De colores: The universal language of bilingual storytime; a Kentucky library starts a year-round fiesta of the soul to celebrate hispanic/latino culture.(Diversity)(library programming that celebrates Hispanic culture)

Publication: American Libraries

Publication Date: 01-OCT-03

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The meeting room was overflowing with more than 60 people. Dancers from Mexico had just finished a traditional folk dance. Musicians from the nearby Centro de Amistad (friendship center) of St. Mary's Basilica Cathedral were playing traditional music while the audience sang, "En nombre del cielo pedimos posada, pues no puede andar mi esposa amada/In the name of Heaven won't you give us shelter? My dear beloved wife tonight can go no farther."

Sister Juana Mendez and I were preparing to continue reading in Spanish and English, respectively, from The Gift of the Poinsettia by Pat Mora. Pascacio Bravo, 11, was standing nearby with a large bunch of green tissuepaper poinsettias, ready to recreate his final scene as Carlos in front of the manger. His sister Jennifer, 10, held red tissue-paper poinsettias behind her back in anticipation of the final dramatic moments of the story.

In the back of the room, a large pan of homemade bunuelos was ready for the upcoming feast. The crispy treats were prepared by Oralia Fernadez, wife of the conga player, as her gift for Las Navidades storytime.

It can't get better than this, I thought. And then it did:

Somewhere near the back of the room a young non-Latina turned to her mother and was overheard to whisper, "Mother, I wish I were Mexican."

That was the first big payoff of bilingual storytime at the Kenton County Public Library's Mary Ann Mongan branch in Covington, Kentucky, and it came early. We had launched the program only two months before.

?No habla espanol?

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The inspiration for KCPL's Spanish/English storytime came from a special standing-room-only how-to workshop conducted by Reforma, the National Association to Promote Library and Information Services to Latinos and the Spanish-Speaking, at the June 2001 American Library Association Annual Conference in San Francisco. You could conduct a bilingual storytime without knowing any Spanish, I learned. I definitely qualified.

My inspiration became a passion the following March at the Public Library Association conference in Phoenix, Arizona, where, during a special session on bilingual services, programming, and collections, Mexican-American teenagers emphasized the importance of Spanish-language literature to help them recover Spanish vocabulary that was fading away as they learned English.

Soon, this programming idea became a successful grant proposal to the Kentucky Department for Libraries and Archives. LSTA programming subgrant funds became available on October 1,...

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