The Use of Spanish Words in Children's LIterature

When doing the readings for this week I was particularly interested in the way in which Roselinda Barrera and Ruth Quiroa, wrote about the idea of using Spanish words and phrases in literature. They explain in the article "The Use of Spanish in Latino Children's Literature in English: What Makes for Cultural Authenticity?" the ways in which authors can add Spanish words into the text to enhance the text. They stated, "Spanish words and phrases hold considerable potential for enhancing realism and cultural authenticity of English-based text, specifically by creating powerful bilingual images of characters, settings, and themes" ( 247). After reading this article I really began to think about the book "Becoming Naomi Leon" by Pam Munoz Ryan and other books I have read by her and other authors and the ways in which the use of Spanish words in the narrative text adds to my feeling of the authenticity of the text. I personally think that this is a positive took that authors can use when writing to create authenticity, however I think the ways in which these words are used must me carefully considered. One children’s picture book that used this tool of adding in Spanish words in the text is a book called “If The Shoe Fits” by Gary Soto. This book also makes great use of using Spanish words in the text to add authenticity to the text. I used this book in a class of mine before and the children all really enjoyed reading it. We also did an activity so the children could figure out what the Spanish words meant while listening to the story. This activity dealt with teaching the children tactics of using the other words in the sentence of the story or the pictures to deduce the meaning of the Spanish word in the text. I think that this is a very useful way to create authenticity in the text, however, as Barrera stated, “ In order for their (Spanish words) potential to be realized, authors must use these elements strategically and skillfully, and with cultural sensitivity” (247). I think that this idea is very important to consider ESPECIALLY in writing literature for children.

Quotations taken from the article "The use of Spanish in Latino Children's Literature in English: What Makes for Cultural Authenticity?" By Rosalinda B. Barrera and Ruth E. Quiroa (2003)