Review – Planting Stories

Denise, Anika Aldamuy. Planting Stories: the Life of Librarian and Storyteller Pura Belpre. Illustrated by Paola Escobar. New York: Harper, 2019.

Summary from the author’s web site 

An inspiring picture book biography of storyteller, puppeteer, and New York City’s first Puerto Rican librarian, who championed bilingual literature.

When she came to America in 1921, Pura Belpré carried the cuentos folklóricos of her Puerto Rican homeland. Finding a new home at the New York Public Library as a bilingual assistant, she turned her popular retellings into libros and spread story seeds across the land. Today, these seeds have grown into a lush landscape as generations of children and storytellers continue to share her tales and celebrate Pura’s legacy.

Brought to colorful life by Paola Escobar’s elegant and exuberant illustrations and Anika Aldamuy Denise’s lyrical text, this gorgeous book is perfect for the pioneers in your life.

Informative backmatter and suggested further reading included.

My Review

Planting Stories is a beautiful picture book biography of Pure Belpre. Anika Denise tells the story in a way that younger children will be able to understand. Paola Escobar’s illustrations have an Hispanic feel to them and complement the text well – going beyond the text to show the story. Her illustrations were created digitally and won her the Pura Belpré Author Honor award.

I would not hesitate to add the picture book biography to my K-12 Christian school library. 

I borrowed a copy of Planting Stories from my public library. This is my honest review. 

Planting Stories: The Life of Librarian and Storyteller Pura Belpré is available from Amazon. When you find a book on Library Lady’s Kid Lit that you would like to purchase, I hope you will use the purchase links provided. When you make a purchase through our affiliate links, you support this young adult and children’s literature blog. I am grateful for you. Thank you!