StreetScenes
2010
Bank Street Writers Lab author Weill is honored for Opuestos, 2nd title in a bilingual series
Cynthia Weill at far left, with the family of artisans who worked on Opuestos.
Opuestos, by Bank Street Writers Lab member Cynthia Weill, offers young readers 15 pairs of opuestos, or opposites, in English and Spanish. Published in 2009 by Cinco Puntos Press (Texas), and available in all bookstores, Opuestos entertains as well as educates its young readers by utilizing colorful, specially commissioned, wooden sculptural folk art from rural artisans in Oaxaca, Mexico to illustrate its concepts. Weill's first book in the series, ABeCedarios, similarly illustrated, teaches children the Spanish/English alphabet. Two other books, Colores and Numeros, are scheduled for publication in 2010 and 2011.
In January 2010, Weill learned that Opuestos had received two honors. First, it was chosen as one of the four best children's books of the year by the Pima County Public Library in Tucson, Arizona, and will be so cited in their annual book, Southwest Books of the Year 2009: Best Reading. Second, The Center for Children's Books at the University of Illinois in Champaign selected Opuestos as one of its "Blue Ribbon Books" of 2009. Only 30 books were awarded this honor, and they will be featured by the Center in The Bulletin of the Center for Children's Books.
In addition, Scholastic Book Clubs contracted to print a special edition of all four books in the series for use in their school book fairs and in their partnership with the Reach Out and Read program to support early literacy.
Weill's first book, Ten Mice for Tet (2003), a counting book, used embroidered Vietnamese illustrations specially hand stitched in Ha Noi, Vietnam, by master embroiderer, Pham Viet Dinh. It was included in the 2003 Notable Books for a Global Society List. Both Ten Mice for Tet and ABeCedarios were selected by the Bank Street Children's Book Committee for its annual Best Children's Books of the Year (2004 and 2007).
Weill has worked extensively in humanitarian assistance and education. She holds masters degrees from Wesleyan and the University of Pennsylvania and is completing a doctoral dissertation at Teachers College on international artistic collaboration.
The Bank Street Writers Lab, created in 1937 by Bank Street College founder Lucy Sprague Mitchell, is a supportive workshop that fosters the creation of children's literature that shows an understanding and appreciation of the language of growing children, is aware of and responsive to children's real and imagined worlds, and affirms the social and cultural heritage of every child.
The Bank Street Writers Lab is an affiliate of Bank Street Center for Children's Literature >>
