I grew up in Des Moines, Iowa, where the only place I heard Spanish was within the walls of my high school. And what’s more, I took French! Eventually, I learned Spanish in college and then as a student in Venezuela and Cuba.

While my first job out of college didn’t require Spanish at all, my second did. I worked at a nonprofit that partnered with public schools to provide literacy programs to elementary-aged kids. My students were almost all children of immigrants from Latin America. I saw firsthand how so many of our students were operating in bilingual, bicultural worlds. Kids translated for their parents, for one another, and their teachers. They did it with such ease, navigating between cultures and languages.

We were a literacy program, so naturally, I wanted to find books that resonated with my students’ experiences. I researched and came up with the usual suspects (“Too Many Tamales” anyone?) or nothing at all. Certainly not enough to fill afternoons every day. Over time, I started discovering new books here and there — but never had a great way to find them.

Fast forward to a little over a year ago. I was eight months pregnant and searching for a book to show my son what life would be like as a sibling. In this case, I wanted a book that showed a multiracial child, to reflect our own family. We couldn’t find the right book, until months later, when it was too late. It was out there, but incredibly hard to find.

When I searched on the typical sites, the substance was lacking, but there was no shortage of ads for hair care products. And while I do love Kinky Curly for my daughter’s hair, it wasn’t going to help explain big brotherhood to my son! So, my husband and I decided to solve our own problem and create Zoobean, a site that handpicks remarkable kids’ books and catalogs them in a way that makes sense to parents.

When we created our sets of tags, we did this with all kinds of kids in mind. Our own kids and their experience growing up in a multicultural family (and world). And also the other children we know and love, like the kids I worked closely with in my earlier career. How did that work? We made tags like “English and Spanish,” “multicultural,” “multi­ethnic backgrounds,” “Latino or Hispanic,” and many more. We are just getting started, and trying to make it possible for parents to find books about a wide variety of topics that also reflect their kids and families.

Geena Davis says about girls in media, “If you see it, you can be it.” I believe this completely, for all kids. That’s why it’s critical that we make it easy to find the books that reflect our own families and children. If they see it, they can be it. There is the problem of there not being enough representation of Latino kids in children’s books, which we hope to help improve longer term. Now, we have to make it easy to find the books that are out there and get them into the hands of families that want them most!

What are your favorite bilingual books? If we don’t have them in the catalog already, please recommend today!

Jordan Lloyd Bookey is Chief Mom at Zoobean, a site that curates and catalogs remarkable kids’ books, handpicked by parents. Before she decided to make the leap as an entrepreneur, Jordan served as Google’s Head of K-12 Education Outreach, where she was responsible for the company’s worldwide programs that expand access to technology and computer science kids. Jordan is originally from Des Moines, IA and now lives with her family in Washington, DC. You can usually find her at 1776 DC, working on Zoobean with her husband and Chief Dad, Felix, or exploring the city and trying to keep up with her children, Cassius and Florence.

One day when I was teaching ESL, I was working with a group of students from Mexico and Central America. Pencils scratched the paper, the energy was electric, the excitement palpable: we were filling out their applications for a program at a community college that would allow them to take a class over the summer.

And the, we got to the demographic section:

“Miss, am I white, black, Asian, or American Indian?” asked a young girl from El Salvador. The group burst out laughing and some said she should write in “brown,” while others told her to check the “Hispanic” box. I read over the sheet… The EEOC (Equal Employment Opportunity Commission) that collects federal data on race and ethnicity in the workforce uses five racial distinctions: American Indian or Alaska Native; Asian; Black or African American; Native Hawaiian or Other Pacific Islander; and White. Separately, they include one ethnicity category: Hispanic or Latino.

I didn’t know which race the students should mark, so I called the college later that day for clarification. The person who answered told me that the students should choose from the choices given. I explained that the students were from Mexico and Central America, and didn’t feel they fit into any of the categories. In a hushed tone, she told me “if they’re not black, have them mark white and then Hispanic for ethnicity.”

When we reconvened, the students were outraged:

“How can you tell us we’re white when our whole lives in the US we’re told we’re not!?”

