Название: They Call Me Güero
Автор: David Bowles
Издательство: Ingram
Жанр: Учебная литература
isbn: 9781947627277
isbn:
light as feathers
but guiding me
all the same.
LULLABY
Like lots of border kids,
my first song was a lullaby
that my abuela sang
to warn me and to mystify.
My mom says when I got home,
smiling without teeth,
she took me in her arms
and serenaded me—
Duérmete mi niño
duérmeteme ya
porque viene el Cucu
y te comerá.
Y si no te come,
él te llevará
hasta su casita
que en el monte está.
Go to sleep, my baby
sleep for me right now
to keep Cucu from coming
and swallowing you down.
And if he doesn’t eat you
he’ll take you far from me
to his little cabin
that sits amid the trees.
So I learned the dangers
of this crazy, mixed-up place—
there are monsters lurking,
but family lore can keep you safe.
LEARNING TO READ
When I was a little kid,
my abuela Mimi would ease down
into her old, creaky rocking chair
to tell my cousins and me
such spine-tingling tales
as ever a pingo fronterizo,
crazy for cucuys, could hope to hear.
I always had questions
at the end of Mimi’s stories.
What was the little boy’s name?
What did his parents do
when they found him missing
from his room?
Is there a special police squad
that tracks down monster hands
and witch owls and sobbing spirits
in order to save the boys and girls
that they’ve stolen?
“No sé, m’ijo. The story just ends.
Happened once upon a time.
Nobody knows.”
But I didn’t get it. I was so literal.
I believed every story she told was true.
So I kept asking my questions,
guessing at answers
till she broke down at last
and told me the greatest truth:
“You have to learn to read, Güerito.
You will only find what you seek
in the pages of books.”
So I began to bug my mom
to teach me to read till she did.
I was barely five at the time.
First day of kinder arrived, and I was so excited
at all the books my sister said were waiting
on the shelves for me.
But then the teacher started drawing
the letter “A” on the board, and I soon got it—
none of the other kids could read.
She was going to teach us the alphabet
one letter per day! Not me! No way!
I dropped out of kindergarten,
little rebel that I was.
Instead, my mom took me
to the public library
every day, all year long.
I read book after book after book
delighting in the new tales,
the strange and mysterious places.
And when first grade rolled around
(not optional like kinder),
the school was so amazed at my skill
they put me in a third-grade reading class!
I got picked on, sure, but I was pretty proud
and didn’t care when kids called me nerd.
The school counselor told my folks
I can already read at college level!
And I’ve found lots of answers,
but also many new questions.
Of course I pass all the state tests
with super high scores.
Learning in class is easy for me.
Dad says all those books
rewired СКАЧАТЬ