Tomas and The Library Lady By Pat Mora

Reading Level: K-3
Genre: Multicultural
Awards: Tomas Rivera Mexican American Children's Book Award

Tomas is the son of migrant workers and during the summer his family moves from their home in Texas to Iowa to work on a farm there.  While Tomas' parents are working Tomas plays with his little brother and listens to the stories that Papa Grande, his grandfather tells him.  Soon though, Tomas knows all his grandfather's stories by heart so Papa Grande encourages Tomas to go to the library to learn new stories to tell his family.  When Tomas goes to the library the librarian there helps Tomas pick out books and Tomas ends up falling in love with the stories that the library holds.  Eventually, Tomas and his family return to Texas but Tomas brings back not only a brand new book of his own but also the title of the family's newest storyteller.

This is a great story because it depicts Tomas in a situation that is probably unfamiliar to a lot of the students that I will teach but he is a lot like any kid because he loves stories and the stories that he loves are stories that a typical boy would love.  This book is based off of the experiences of Tomas Rivera who eventually becomes the chancellor of the University of California at Riverside which gives the story more of a special message because in reality the boy in the story eventually takes his love of learning and becomes a very successful adult.  In teaching this story I would definitely latch on to the fact that this story is based on a true story to make the point that no matter what kind of background you come from you can always become whatever you want if you work hard.  I would have my students write a paper about what they hope to become in the future and what they think they would have to do to reach that goal.