Alma Flor Ada: On Books and Reading

Last month we were fortunate enough to have esteemed author, Alma Flor Ada, contribute a short piece on helping our children to grow up bilingually. This month, Sra. Ada has once again shared some of her thoughts on the value of books in a child's life...


Few friends could be more valuable for children than books.

Books can be fun and entertaining offering children wonderful moments. But they certainly do much more.

Books can be informative, and allow children to learn about any topic, any time, any place. But they do much more.

Books invite children to open their imagination, to conceive realities never before experienced. They prepare children for new circumstances and help them understand the richness of diversity in human beings and life.

These wonderful friends also provide children with a great gift: the tool to succeed academically.

When we select appropriate books for children, books rich in words and concepts, children's vocabulary will grow. The richer the vocabulary the more possibility for school success.

When we help children own, or borrow from the public library, engaging books that they will be reading over and over, we give them the means to develop their reading fluency. A child who reads well has much better opportunities to succeed in school and in life.

Because we love our children, because we want them to succeed, let's make sure we foster this most valuable friendship, the friendship of books.

Feel free to visit me at: http://www.almaflorada.com/ where you can always leave me a message.

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Alma Flor Ada, Professor Emerita at the University of San Francisco, has devoted her life to advocacy for peace by promoting a pedagogy oriented to personal realization and social justice. A former Radcliffe Scholar at Harvard University and Fulbright Research Scholar she is an internationally reknown speaker in issues of bilingualism and multicultural education.

Alma Flor is the author of numerous children’s books of poetry, narrative, folklore, personal memoirs and non fiction. Her books have received prestigious awards; among many: Christopher Medal (The Gold Coin), Pura Belpré Medal (Under the Royal Palms), Once Upon a World (Gathering the Sun), Parents’ Choice Honor (Dear Peter Rabbit), NCSS and CBC Notable Book (My Name is María Isabel), Junior Library Guild (Tales Our Abuelitas Told). She is also the author of a book of memoirs, Vivir en dos idiomas, two novels for adults, En clave de sol and A pesar del amor, and several professional books for educators, including A Magical Encounter: Latino Children’s Literature in the Classroom, as well as a wealth of educational materials. Her work, in collaboration with F. Isabel Campoy in promoting authorship in students, teachers, and parents is the content of their book Authors in the Classroom: A Transformative Education Process. Alma Flor Ada has been awarded the American Education Research Association [AERA] Hispanic Issues Award for Research in Elementary, Secondary and Postsecondary Education and the California Association for Bilingual Education [CABE] Life Long Award.