A few weeks ago, I received an email asking if I'd consider sharing a new book on Puerto Rico. I frequently get emails asking for me to share new books with MM readers. There's a pretty long waiting list. But here's what caught my eye: ALL of the profits are being sent back to the island to help with its recovery. So I agreed.
Puerto Rico: La Isla del Encanto - The Island of Enchantment is a bilingual coloring workbook with 210 black-and-white pages about Puerto Rican history, culture, and traditions. Although the author wrote the book primarily for children of Puerto Rican descent living outside of PR, it can be enjoyed by any child who is a lover of the world and its beauty!
Melissa López Charepoo, the author and illustrator, says...
"As a Puerto Rican, the suffering after the island was struck by two hurricanes touched me deeply. Today, after six months, thousands are still struggling to obtain basic necessities. In the spirit of service, 100% of the profits for the next year will go to small organizations that have empowered themselves to help others in time of need, and it’s the hope that the funds collected will assist in this later stage of recovery."
The workbook covers a LOT of topics, though none of them in depth. She basically provides the introduction and the reader must find out more using their local library or online resources. It's important to note that this book does require a lot of parental (or teacher!) involvement...especially when it comes to monitoring online resources. So this wouldn't be an informational read so much as a starting point for further exploration. Here are some examples:
But I do love that as I flipped through this book, I found names of people and places that I had never heard of before. I don't know their significance yet, as I haven't had time to research them. But I do think that this book would be a great resource for doing an in-depth study of the island of Puerto Rico.
And the other cool thing is that this comes with full text in Spanish and English...and the Spanish comes first!
So if you'd like to contribute to the island's recovery efforts through the purchase of an educational resource, consider this lovely book. You can find it here on Amazon (aff).
Disclosure: I received a copy of this book for review purposes. All thoughts and opinions are my own.