“Teacher, look at my skin!!! Does it look white?”

“I’m marking American Indian. México es parte de las Américas, no?”

“I’m not putting anything for race!”

The race conundrum is not new, and it’s not going anywhere. Many Latinos view this categorization as a question of culture and language, not of race. A percentage of the population will leave the race box blank, while some will check the “other” box. Others ask “why is it important for the U.S. government to know the racial background or ethnicity of their citizens?”

It all comes down to money: $400 billion of federal money (from our taxes) that needs to be allocated annually, based on population demographics to pay for schools, transportation, public health and other vital social programs, such as English-language education and job training. When people do not check a box, a computer “guesses” their race, based on the neighborhood and other factors.

In 1977, the federal government declared “Hispanic” would be considered an ethnicity, not a race. They decided that citizens could identify with being “Hispanic” or “not Hispanic” and after identifying themselves as one of the five recognized “races” white, black, Asian, American Indian or Pacific Islander. (note: though indigenous people are genetically related- from the northernmost point of the Arctic to the southernmost point of Argentina- the American Indian box was reserved specifically for the 564 tribes residing in the U.S. that are federally recognized).

Multiple ethnic groups felt misplaced: which box should a Bedouin from North Africa or Egyptian check? Where did a Peruvian of Quechua descent fit? (the U.S. Census said both should choose “white”). What if your mom was Japanese, and your dad was Jamaican? (at that time, the U.S. Census said “pick one”).

For the first time, on the 2000 U.S. Census, multiracial people were allowed to check more than one race, and about 3% of the nation did so. In fact, multicultural families are one of the fastest growing demographics groups in the nation, as interracial marriage is growing.

In the same census, about 18 million Latinos (around 37%) checked the “Hispanic” box and when asked about race, self-identified as “some other race.” Some other race… In fact, Latinos have a mixed heritage that might include European, indigenous, African, and Asian ancestry.

Latinos were perplexed again by “race” choices in the 2010 census: White, Black, American Indian, Chinese, Filipino, Japanese, Korean, Vietnamese, Native Hawaiian and Samoan. With these choices, where did Latinos fit in?

Now, for the 2020 U.S. Census, the Census Bureau is thinking about combining ethnicity and race questions into a single “race or origin” category. If so, “Hispanic” may be a choice. While some groups argue that “race” is invented by man, a social construct, others are thrilled the Latinos are being considered and included. As a multicultural family, we will be marking several boxes on the next census, though knowing that we are all truly one race: the human race.

What do you think about the possible changes to the census?

{Photo by  moodboardphotography }

I am Chilean of German grandparents and my son, whom I have spoken only Spanish to since birth, and is now nearly 4 years old, is half Chileno, half American, has blonde hair and blue eyes which by the public’s misconceptions means he shouldn’t know more than one language — much less Spanish. He has been the topic of many conversations while waiting in line at the store and I have had more than my share of confused looks and odd questions.

“Excuse me, I was just wondering what language you are speaking to your son?” asked a women in line at the UPS store one day. I smiled and said “Spanish.” She looked down at Matías, then back at me and said. “Really? I would have never have guessed. I thought maybe French. I mean, it didn’t sound like Spanish. It is a dialect or something?”

“No” I replied, “just regular Spanish.”

“Wow! I would have never guessed.”

Although I didn’t continue the conversation with her I thought, well why not? Because he doesn’t look like what your perception of a Hispanic is? And of course the opposite is true too. I have a Chilean friend married to an Argentinian both of whom understand Spanish, but are not fluent and they do not speak to their children in the language. You could say they “look” Hispanic. He is of a darker complexion and their children both have dark hair, brown eyes and darker skin. When they are out, people automatically think they know Spanish by asking them what certain words are and have other Spanish speakers address them first in Spanish. She usually has to steer the conversation back to English, but nonetheless she feels uncomfortable because people assume, based on their looks, that they must speak the language.

