Nonetheless, I shared with my family my experience reading the book.

Interesting theme!!! Although I’ve visited many Latin American countries I never encountered a librarian and library that traveled long distances. I think children will be intrigued by the unique nature of this traveling library and by Ana’s dream of writing her own stories after reading the stories others have written. Waiting for the Biblioburro is a charming story of a young girl whose life is changed through the power of books and the determination of one man to change the world one child at a time. Monica says the story also spoke to her because it contained the themes of finding your voice, of imagination and determination, of social justice and what we can do to spread literacy, and particularly to help children in the US not only appreciate their opportunities but to help t hem realize that no matter what their personal circumstances are their personal imaginations have no limits. She wrote it from the point of view of Ana, a little girl whose own imagination is set free by the books the biblioburros bring to her distant village. Monica said that Luis’s story sparked her imagination because it showed just how far someone would go to read a book. Luis wanted to give children in remote areas of Colombia access to books, so he loaded up his two burros, Alfa and Beto, with a travelling library so far, he and his biblioburros have brought the joy of books to over 4,000 children. Monica decided to write Waiting for the Biblioburro when she learned the story of Luis Soriano, the founder of the Biblioburro library, a story that certainly captures the imaginations of children and adults alike. Some of these books have been published in dual language English/Spanish versions.

She wrote a series of books about famous Latin Americans, from Celia Cruz to Gabriela Mistral to Gabriel Garcia Marquez. Monica shared that she came from a “global” family and began writing books for children because she wanted to introduce them to the beauty of Latin American culture. I had the opportunity to listen to Monica Brown talk about her book, Waiting for the Biblioburro, at the 2012 Tucson Festival of Books held last March at the UA campus.

Waiting for the biblioburro