D.C. Students Delighted to Meet Salvadoran Children’s Book Author

Roxana Mendez with 3rd grade students at Tubman Elementary School.

When award-winning author and poet Roxana Mendez announced she was from El Salvador, many students excitedly shared that they — and/or their parents — were, too. Before even seeing Mendez’s new children’s book, these Spanish-speaking 3rd graders were overjoyed to meet an author from their home country.

This was during an author visit on March 12 at Tubman Elementary School (DCPS) in Washington, D.C. Mendez is on tour with her just-released children’s book, El monstruo sotobosque. While in D.C., she also read to students at Sacred Heart School and Oyster Bilingual (DCPS). Jeannette Noltenius of Casa de la Cultura El Salvador arranged the visits to introduce more Salvadoran children’s literature to students in the United States.

The storyline of the book resonated with students at all the schools. As the publisher explains,

Student with hand-painted bookmark.

El monstruo sotobosque is about a 9-year-old immigrant named Lila. Everything is new for Lila — her school, home, and neighborhood. However, she is not alone. Although she does not know it, the myths and traditions of her ancestors traveled with her. Among them, there's a friendly monster from the mountains and volcanoes of Central America. She discovers that mysteries are never static. They move, just like she did.

Mendez was joined by educator Karen Vargas of Sueños y Letras, a small publisher devoted to cultivating a love of reading among young people in El Salvador.

Together they read excerpts from the book and engaged the students in a range of interactive activities. For example, they distributed colorful images around the room. As they read a passage from the book, they invited students to hold up the corresponding image. In appreciation, the student received a hand-painted bookmark by the illustrator, Kiki Garcia.

The Tubman visit was coordinated by Teaching for Change DCAESJ program manager Vanessa Williams and Tubman staff — literacy coach Rebecca Nolin, school principal Amanda Delabar, and Spanish specialist Sergio Salgado.

Vanessa Williams, Rebecca Nolin, Roxana Mendez, Karen Vargas, and Sergio Salgado.

Roxana Mendez, Amanda Delabar, Jeannette Noltenius, Vanessa Williams, and Karen Vargas.

As soon as there is a distributor for El monstruo sotobosque in the United States, we will add a link. In the meantime, check out more books and recordings by Roxana Méndez: Las bañistas, Máquinas voladoras, La lluvia de 1979, El libro secreto, El cielo en la ventana, El gato mecánico, Clara y Clarissa, El Mercado, Olivia y la carreta chillona, and Mnemosine y Memoria.  Learn more from this Words Without Borders interview, “The City and The Writer: In El Salvador with Roxana Méndez,” and the DC Public Library Hispanic Heritage Month 2022 event recording with Roxana Méndez and Jorge Galán.

Salvadoran children’s book author Jorge Argueta had visited Tubman in 2019 during Teach Central America Week. Given the Tubman students enthusiastic response to these visits, we would not be surprised if one or more of them returns to Tubman in the future as authors themselves.