I can pretty much guarantee that if my son had darker features there wouldn’t be so many questions, in fact it would be taken as a given that we speak Spanish (as it happens with my friend). I remember I once read an article from a Nicaraguan woman who wrote about her “blonde-haired, blue-eyed bilingual son” and her similar experiences and ridiculous questions from strangers. In her case, many assumed she was the nanny because of her darker looks and that the child she was speaking to couldn’t possibly be hers. I wish I had that article now to reference, but I read it long before my son was born.

Now Matías is attending preschool and his teacher and the social worker nearly jumped out of their chairs when they heard him speak Spanish back to me one day, “Oh, I didn’t know he actually SPOKE Spanish,” said his teacher. “I just thought, you know, that you spoke to him every once in a while. I wouldn’t know because his English is perfect.”

I smiled, looked down at my boy and said, “Yes, he speaks Spanish. And very, very well.”

It was just another pivotal moment in my quest to raise my son bilingual — no matter if he “looks” the part or not.

{photo courtesy of María José Ovalle}

Part of the first chapter in our forthcoming book, Bilingual is Better, deals with the ongoing debate of how we identify ourselves. Are we Latinos? Are we Hispanics? Or are we something else? So I was pretty interested in the results of a Pew Hispanic Center survey on this very topic that came out last week.

I’ve never really liked the word Hispanic because I feel it implies I come from Spain, which I don’t. I’m okay with the word Latina because I feel it’s short for latinoamericana, which I am. But whenever anybody wants to know how I identify, I say I’m peruana because that it was I am and I will always be, even after living in the States for almost 25 years.

Surprisingly, most Latinos (51%) feel the same way, preferring to identify with their family’s country of origin. Only 24% said they prefer to identify themselves with Latino or Hispanic. And among those who did, they preferred the term Hispanic over the term Latino by more than a two-to-one margin. Another surprise, at least for me, since I thought Hispanic was more of an outdated term.

In the end, does any of this really matter? My husband says that all these are just labels that don’t make a difference one way or the other. In fact, check out the comment he left on my Facebook page when I asked my friends about this topic:

“I’m a human being. Labels don’t really matter. Most people I know who concern themselves with labels end up feeling less than, or feel they need to prove themselves. Secondly, any people I know who bother themselves with who they are based on where they were born or where they live, have problems moving within other cultural circles which are different to theirs.”

Since I don’t fit his description at all, I don’t agree with him. I know labels are just that, labels, but I feel that in this case it has a lot to do with pride for my ancestry and heritage.

What about you? What do you think?

{Image by Shreveport-Bossier: Louisiana’s Other Side}

I don’t know if you’ve watched it, but it was really difficult to watch a bunch of both white and black 6-year-olds — in other words, kids Vanessa’s age — talk about how the color of your skin matters when making friends. It was even harder to realize how unrealistic it is for parents to think that little kids are color-blind. The way these children were speaking about race, it’s obvious that they can totally see that we’re not all the same color and, sadly, many of them start having negative views based on skin color at a tender age.

If you haven’t watched the first segment, I hope you do, so you can see for yourself what’s on the mind of these first-graders, whom I believe are a good representation of all children in this country.

The one point that I found extremely interesting is that the majority of black kids had much more positive views on race and believed black and white children could be friends. While the majority of white kids felt the opposite. According to Dr. Melanie Killen, a renowned child psychologist contracted by AC360˚ to explain how race influences a child’s world, the reason behind this disparity is that most black parents talk to their children about race early on, whereas most white parents think that it’s better not to talk about it so that their children grow up being color-blind.

I haven’t spoken extensively about race to Vanessa, but we have had a few conversations. Sometimes I feel like she’s still too little to understand but, as evident from the CNN special, I might be wrong. What Vanessa and I have talked about mostly revolves more around the fact that the color of our skin doesn’t make us better or worse than anybody else. I’m not sure exactly how Vanessa sees herself. I mean, I’m sure she’s noticed that she’s the only dark-haired girl in her very non-Hispanic white kindergarten class, but I don’t really know what she thinks about that.

