Armando and the Blue Tarp School
by Edith Hope Fine (Author)
Armando's family is pepenadores, trash pickers, living off things they can use, recycle, and sell from the city trash dump. Armando works with his father to help support the family, but he also finds things for himself--pencil stubs, a notebook, and an old paint set--with which to write and paint.
One summer Senor David arrives and begins teaching school on a blue tarp spread on the ground. Armando's parents finally decide that learning may help him find different work when he grows up, so he begins attending the blue tarp school. The children learn to read and write in Spanish and English. They learn math. And they draw, much to Armando's delight. When a fire in the colonia burns down several homes, it is Armando's picture of the fiery night that helps bring outside support and money to construct a school building.
The story is inspired by the work of David Lynch, a teacher from New York who first began working in a colonia in Mexico in the early 1980s.
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School Library Journal
Gr 1-4 Armando and his family live in a "colonia" near the Tiajuana city dump. Like most of their neighbors, they eke out a meager living by hunting through the mounds of foul-smelling garbage for anything they can use or sell. Then Señor David arrives, spreads a blue tarp on the ground, and sets up a school. At first the boy's parents are reluctant to let him attend because they need him to work for the family, but eventually they realize that this school could lead to a better life for their son. An extensive author's note explains that Señor David is based on David Lynch, a former special-education teacher who has devoted 27 years to teaching children like Armando in a similar "colonia". The well-written text will be an eye-opener for children who take school for granted, and Sosa's masking fluid, watercolor, and ink illustrations, while offering little variety in facial expression, accurately depict the environment. "Grace Oliff, Ann Blanche Smith School, Hillsdale, NJ"
Copyright 2007 School Library Journal, LLC Used with permission.
JUV039070 - Juvenile Fiction | Social Themes | Homelessness & Poverty
JUV030100 - Juvenile Fiction | People & Places | Mexico
Education
Poverty
