Tuesday, July 29, 2008

My Name is Celia/Me llamo Celia (Bilingual): The Life of Celia Cruz/la vida de Celia Cruz (Americas Award for Children's and Young Adult Literature. Winner (Awards))

This bilingual book allows young readers to enter Celia Cruz's life as she becomes a well-known singer in her homeland of Cuba, then moves to New York City and Miami where she and others create a new type of music called salsa.
Customer Review: Queen of Salsa
Celia Cruz is brought to life for young children in this colorful book. Like the tropics from which she came, the book is full of vibrant illustrations. The story is put into simple terms for young readers or a teacher or parent to read. Since the illustrations are so vibrant and bold children will be enthralled by the unique features of the art work. Each biographical page is bilingual for reading in Spanish or English or both. The book describes her early family life in Cuba, her departure after the revolution, her musical group Sonora Mantacera, meeting her musician husband,her associations with other salsa greats like Tito Puente and Willie Colon, her relocation to Miami and the various honors and recognitions she achieved. This is a great little book for primary and middle school libraries as well as community libraries. Students whoose first language is Spanish can benefit from the bilingual book through middle school years. This is a fun book.
Customer Review: Wonderful!
My Name is Celia: The Life of Celia Cruz is written by Monica Brown and illustrated by Rafael Lopez. The book is the recipient of a Pura Belpre' Illustrator Honor Award for outstanding work that portrays, affirms and celebrates the Latino cultural experience in an outstanding work of literature for children and youth. The exciting and inspirational life of beloved Cuban-born salsa queen, Celia Cruz, is celebrated in the bilingual book My Name is Celia Me Llamo Celia: The Life of Celia Cruz. Celia was born in Havana to a large family where their lives were intertwined and music was an important part of everyday life. Celia's papa wanted her to become a teacher but music filled her soul with happiness. She was encouraged by a teacher to "go out into the world and sing...." Celia experienced prejudice and fled her beloved country Cuba when the revolution began. From Cuba, Celia traveled the world sharing her love of music with the world. Rafael Lopez' illustrations are vibrant, fluid combinations of color that beg to be studied. The scenes fill the page and stir emotions as you read the story and live it through his drawings. Armchair Interviews says: My Name is Celia: The Life of Celia Cruz is a beautiful and educational addition to any child's library. We highly recommend it.


School fashion shows can be quite fun if done properly. If done the wrong way, however, it could end up being one boring affair which is only occasionally enlivened by the people laughing at a humiliated model. What you need are some tips to help you.

1) Think of a theme When putting up a school fashion show, it is always helpful if you use a theme. A theme gives a fashion show a sense of organization and people would be able to relate the fashion to the theme. There are various types of themes to choose from:

a) Season Basing your school fashion show on the season is always popular. You could design and model various outfits that correspond with the time of year. This would also give you an idea of how to decorate the venue. Basing your school fashion show on a season can help you unleash your creativity and make your brain cells work. How can you balance the freedom of creativity with the confinement of the theme? This will definitely help you improve your skills.

b) Literature Another great idea for a theme is literature. You should think about basing your school fashion show on a great piece of literature. How about basing it on the book The Great Gatsby? Ever tried creating fashion pieces for Frodo? This can be fun as you will be bringing the visions of authors to life. Basing your school fashion show on a piece of literature can also be a bit easier than other themes since most authors actually have pretty detailed descriptions of the clothes their character wear. This is especially true for fantasy novels. Cloaks, anyone?

2) Music The music sets the mood for the whole fashion show. It strikes the subconscious of the watchers and thus, determines how much attention they will be paying your school fashion show. This means, of course, that you need to choose the correct sounds to accompany your school fashion show.

You need to choose music that grabs the attention of the spectators enough to mesmerize them. However, you do not want the music to distract the spectators from the school fashion show. The best type of music to use would be instrumental. This is because instrumental music can set the mood for the show without distracting the viewers with familiar lyrics.

3) Lighting Proper lighting effects are always essential if you want to have a great school fashion show. Together with the background music, the lighting effects give the audience a general emotion to feel. How do you want them to react when they see a certain ensemble? You can make them react as you want them by simply combining light and sound.

4) Spontaneity Students hate predictability. Because of this, the best thing that your school fashion show could have is a surprise. You need to show your students something unexpected and completely new. In doing so, you will be able to grab their attentions and keep it. By being spontaneous, you will keep spectators guessing as to what will come next. This will keep their eyes on the school fashion show and off their watches and mobile phones. If you can make the audience forget about the gadgets on their pockets, then you would know that your school fashion show rocks!

Tim Yu
http://Online-Fashion-Sch.blogspot.com

80's dance music

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