Biblioburro: A True Story From Colombia by Jeanette Winter

Reviewed by Miss Dewey at Orenda

Five paw prints.  In South America there is a country called Colombia.  There are parts of the country where the people are very poor and there has been lots of fighting for control of the land.  People are so poor that many families don't have enough money to send their children to school.  A man, named Luis, thinks this is very sad.  He is a teacher who thinks books are very important and that ALL children should go to school and learn.  If children go to school and learn, then they shouldn't be poor when they are older and they shouldn't want to fight over the land.  Luis decided that he needed to help these children so he created a bookmobile using his own books.  But there aren't many good roads where he lives so he has a very interesting bookmobile.  His bookmobiles are two donkeys named Alfa and Beto.  Every weekend Luis, Alfa, and Beto visits villages to give reading lessons to the children and then he leaves books so the children can practice reading while he is gone.  As always, Jeanette Winter has picked an interesting subject for one of her books.  You learn about Luis and what he is doing.  The story is easy for many children to understand, but it's not so long that children would lose interest in the story.  And, in case you want more information, there is more detailed information at the end of the book.  To learn more about this author and illustrator, visit http://authors.simonandschuster.com/Jeanette-Winter/64041479.  To see a video of Luis, Alfa, and Beto, visit http://www.pbs.org/pov/biblioburro/.  (Families, please keep in mind that this is a PBS video that may not be appropriate for all children.)
020 Win