For Poetry Friday today, I would like to share with you a fantastic book of Animal Nursery Rhymes. This bilingual collection of rhymes were selected by Alma Flor Ada & F. Isabel Campoy. I loved loved this book for many reasons. First of all, Alma Flor Ada and Isabel Campoy know poetry! Their knowledege put together is a guaranteed sucess. Alma Flor Ada has been one of our biggest advocates for promoting cross-cultural understanding. She values languages, cultures, traditions. Her values are shown in her work, in her publications. F. Isabel Campoy is a poet, a storyteller, and researcher of Hispanic Culture. Both of them are big advocates for language learning. It is not surprising at all that when I read the introduction to this new book, they wrote, "During the extraordinary process of acquiring our first language, we learn to play with sounds, delighting in rhymes and alliteration." Clearly, they understand the power of words.
One thing that I'm always careful when I read bilingual books (English/Spanish) is that the translation of the work in either language does not lose its sense of rhymes, and the author's intention. I was happily surprised to see how beautifully these animal rhymes have been translated. The rhythm, rhyme and author's message was kept beautiful in each poem. To illustrate what I mean, let me share with you, one of the poems in the book:
La Lechuza The Owl
F. Isabel Campoy F. Isabel Campoy
U, u, u Boo, hoo, hoo
oigo en la noche un revuelo In the night I hear a cry
U, u, u Boo, hoo, hoo
una lechuza en su vuelo It's an owl fluttering by
U, u, u Boo, hoo, hoo
me da mucho miedo The eerie sound gives me a fright!
U, u, u Boo, hoo, hoo
-Mamá, enciende la luz! Mom! please turn on the light!
If you read this poem in either language, you'll notice that the message and the rhythm were kept in both poems. The translator or adapter for this book was Rosalma Zubizarreta. I enjoyed reading the note about her at the end of the book because it explains, "want to help people understand each other better, and when I am translating a story or poem, I want to make it possible for readers to enjoy the grace and spirit of the author's original work." As I was reading each poem in this book, I can confidently say that she definitely "kept the spirit of the author's original work."
I hope you and your students or children enjoy this book as much as I had. Please stop by Anastasia's blog Picture Book of the Day to enjoy more of Poetry Friday.
1 comment:
I didn't look very closely at this one...thanks to your insight, now I will!
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