Book for Kindergartners 2005 - Family Pictures/Cuadros de Familia

Tom & Christie Vilsack Launch Kindergarten Book Tour at Des Moines Art Center

Christie Vilsack and her Iowa Stories 2000 Foundation recently completed the annual distribution of books to Iowa’s kindergartners. This year’s book, “Family Pictures/Cuadros de Familia,” by artist Carmen Lomas Garza, was the fourth in a series of books given to all Iowa kindergartners (this year about 45,000) by Mrs. Vilsack's Iowa Stories 2000 Foundation and the state’s Area Education Agencies. Tom Vilsack joined Mrs. Vilsack at the Des Moines Art Center May 4th to launch the project. Garza joined the Mr. and Mrs. Vilsack to talk about the book and hand them out to kindergartners from Moulton and McKinley elementary schools.

View suggestions on how to use the book in the classroom (in MS Word format).

Garza’s stories are told in both English and Spanish and recall her childhood years growing up in a traditional Mexican American community in South Texas. Her book offers a remarkable visual and written journal of Latino traditions and family celebrations.
Garza’s paintings capture the images she remembers of such activities as cooking tamales with her family, picking oranges for her grandmother and swimming in the Gulf of Mexico.

Tom Vilsack talks about the book “Family Pictures/Cuadros de Familia” with kindergartners at the Des Moines Art Center.

"I hope this bilingual book gives every family a chance to talk about their special family and cultural traditions,” Mrs. Vilsack said. “Like German, Scandinavian, Dutch, Italian, Irish, and Southeast Asian immigrants, who joined the Native Americans here in Iowa, Latino families are blending into communities across our state and contributing to a growing and changing Iowa. This book helps us celebrate our rich immigrant heritage and helps our children understand the importance of speaking and reading more than one language.” Mrs. Vilsack visited 13 kindergarten classrooms in the state’s 12 AEA regions to distribute the books.

The schools included Perry Elementary in Perry, Horace Mann Elementary in Iowa City, Madison Elementary in Davenport, Monroe Elementary in Monroe, Mormon Trail Elementary in Humeston, Shelby County Catholic Schools St. Michael’s Center in Harlan, Hawthorne Elementary in Sioux City, Marcus Elementary in Marcus, South Elementary School in Storm Lake, Cora B. Darling Elementary and Middle School in Postville,.
Margaretta Carey Elementary in Waverly, Marquette School in St. Paul, and Wilson Elementary in Ottumwa.

The book’s publication and distribution were made possible by contributions from Altria, Verizon, Wells Fargo Home Mortgage, Hy-Vee food stores, Beef Products, Inc., Tyson Foods, Nebraska-Iowa Kiwanis, the Iowa Soybean Promotion Board, PRANG, State Farm Insurance Co., Casey’s General Stores, Sallie Mae, Rotary International District 6000, Citigroup, Jolly Time Pop Corn, First Data, Dawn and Jack Taylor, SUDO Corp., Hometown Perry, Iowa, the Iowa Department of Cultural Affairs, the State Library of Iowa and the Iowa Department of Education.

County sponsors included Grinnell Mutual Insurance, Rockwell Collins, Maytag Corp., Roquette America, Integrated DNA, Pella Rolscreen, John and Luise Hanson, the Bright Foundation, CUNA Mutual, HON Industries and Polaris.