Race is an interesting topic within the Latino community. Many non-Latinos mistakenly think Latino is a race, but we know we come in all shades and colors. For many of us, in fact, it’s actually difficult to identify with just one race. That’s definitely the case with my own children who have traces of all races (except maybe Asian) running through their veins. After watching this first segment, I think I might be talking about race more regularly at home.

I’m really looking forward to watching the rest of the series (it didn’t air tonight because of the presidential primaries). Tomorrow’s segment on the judgments we make about other people based on their race and how early we start doing that shall be real interesting in the wake of Trayvon Martin‘s killing.

{Image by: loop_oh}

These days, it seems that the terms “Latino,” “Hispanic,” and “Spanish” are interchangeable in colloquial speech. Few people know the difference, including those who fit into these categories. Much like other racial and ethnic terminology, the words we use to describe Spanish speakers and those of Hispanic origin are confusing, inadequate, and often inapplicable.

My son, for example, could be categorized as a white Hispanic. Yet, that’s only because he is part white and he looks white like me; in truth, he has non-white ancestry on his father’s side. He is a Spanish speaker, while many who look more Hispanic than he does don’t speak any Spanish.

“Hispanic” is not a race, but an ethnic term. Although it originally signified a family connection to Spain or Portugal, it now means having a connection to Latin America. This could mean speaking Spanish or not, having dark skin or light skin, and engaging in a Latin American, Central American, or South American home culture to whatever extent you choose.

As we all know, though, it means much more than that. In fact, it means something different to everyone.

Before we can teach our kids what it means when they check the “Hispanic” box on forms throughout their lives, we need to evaluate what the word means to us. I did some informal research – asked friends and family (adults and children) what “Hispanic” means to them – and here is a sampling of the responses:

“Delicious food, saucy personalities, killer music and beautiful people (inside and out).”

“Born and raised in a Latino country and 1^st language being Spanish.”

 “Rich culture and family traditions.”

 “Celebrating Spanish things with your family.”

 “Always speaking Spanish when someone around you doesn’t know English.”

 “Close families, tight-knit circles.”

Also, check out this previous post from Eugenia about her personal exploration of cultural labels.

To me, “Hispanic” is a blanket term, a general category. There are more differences than similarities amongst Hispanics, but non-Hispanics tend to gain a skewed understanding of the group because they may be exposed to only one type of Hispanic person. For example, in Orlando, we associate the term with Puerto Rican and other Caribbean cultures, since they make up the majority of the Hispanic population here. We think of a particular kind of food, dance, and use of language only. It is therefore hard to grasp what Hispanic denotes on a national scale.

For those of us who are not of Hispanic origin, it is even more important to consider how we use this and other words to describe the people around us – even, as is the case for me, our own children.

What does “Hispanic” mean to you? Do you prefer any particular term to describe your ethnic background and culture?

Photo credit: ProgressOhio

On Monday, I sat down with my 2 boys and read them a copy of “Free at Last! The Story of Martin Luther King, Jr.” I read to them about the bus boycotts and the March on Washington. I tried to explain to my 5-and almost 7-year-old boys that sometimes people are so uncomfortable with a group of people that they will do anything they can to keep them down.

My 7-year-old said that Martin Luther King, Jr. lived a long time ago and those things were in the past. But I feel like it’s still a current issue. A startling example in my mind is how the powers that be in Arizona are doing everything they can to keep Latinos down.

Last year, the state passed a law giving police the power to ask anyone stopped for any reason to show proof of citizenship. Just like poll taxes and voting tests in the old South, it’s portrayed as a non-discriminatory measure when in fact it’s clearly intended to be used against a specific group. Does anyone really think that the police in Arizona are going to ask a white person in Scottsdale for their green card or passport? When’s the last time you carried “proof of citizenship” when you walked down the street?

Now, the state is threatening to take away 10 percent of state funding from the Tucson Unified School District if it doesn’t shut down its Mexican-American Studies program. That’s $15 million for a school district already facing financial hardship.

The Mexican-American Studies program came under fire last year after Arizona’s Attorney General Tom Horne (he was the state superintendent of schools at the time) introduced a law that makes it illegal to teach resentment against another race or to have a class that’s specific to one race or ethnicity.

