Available:*
Library | Call Number | Status |
|---|---|---|
Searching... Hardwood Creek Library (Forest Lake) | J 027 KUN | Searching... Unknown |
Searching... Park Grove Library (Cottage Grove) | J 027 KUN | Searching... Unknown |
Searching... R.H. Stafford Library (Woodbury) | J 027 KUN | Searching... Unknown |
Searching... Stillwater Public Library | J 027 KUN | Searching... Unknown |
Bound With These Titles
On Order
Summary
Summary
A gorgeous and inspiring picture book based on the life of Jose Alberto Gutierrez, a garbage collector in Bogota, Colombia who started a library with a single discarded book found on his route .
In the city of Bogata, in the barrio of La Nueva Gloria, there live two Joses. One is a boy who dreams of Saturdays-- that's the day he gets to visit Paradise, the library. The second Jose is a garbage collector. From dusk until dawn, he scans the sidewalks as he drives, squinting in the dim light, searching household trash for hidden treasure . . . books! Some are stacked in neat piles, as if waiting for José. Others take a bit more digging. Ever since he found his first book, Anna Karenina , years earlier, he's been collecting books--thick ones and thin ones, worn ones and almost new ones-- to add to the collection in his home. And on Saturdays, kids like little Jose run to the steps of Paradise to discover a world filled with books and wonder.
With an evocative text by a debut author, and rich, stunning illustrations from an up-and-coming Colombian illustrator, here is a celebration of perseverance, community, and the power of books.
Author Notes
ANGELA BURKE KUNKEL is a school librarian who lives with her husband, two children, and two rescue pups on the banks of Otter Creek in Vermont. Digging for Words is her debut. Visit her on the web at angelakunkel.com and on Twitter @angkunkel.
PAOLA ESCOBAR grew up traveling from town to town in Bogota, Colombia. She has published with SM Spain, Planeta, Norma, and more. Paola is the illustrator of Planting Stories- The Life of Librarian and Storyteller Pura Belpre, an Indie Pick called "a must-have for all libraries" in a School Library Journal starred review. She lives with her husband and dog, Flora. Follow her on Instagram @paoesco8ar.
Reviews (4)
Publisher's Weekly Review
Spotlighting José Alberto Gutiérrez, who founded the first library in his Bogotá barrio by rescuing books from the trash, this moving tale details the power and pleasure of books, with a portion of the proceeds benefitting Gutiérrez's foundation, La Fuerza de las Palabras. Employing the present tense, Kunkel absorbs readers with graceful prose that seamlessly incorporates Spanish, centering two Josés: one is a child who loves the library, one is the nighttime garbage collector who established it. With its small text size and elevated diction, the prose may initially intimidate, but paragraphs prove engaging ("The day stretches out/ before him, like the streets,/ like the hills"). Stylized digital illustrations by Escobar richly enhance the nonfiction narrative, and an author's note offers more about Gutiérrez as well as selected online sources. Ages 4--8. (Sept.)
Horn Book Review
Kunkel and Escobar (illustrator of Planting Stories, rev. 1/19) present the lives of "two Joss." One is a child, known as Little Jos, living in La Nueva Gloria barrio in Colombia; the other is his neighbor, Seor Jos, the real-life Jos Alberto Gutirrez, whose love of literacy inspired him to construct a community library at the turn of the twenty-first century. While the city of Bogot sleeps, Seor Jos, a trash collector, uses his route to look for "hidden treasure...books!" Kunkel's implied metaphor -- one person's trash is another's treasure -- neatly structures this picture-book biography. Seor Jos rescues discarded books, and Little Jos can't wait to read them on Saturdays when the doors to "Paradise" (i.e., Gutirrez's community library) open wide. Escobar's spacious digital illustrations alternate single pages (including characters' side-by-side perspectives), spot images, and double-page spreads, whose muted cool blue tones and predominant vertical lines offer sweeping panoramic scapes of Bogot's streets and silhouetted mountains. Some of the images reflect readers' imaginary worlds (references to One Hundred Years of Solitude, Anna Karenina, and The Little Prince), capturing the unique experience that literature offers the mind. An author's note, "Featured Books," and websites are appended. Lettycia Terrones January/February 2021 p.129(c) Copyright 2021. The Horn Book, Inc., a wholly owned subsidiary of Media Source, Inc. No redistribution permitted.
Kirkus Review
The story of José Alberto Gutiérrez, a garbage collector who built a library for his neighborhood in the city of Bogotá, Colombia, out of books he collected on his route through the wealthier neighborhoods of the city. Proving the old saying that one person's trash is another person's treasure, Gutiérrez searched "the household trash for hidden treasure…books!" Caught up in the first book he found long ago--Anna Karenina, by Leo Tolstoy--and read over and over again and realizing the strength to be found in words, he eventually created a library out of his findings. In parallel, the book tells the story of a fictional boy, also named José, who counts the days until it is Saturday, when he and the other children in the neighborhood can enter Paradise--Gutiérrez's library. Illustrator Escobar beautifully captures the distinctive architecture of a working-class neighborhood in Bogotá as well as its multiethnic and varied inhabitants. Readers will be transported through the artwork into the settings of some of the books mentioned, from the ballrooms of faraway Russia through "the magical village" of Macondo, with its yellow butterflies, and on to Treasure Island and the Little Prince's planet. In the aftermatter, readers learn that today Gutiérrez also directs a foundation he created that "provides reading materials to schools, organizations, and libraries across Colombia." The inspiring story of a man who believes in the power of books and the importance of community. (Picture book/biography. 4-8) Copyright (c) Kirkus Reviews, used with permission.
Booklist Review
In Bogotá, Colombia, young José rides his bike to school, tries to listen to his teacher, and plays fútbol with his friends, but in his heart, he is longing for Saturday. Nearby, another José awakens early and goes to work. Driving his garbage truck through a wealthier area, he sifts through junk and finds treasures: discarded books. On Saturday morning, young José and other neighborhood children run to their library, a room in older José's house. They browse happily among piles of rescued books and each chooses one to take home. An appended note provides more information about José Gutiérrez, whose actions inspired the story. This amiable picture book offers children glimpses of Colombia as well as a role model who values books and enjoys sharing them with others. Sprinkled with a few Spanish words, Kunkel's concise text is effective in weaving a story around the man's life. Escobar, a Colombian artist who lives in Bogotá, contributes a series of lively digital illustrations. A satisfying picture book, simultaneously published in a Spanish edition, Rescatando Palabras.
