Waiting for the Biblioburro

by Monica Brown

Hardcover, 2011

Status

Available

Collection

Picture books

Publication

Tricycle Press (2011), Edition: Illustrated, 32 pages

Description

When a man brings to a remote village two burros, Alfa and Beto, loaded with books the children can borrow, Ana's excitement leads her to write a book of her own as she waits for the BibliBurro to return. Includes glossary of Spanish terms and a note on the true story of Columbia's BiblioBurro and mobile libraries in other countries.

User reviews

LibraryThing member AbigailAdams26

Monica Brown, whose many picture-book biographies of celebrated Latin American authors include My Name Is Gabito/Me Llamo Gabito: The Life of Gabriel Garcia Marquez/La Vida de Gabriel Garcia Marquez and Me Llamo Gabriela/My Name Is Gabriela: La Vida de Gabriela Mistral/The Life of Gabriela Mistral,

turns here to another kind of literary hero: the librarian. Told from the perspective of Ana, a fictional Colombian girl who loves reading (and telling!) stories, but who has access to only one book - given to her by the local teacher, who went away, and was never replaced - Waiting for the Biblioburro is a tribute to Luis Soriano Bohórquez, a real-life teacher and book-lover who became an itinerant librarian, loading up his burros, Alfa and Beto, and bringing the precious gift of reading to the isolated country villages and towns of his country...

Waiting for the Biblioburro was chosen as one of our March selections, over in The Picture-Book Club to which I belong, where our theme this month is "Libraries," and I'm so glad that it was! Having already read Jeanette Winter's Biblioburro: A True Story from Colombia, which profiles the same figure, I might otherwise have passed it by, which would have been a shame, since I enjoyed Brown's book even more than Winter's. By focusing on Ana, the author here really brings home the enormously positive impact that Luis Soriano Bohórquez and his biblioburros had on rural Colombian children. The artwork, done in acrylic, in a folk-motif style, really appealed to me - they were just gorgeous! Highly recommended to all young bibliophiles and library-lovers, as well as to anyone who complains about the services available to them from their local library.

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LibraryThing member aakauff

After hearing the clop-clopping of burros nearby, a young girl named Ana races from her house to find a traveling library is visiting her village. Having only one book of her own, a gift from a teacher, Ana is thrilled to have the opportunity to listen to a story by the traveling librarian and

borrow books from the biblioburro. Based on the story of a real bibliotecario, or librarian, in Colombia, this is an inspiring read. Children will be spellbound by the colorful, mural-like illustrations and will be eager to hear about how kids in other parts of the world live. An author’s note at the end of the book tells readers more about traveling libraries around the world. A glossary of Spanish terms is also included. Highly recommended. For ages 6-10.

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LibraryThing member debnance

Ana only has one book. She has read it so many times that she knows it word for word. She wishes she had another book, but, since her teacher has left, she knows this will never happen.

Then one morning, she wakes to hear the sound of a man on a burro. He carries a sign: Biblioburro. He brings books

for the children and promises to return in a few weeks to trade these for new ones.

This book is based on the story of a teacher and librarian who traveled to rural villages in Columbia.

The text is clear and the story of Ana is touching. The illustrations seem childlike, primitive.

“The man says, ‘I am a librarian, a bibliotecario and these are my burros, Alfa and Beto. Welcome to the Biblioburro, my biblioteca.’

‘But, senor,’ Ana says, ‘I thought libraries were only in big cities and buildings.’

‘Not this one,’ says the librarian. ‘This is a moving library.’

Then he spreads out his books and invites the children to join him under a tree.’

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LibraryThing member kvparker

I had the pleasure of meeting the author and illustrator of this book at the National Latino Children's Literature Conference, held at the University of Alabama. Together, they told the wonderful journey they took, separately but of the same mind, to create this title and several others. I was most

impressed with the illustrations. John Parra has an uncanny way of making acrylic paint on canvas panel look like chalk on wood. He easily gives life to the beautiful true-life story of the traveling librarian that spreads life and literacy through rural villages in Colombia.

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LibraryThing member gundulabaehre

Waiting for the Biblioburro (with a wonderful and evocative text by Monica Brown and lovingly illustrated by John Parra) is an inspiring and thought-provoking story about a librarian in Colombia, who delivers and distributes his library books, not from the distribution desk of a building, not even

from a motorised bookmobile, but using his two trusted mules, Alfa and Beto. And of course, this book is also about a little girl named Ana, who loves stories (cuentos) and patiently waits for the biblioburro to return, bearing gifts of books, new ideas, new cuentos, tales she can read for herself and then share with her little brother.