It wouldn’t be so offensive if it affected other ethnic studies classes, but according to the New York Times, no other programs were looked at because no one complained. The only one complaining was Horne and he had the power to force a shut down.

Just like Arizona’s immigration law, I don’t know how this can be called anything but racist. First you tell kids that they have to watch out because they could be questioned by police just because of the color of their skin. Then you tell them that they can’t learn about their heritage because some people don’t like it.

How do I explain that to my kids? This isn’t in the distant past. It’s happening now and it’s happening in a place my kids love to go.

After SB1070 passed, I took my kids and husband with me to march in the May Day Rally in downtown Los Angeles. My kids were too little to understand that we were protesting an unfair law in the state where their Nana and Papi live. That we care about the rights of all people not just the ones who look like us.

I can talk all I want about Arizona, but the fact is, I don’t live there anymore. So I called my friend Olivia, who is Mexican-American and a champion for education in the state, to get her opinion on what is going on there. She had such a different take in on the issue, I was completely taken aback.

Yes, it’s bad that they are cutting the program, she said, but TUSD has already cut art and PE programs. If Mexican-American Studies program continues to be taught, the district could lose $15 million. It’s a disproportionate amount of money to what the program costs, and it’s unfair, but that amount of money is significant.

She said the education issues they have to deal with are so monumental, that frankly, the Mexican-American studies program is at the bottom of the heap.

Arizona is ranked 49^th (above only Arkansas) in spending per child on education. She’s not so much concerned with the statement that getting rid of ethnic studies makes as she is with making sure that kids have basic math and reading skills.

And, of course, it’s not just this issue that has the country looking at Arizona. SB1070 made international news. Immigration is a heated debate, but now so is gun control after Jared Loughner shot and killed 6 people, including a 9-year-old girl, and injured 13 others, including Rep. Gabrielle Giffords. Arizona has some of the most lenient gun laws in the country, a fact that has been reported over and over on the evening news.

Olivia said she doesn’t want the program cut, but she asked the question, Is it worth $15 million to keep it?

In her view, the way to fight these things is to give kids a good education at school. Teach them about their culture at home, she said. Raise them to be good, intelligent citizens who will vote against the kind of regime that is destroying her state.

I see her point, but I still despair that an underfunded school district would be forced to make that choice. Kids need math and reading skills, but they also need to learn about history, society, and the world we live in, both good and bad. I want our kids to understand that our country can do amazing things, but that we need to be vigilant to make sure the rights of all people are respected.

Now, that is something I can tell my kids.

Yvonne Condes is a journalist by trade and a blogger by night. At YvonneInLA she writes about life in Los Angeles with her two adorable boys, food and restaurants, a little bit of politics, and Latino issues. She loves creating gluten-free recipes, running marathons, and traveling. When she’s not blogging at YvonneInLA, she’s writing for Yahoo! Motherboard, CBS Local Los Angeles, Storitz.com, and MomsLA.com, where she is a founder.

A curious thing happened this weekend as I was paying for a sandwich at a local eatery. The cashiers had been cooing at my baby son, marveling at his big, expressive brown eyes when all of a sudden one of them asked me: “What nationality is he?” I was so taken by surprise that it took me a while to respond.”American,” I said, but her puzzled look made me feel it was necessary to explain further. So I added, “His father is Puerto Rican and I am Peruvian.” And we left it at that.

This; however, got me thinking about the 2010 Census and how I haven’t gotten around to filling it out yet because I’m having a hard time trying to figure out how to classify my children. In fact, I don’t seem to be the only one. Several of my friends have wondered how to deal with question #8 (regarding ethnicity) and #9 (regarding race) because in many cases, these are not simple questions to answer for those of us who are first generation immigrants or consider ourselves Latina, but are married to Americans. So, for example, if your child was born in the U.S. but you are American and your husband is Mexican, is your child of Hispanic, Latino or Spanish origin? What about race? Most Latinos are more of a mixture (mestizos) than just plain White, Black or Indian.

