Planting Stories: The Life of Librarian and Storyteller Pura Belpré

Denis, A. (2019). Planting stories: The life of librarian and storyteller Pura Belpré. (P. Escobar, Illus.) Harper.

This book tells the life story of Pura Belpré, the first Puerto Rican librarian in New York City, from her visit to America in 1921 to the end of her life. The author, Anika Aldamuy Denise, felt a connection to this story because she is also a storyteller in a family of immigrants. Pura Belpré brings a sense of pride to Denise, encouraging her to tell Pura’s story well and accurately, and she does. Spanning through the entirety of a life may seem like too large a scope, but Denise makes sure to mainly focus on the most impactful moments like creating puppets for her stories, sending her stories to a publisher, and getting married. This allows the reader to witness the full impact and scope of Pura’s life in the small amount of space a picture book provides. To keep the culture alive within the text, Denise includes Spanish words and phrases often allowing the context to translate sometimes by simply repeating the phrase in English and sometimes trusting that the story is enough to carry the translation, though it is never complicated enough to confuse the reader or distract from the story. The inclusion of the second language allows the culture that is so prominent in Pura’s story to come through giving readers that come from the same or a similar culture to find something to relate to. The text itself also breathes life into the story; it is appropriately sized for the book, but changes in both size on font when the words need a bigger emphasis either to perpetuate the theme or express the joy Pura finds in storytelling.

Using the metaphor of telling stories being an act of planting seeds, she brings an imagery and creativity to the biography that adds a new dynamic to it. The metaphor is not just a cool idea from Denise either – it is based off a written goal of Pura’s where she expresses wanting to be like Johnny Appleseed, planting stories the way he planted apple seeds. We are provided this information through an insightful Author’s Note at the end of the book, offering further detail into the life of Pura. Also included is a quick summary of each tale referenced within the story and a list of references containing books, archival collections, and films.

The illustrations provided by Paula Escobar and made with digital art help to enforce the nature theme of the story including flowers and greenery on every page. They complement the words illustrating each moment mentioned but also provide information that the words allude to like the meeting of Pura and her husband and then his death. This allows the full scope of her life to be seen without dwelling on particulars that are not necessarily needed to understand her life. The last spread is the best example of words and illustrations coming together. With the words, “The seeds she planted…” in the special font, the image displays an older Pura in a library with children and trees surrounding her.