Considering that so many of us (both children and adults, and especially in North America and Western Europe) seem to take books and the ready availability of books, of libraries very much for granted, Waiting for the Biblioburro is a good story to demonstrate that, even today, in many parts of the word, books are not only considered special and precious, they are often quite expensive and difficult to obtain, both for purchasing and borrowing. Many, if not most of us simply order our books at the local library and then go and pick them up a few days, sometimes even just a few hours later (but for children like Ana, there are no libraries, no books readily available, and these children must depend on brave and resourceful librarians to personally deliver precious library books on horseback, astride mules, on foot etc.).

Waiting for the Biblioburro feels both authentic and realistic (the use of Spanish throughout the text increases that perception of authenticity, and also provides some basic Spanish language instruction in a fun and unobtrusive way). The reader empathises with Ana, feeling and appreciating her longing for books and more and more books (I almost felt like I was Ana, patiently waiting for the biblioburro to return). And of course, one also empathises with the librarian (his love for books, learning and teaching, for delivering the joy of reading, the gift of education to the children, to the people of Ana's village, is almost palpable, a warm, pleasant, delightful sensation).

I don't think that on their own, John Parra's folk art illustrations would be personal favourites (and the oversized heads of the human figures are definitely a bit off-putting). However, in conjunction with and to the narrative, the illustrations provide an almost perfect complement to the text, providing a warm and authentic feel for Colombian life and culture.

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LibraryThing member dukefan86

What a lovely story! The illustrations are sweet and go along with the story so well! What a charming book!

LibraryThing member kwiggi3

I enjoyed this book. It had many different aspects to teach children. For example, I really liked the Spanish words that were included throughout the text. I liked this because it was a great way to introduce students to some basic Spanish or if the reader were a Spanish child it would be a

culturally supportive text. I also like how the book showed how the child missed school and longed for her books from the library man on the donkey. I liked this because it can give children a new perspective about how children in other countries do not have the resources we do here in America. Another element of this book that I liked was how it showed the ways that your imagination could make you get lost in a book. I liked this because it will show children the excitement that reading can bring. The author and illustrator did a good job of this by showing the girl lost in imagination. The main idea of this book was to show children how exciting reading and books are and how children in other countries long for the books and for school.

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LibraryThing member mmeharvey

In this story we meet Ana who lives in Colombia. She loves to read but does not have access to many books in her small mountain village. One day she meets the traveliing biblioburro who delivers books to her village. The story includes a twist in which Ana's dreams of accessing books and writing

stories are shared with a young boy in a city near by. This book highlights the importance of access to books and shows that a good story is important to everyone, regardless of where we live. This is a lovely story for primary and intermediate students.

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LibraryThing member Stahl-Ricco

A wonderful story! Lots of Spanish words to teach to my daughter, and beautiful, colorful illustrations for her to explore as I read! She loved that the library in this story comes to the children - by burro!

LibraryThing member Rvalencia

This might be my absolute favorite book. This book is a bilingual book with the text in spanish and in english. This book is a great book to read when you have English second language learners in your classroom. My grandmother use to read me books in spanish when I was little. When I saw this book

had text in spanish I had her read me this book. We sat in the bed and she read me this book as I followed along in English. This book is about a girl named Ana, who loves to read but where she is from has no access to books. One day a man on two donkeys carrying books comes to the village and gives the books to the children to borrow until he comes back with more to share. The girl says there should be a book about donkeys so the man suggests to the girl that she should write a book. As the weeks pass by, Ana writes a book about donkeys and then deliveries the book to the donkey librarian for another child in a far away village to read.

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LibraryThing member lycomayflower

Inspired by Luis Sariano, a librarian who brought books to remote communities in Colombia, this is the story of Ana and her joy at seeing the biblioburro coming into town. Lovely illustrations.

LibraryThing member wichitafriendsschool

Ana loves stories. She often makes them up to help her little brother fall asleep. But in her small village there are only a few books and she has read them all. One morning, Ana wakes up to the clip-clop of hooves, and there before her, is the most wonderful sight: a traveling library resting on

the backs of two burros‑all the books a little girl could dream of, with enough stories to encourage her to create one of her own.

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LibraryThing member Mialro

This picture book is about a little girl in Colombia who has only one book and dreams of more. Luckily, her town is visited one day by the Biblioburro, a traveling library on the backs of two burros named Alfa and Beto (get it, alfabeto? Alphabet?). The bright, colorful, naive-ish Latin

American-inspired illustrations are nice to look at. The librarian with the Biblioburro is real; this is based on a true story. I enjoyed this, and it's nice to see a library-related picture book that is from Latin America. Both author and illustrator are latines.

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