El día de los niños/El día de los libros, is a year-long celebration that culminates on April 30th, and it is a day dedicated to motivating children and their families to be readers and promoting literacy. This day recognizes the joy and importance of books in children’s lives, encouraging them to develop a lifelong love of reading. Schools, libraries, and communities come together to host events filled with storytelling, book fairs, and literary-themed activities. These celebrations create a vibrant environment where children can explore the magic of books and let their imaginations soar. In this commemoration, I would like to introduce you to a charming children’s reader, “The Tortilla That Did Not Want To Be A Taco!,” a delightful story that has captivated young readers for years and that I wrote many years ago.
“The Tortilla That Did Not Want to Be a Taco!” is a tale that resonates deeply with children, drawing them into a whimsical world where a tortilla embarks on an adventurous journey to discover its true purpose. This story, rich with cultural heritage and imaginative storytelling, aligns perfectly with the spirit of El día de los niños/El día de los libros. It not only entertains but also instills important values such as self-discovery, resilience, and embracing one’s uniqueness. By sharing this story during the celebration, children are given the opportunity to connect with their cultural roots while also being inspired to read and explore their creativity.
And it all started two years after I started working in the new and innovative Title VII Bilingual-Bicultural Education Program as a Curriculum Specialist when I wrote a federal grant that received approval to develop creative stories for the elementary students in the program. The name of the federal grant was called Project Understanding. Consequently, I invited twenty-five teachers from the program to spend the summer of 1973 writing these children’s readers and they would receive a stipend for their creative services. We met at the Bilingual Education Center which was located in a portable building at 324 Fenfield Avenue. I had purchased the portable building for the South San Antonio Independent School District with Title VII federal funds.
To set the example for the group, I volunteered to do one reader, which I entitled, “The Tortilla That Did Not Want To Be A Taco!” (See attachments).
Having been brought up in a Mexican culture in the Barrio El Azteca in Laredo, Texas, since both of my parents were from Mexico, every day for lunch we had to have home made corn tortillas. Papá was from San Luis Potosí and Mamá was from Veracruz. The inspiration for the story was based on an elderly woman whose name was Doña Luisa and who lived down the street from our house on San Pablo Avenue. This was during the early 1950s.
When Mamá was too busy with house chores, she would send me to Doña Luisa’s house every day and just before lunch. She lived at the southwest corner of San Pablo Avenue and Lincoln Street, because she made the best homemade corn tortillas the old fashion way. I would buy ten cents worth and on the way home, I loved to put my nose close to the big, brown bag and smell the tasty aroma. Doña Luisa would kneel on the wooden floor and with the use of a petate grind the corn into a masa. Next to her was an open pit that had a grill over a red-hot fire. After she molded the masa with her two hands, she placed the tortilla on the hot grill. I sat on a wooden bench, along with the other customers, next to her and watch her perform this Mexican cultural heritage of making her delicious corn tortillas. She looked old to me, but from the eyes of a four-year-old, any person above the age of twenty was old.
One of the bilingual teachers from the group was gifted and talented in doing illustrations and so she did the ones for my book and also the ones for the other twenty-four books. The federal grant also provided monies for printing costs so I had them printed at the school district’s print shop. We had a special reading treat for all the children participating in the Bilingual Bicultural Program when school started.
In conclusion, the celebration of El día de los niños/El día de los libros is more than just a festive occasion; it is a powerful platform to foster a love of reading among children and to celebrate the richness of cultural heritage. “The Tortilla That Did Not Want to Be a Taco!” beautifully embodies the essence of this day, offering young readers a captivating tale that encourages self-discovery and a love for literature. Through such stories, we can continue to nurture the next generation of avid readers and creative thinkers.