I guess one of the reasons it’s so difficult to answer these questions is the fact that it’s extremely difficult to have a definite answer as to what is a Latino. As we’ve said in the past, we come in all different races and ethnicities.

At this point, I’m leaning toward answering “Yes” to question #8 for my two kids and adding both Peruvian and Puerto Rican under the “another Hispanic, Latino or Spanish origin.” In terms of race, I’m debating whether to go with OTHER, to check as many as I think apply (since according to the instructions you can check more than one) or to just take the easy way out and choose White—even though, by most accounts, if you took a look at any of the members of my family, we’re not really (completely) White. I mean, I’m sure both my husband and I have indigenous roots, and maybe even some Black ones.

So, what to do? I don’t really know, but one thing is for sure, once I figure it out, I’ll be sealing that envelope and I’ll mail it back so that my entire family is counted. Why? Because the results will determine how $400 billion in federal funds are allocated every year including in the particularly important area of child-related services such as schools.

I was appalled when I recently found out that more than one million children under the age of 10 were not counted in the 2000 Census. We owe to our children’s future to get them counted, so we encourage you to fill out the 2010 Census and mail it back in before April 1st.

Hispanic Heritage Month was created to honor the many contributions made by Latinos in our country.  It was a no-brainer, then, for us to recognize José Luis Orozco, a man who for 39 years now has been relentlessly focused on preserving our rich cultural identity through songs and music for children, while at the same time exposing a wider audience to the heritage of the Spanish-speaking world. His name is very familiar and well-respected amongs educators, especially with bilingual (Spanish/English) teachers.  Parents usually find him through a local library, word-of-mouth, their kids’ schools or when searching online for traditional Spanish folk songs for their children.

Orozco’s name was one of the first ones to come up when I started looking for music for my daughter.  I was really looking for traditional arrullos that I was sure I knew, but just couldn’t remember their lyrics.  I needed a CD that would open the floodgates of my memory.  And, that’s exactly what happened when I found Orozco’s Diez Deditos album.  I started listening to it and I found that song after song made me reminisce. Then, I ordered the accompanying songbook and now I have the lyrics to those songs, not that I really needed them since the canciones are simple to sing along to and most I’ve heard at some point; but the book will grow with my girl and it’s a great tool to teach her to read.  As Orozco himself said when I interviewed him recently, “When the storybook and the CDs are used in conjunction, they are an amazing resource to promote reading in young children.  They can read songs.”  Orozco envisions his music and storybooks being used at home to create family unity and to engage in conversations about our traditions. The illustrations on the books are so rich and descriptive that they alone provoke and engage my girl and I in long conversations about the depicted scene.

Jose Luis Orozco’s passionate mission is “to promote and maintain the Spanish language, traditional folk music, songs, and Latino cultural heritage in the U.S.”  Even though he’s been an advocate for bilingual education for four decades and he started at a time when, ironically enough, there were more resources to fund bilingual education in public schools, his message is better received now since there’s a larger audience than years ago. This is, in part, thanks to the continued growth of the Hispanic population and of people anxious to find ways to preserve their roots and language through their children.

Orozco stresses that “It’s important for us to hold on to our cultural roots because it’s a part of who we are and where we come from.  Traditions help make us feel good about ourselves because we can with certainty say ‘This is who I am and here is where I’m at.’  Our heritage is a joyous part of us we can easily share and pass along.”

He has focused his life-long work on the art of transmitting music and folk songs because these are to him “a pathway for other communities to learn what our culture is about.” Music, he says, is an important tool to use as a language and culture promoter. It’s used as a cultural container in any group.  As soon as we’re born we use the traditional nanas and arrullos that our parents sang to us.  These folk songs are a motivating instrument used to teach language and to comfort.

The musician himself is a father of four and grandfather of two children.  He was a first generation Mexican immigrant who left his native Mexico City at the age of 19 in pursuit of higher education.  As a child growing up in Mexico, he had the good fortune that his talent as a singer took him to travel 32 countries.  It was through his travels that he gained a wider perspective and world view that eventually led to him receiving his Master’s Degree in Multicultural Education.

