Regardless of your political affiliation, it’s impossible to deny that finally having an African-American become president of this nation won’t go down as one of the most significant historical events of this century.
I was one of the lucky journalists to cover the 2008 Democratic National Convention in Denver when Barack Obama became the party’s first African-American nominee for President. I say I was lucky because I’ll never forget the feeling of hope I shared with the Latinos I was working with. There was a kind of magic in the air… as if anything was possible!
This is exactly the premise of Yanitzia Canetti’s book, I Can Be President, Too!/Yo También Puedo Ser Presidente. Each page features a photograph of a child explaining why he or she could be president. The best part is that each child looks different from the next. They’re different ages and races. Each boy and girl seems to represent a slice of our diverse population. Their reasons for why you should vote for each of them includes stuff like: “Yo amo la paz” and “Yo cuido el planeta.”
I think the idea is for our children to see themselves in these photos and realize that anybody can be president. If anything, it’s a great way to start talking about this subject with your children.
Canetti wrote the book in both Spanish and English — no translations here. Besides being an award-winning author, Canetti is also responsible for the translation of more than 100 children’s book, including classics like Dr. Seuss, Berenstein Bears, Amelia Bedelia and Curious George. Yo También Puedo Ser Presidente is published by BrickHouse Education, an educational publisher with lots of Spanish and bilingual titles you should all check out, particularly if you’re homeschooling.
I don’t know if it’ll happen in my time, but it would be absolutely grandiose for our bicultural children if a Latino ever became president of this great country! Can you imagine what that would do for our children’s pride in their heritage?
THE GIVEAWAY!
We’re giving a way an autographed copy of Yo También Puedo Ser Presidente to one lucky winner. To enter please visit the BrickHouse Education website and come back here to tell us which books caught your attention.
That’s all you have to do to enter this giveaway. If you want to up your chances at winning, then this is how you can get additional entries (only after you’ve completed the step above):
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This giveaway ends Sunday, February 6 at midnight EST and you must have a valid US address to enter.
Disclosure: We received a sample to review the product. All opinions are our own.
Where do I start?! All of them look wonderful – wish I could buy them all. However, I have to piggyback on the “I Can Be President, Too!” I have two interracial children, one African-American, the other Latina – When Obama was elected, my 13-year-old walked by as I was watching a documentary on Obama, when they showed a picture of young Obama – Alex said, “Hey, that looks like me!” He sat down and watched a 2 hour documentary – powerful! My niñita is only 8 months old and my hope is that literature, such as this, will make true diversity a norm – not the exception.
Thanks for bringing this wonderful resource to our attention.
This is great! We love ABeCedario Salvaje, especially because of the original Spanish rhymes. I think my kids would enjoy another from the ABeCedario series. I bookmarked the site so I can refer back to continually build our library
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I like the Guess Who books, in English and Spanish. My son loves critters!
First of all I love that they have a Books in Spanish section! Two books that I definitely plan to add to our home library are Soy Original ¡Genial! y Las maravillas de una sencilla sombrilla amarilla.
I really liked the Yummy ABC’s.
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Gracias!
I like the ABeCedarios collection! I am so excited to have stumbled on this site. I’ve been trying to work on integrating some spanish books into our homeschool curriculum.
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Great resource. My children love the ABCedario Salvaje!
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The bilingual color books (Crafty Colors/Tasty Colors/Musical Colors/etc) look interesting!
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I follow you on Twitter and tweeted this giveaway: http://twitter.com/#!/ohMariana/status/34476850474385408
When Times Are Tough looks like a great read for the kids.
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