COLORFUL MONDAYS

In this tale translated from Spanish, visits from a bookmobile transform a Honduran neighborhood.

Villa Nueva is a place where “happy stories mix with sad ones.” Young Luis likes to lift his family’s spirits by sharing happy ones. On Mondays, the bookmobile’s arrival at school gives him the chance to replenish his well. Read-alouds, puppet shows, and the books the children choose for silent reading enable Luis and his classmates to “carry a glimmer of happiness back to their homes.” Backmatter explains that the story is inspired by the work of JustWorld International, a nonprofit that partners with the local organization Asociación Compartir. Co-author Rodríguez, a writer, educator, and musician from Trojes, El Paraíso, Honduras, who appears in the book, works with the real-life bookmobile. Though the community is initially described as a blend of happy and sad tales, it’s visually depicted as a depressing place where everyone looks downcast. Monochromatic blues and grays dominate, and rich hues appear only when Luis tells a story and when the bookmobile arrives, suggesting less the uplifting potential of a good story than that these people’s lives would be pure misery if it weren’t for the help of people outside the community. While the art is lush and textured and the story engaging, they can’t make up for this flattening portrayal. (This book was reviewed digitally.)

An attempt at conveying the power of story, dampened by a simplistic depiction of a Latine community.