Doing what he loves, he has built a successful career as  a children’s author, songwriter, performer and recording artist, as well as a passionate advocate for preserving language and heritage by using music as an important learning tool in multicultural classrooms.

I was curious to find out how a man so passionate about raising bilingual and bicultural children did it himself.  He shared with me that his strategy included:

• Speaking with his children and grandchildren only Spanish at home

• Visiting family in Mexico as often as possible

• Traveling overseas whenver feasible because travel broadens horizons and minds

• Enrolling his children in a bilingual school or any after-school program available

• Música en español, lots of it

I describe his songs as a portal parents go through to recapture those songs they heard as children and that might have been forgotten.  José Luis Orozco agrees:  “The idea is that one familiar song may trigger a connection to another one that we weren’t even aware we knew.  Here’s where the real cultural sharing and transmission begins.”

I’m sure we all agree that every day is a special one to celebrate our culture, but as Orozco points out:  “Hispanic Heritage Month is a celebration of our roots and independence.  These celebrations are important to bind a community together through a common language and ancestry.”  We thank him for his work and for providing a rich soundtrack for our children’s memory.

We are excited to give away a gift bag of Orozco’s CDs and storybooks worth $72 to one of the subscribers to our Newsletter.  The first edition of our combined SpanglishBaby and SpanglishBabyFinds newsletter will be sent out the last week of October and will include the announcement of the winner of this amazing, musical gift.  All you have to do is be subscribed. To find out more and to subscribe please go here.

One of the best things since the creation of SpanglishBaby has been the amount of stuff I have discovered related to anything bilingual and bi-cultural. Although there is not a whole lot out there, I have to admit I’ve been surprised about some of the things I’ve found.

As an avid reader, I’ve always complained about the lack of bilingual/Spanish children’s books in both bookstores and public libraries, but lately I’ve discoverd things are not as bad. So I present you with a list of 4 publishing houses, most of which are only dedicated to bilingual or Spanish children’s books. You can order most of their books through La Tiendita and if you can’t find them there, you can always go directly to their websites.

1) Children’s Book Press – “Founded in 1975, CBP is the only nonprofit independent publisher solely dedicated to first voice multicultural and bilingual children’s literature, by and about people from the Latino, Asian/Pacific Islander, African American, and Native American communities. Our books embody our commitment to diversity, literacy, and community.” I love what they’re all about. I reviewed one of their books here. That same book was recently chosen as an Honorable Mention at the 2009 International Latino Book Awards, as I wrote about here.

2) Piñata Books – “Founded in 1994, Piñata Books, an imprint of Arte Público Press, is dedicated to the publication of children’s and young adult literature focussing on U.S. Hispanic culture. With its bilingual picture books for children and its entertaining novels for young adults, Piñata Books has made giant strides in filling the void that exists in American publishing and literature: books that accurately reflect themes, characters and customs unique to U.S. Hispanic culture.” I’ll be writing more about this publishing house soon. For now, I just wanted to share with you that they’ve published some of Pat Mora’s awesome books.

3) Cinco Puntos Press – “With roots on the U.S./Mexico border, Cinco Puntos publishes great books which make a difference in the way you see the world.” I don’t know much about them, but I really like what they’ve published!

4) Groundwood Books - “Many of our books tell the stories of people whose voices are not always heard in this age of global publishing by media conglomerates. Books by the First Peoples of this hemisphere have always been a special interest, as have those of others who through circumstance have been marginalized and whose contribution to our society is not always visible. Since 1998 we have been publishing works by people of Latin American origin living in the Americas both in English and in Spanish under our Libros Tigrillo imprint.” I absolutely love folktales, and it looks like the one to the left is a pretty good compilation of some.

Antes de despedirme, I wanted to share something both Ana and I are very excited about: an upcoming new monthly series related to literacy, bilingualism and even a giveaway – who doesn’t like a giveaway, right? More details to come soon, I promise…

If you know of any publishing houses and/or authors of bilingual children´s books we welcome you to leave a link in the comments.

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