Summary: Tomas is a member of a migrant farm worker family who discovers that reading provides a wonderful escape from reality and even more wonderful opportunity for a rich future.
Citation: Mora, P. (1997). Tomás and the library lady. New York: Random House.
My Thoughts: Tomas' experience is one that I plan to share with all of my students! He discovers the magic that waits inside the walls of the library, thanks to a helpful librarian, the kind of librarian that I aspire to be!
Reviews:
Kirkus (Kirkus Reviews, 1997)
A charming, true story about the encounter between the boy who would become chancellor at the University of California at Riverside and a librarian in Iowa. Tomas Rivera, child of migrant laborers, picks crops in Iowa in the summer and Texas in the winter, traveling from place to place in a worn old car. When he is not helping in the fields, Tom s likes to hear Papa Grande's stories, which he knows by heart. Papa Grande sends him to the library downtown for new stories, but Tomas finds the building intimidating. The librarian welcomes him, inviting him in for a cool drink of water and a book. Tomas reads until the library closes, and leaves with books checked out on the librarian's own card. For the rest of the summer, he shares books and stories with his family, and teaches the librarian some Spanish. At the end of the season, there are big hugs and a girl exchange: sweet bread from Tomas's mother and a shiny new book from the librarian--to keep. Colon's dreamy illustrations capture the brief friendship and its life-altering effects in soft earth tones, using round sculptured shapes that often depict the boy right in the middle of whatever story realm he's entered. 1997, Knopf, $15.00; PLB $16.99. © 1997 Kirkus Reviews/VNU eMedia, Inc. All rights reserved.
Hazel Rochman (Booklist, Aug. 1997 (Vol. 93, No. 22)
From the immigrant slums of New York City to the fields of California, it's an elemental American experience: the uprooted child who finds a home in the library. Mora's story is based on a true incident in the life of the famous writer Tomas Rivera, the son of migrant workers who became an education leader and university president. Far from his home in Texas, the small boy is working with his family picking corn in Iowa. Inspired by the Spanish stories his grandfather (Papa Grande) tells, Tomas goes to the library to find more stories. The librarian welcomes him into the cool, quiet reading room and gives him books in English that he reads to himself and to his family. He teaches her some Spanish words. Then, as in so many migrant stories, the boy must leave the home he has found. He has a new, sad word for her, "adios. It means goodbye." Colon's beautiful scratchboard illustrations, in his textured, glowingly colored, rhythmic style, capture the warmth and the dreams that the boy finds in the world of books. The pictures are upbeat; little stress is shown; even in the fields, the kids could be playing kick ball or listening to stories. Perhaps the most moving picture is that of the child outside the library door, his face pressed against the pane. In contrast is the peaceful space he finds inside, where he is free to imagine dinosaurs and wild adventure. Category: For the Young. 1997, Knopf, $15 and $16.99. Ages 4-8.
Suggested Uses: Tomas and the Library Lady is a great starter for a publicity display entitled: "What My Library Means To Me." In the display stakeholders write and share all of the ways in which the library enriches their life.
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