began working in a colonia in Mexico in the early 1980s.
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Edith Hope Fine is a full-time writer of children's books and stories. Fine's Under the Lemon Moon, published by Lee & Low Books, was a Parents' Choice Award Honor book. Fine lives in Encinitas, California. To find out more, visit Edith Hope Fine's Web site at edithfine.com. Edith, along with co-author Judith Pinkerton Josephson, have created a special site for the Lee & Low Books title Armando and the Blue Tarp School at bluetarpschool.com.
Judith Pinkerton Josephson is a full-time writer of children's books and stories. Josephson's Growing Up in World War II won first place in the San Diego Book Awards. She lives in Encinitas, California. To find out more, visit Judith Pinkerton Josephson's Web site at judithjosephson.com. Judith, along with co-author Edith Hope Fine, have set up a special site for the Lee & Low Books title Armando and the Blue Tarp School at bluetarpschool.com.
Hernán Sosa was born in Argentina and raised in Paraguay. He received a degree in visual communications from the Colorado Institute of Art. He currently works as an illustrator of children's books and as a graphic designer focusing mostly on magazines. Sosa and his wife live in Denver, Colorado. His website is coroflot.com/hernansosaillustration.
"This poignant picture book narrated by a young boy is based on a true story of a New York City teacher who set up a school on a blue tarp spread on the ground near a garbage dump in Tijuana, Mexico.... Without melodrama, Armando's story shows what poverty means and the hope that things can change." -- Booklist
"The well-written text will be an eye-opener for children who take school for granted." -- School Library Journal
"This affecting tale-of a plein-air schoolroom in a deeply impoverished neighborhood populated by pepenadores (trash pickers)-springs from the real deal. . . . The simplicity of the story is what lets it run deep, its bite of realism; no sermons are being delivered here, just a door thrown open to life under reduced circumstances (though Sosa's artwork, with its look of leaded glass, conveys a benevolent quality to the proceedings). Without patronizing, Señor David defines the essence of humanitarianism, while the pepenadores, ever searching for beauty in the beast, find gold-and prize it." -- Kirkus Reviews
CCBC Choices - Cooperative Children's Book Center (CCBC)
California Young Reader Medal Nominee
Paterson Prize for Books for Young People - Passaic County Community College
Skipping Stones Book Awards - Skipping Stones Magazine
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