Books with author George Ancona

Want to grow what you eat and eat what you grow? Visit this lively, flourishing school-andcommunity garden and be inspired to cultivate your own.At an elementary school in Santa Fe, the bell rings for recess and kids fly out the door to check what’s happening in their garden. As the seasons turn, everyone has a part to play in making the garden flourish. From choosing and planting seeds in the spring to releasing butterflies in the summer to harvesting in the fall to protecting the beds for the winter. Even the wiggling worms have a job to do in the compost pile! On special afternoons and weekends, neighborhood folks gather to help out and savor the bounty (fresh toppings for homemade pizza, anyone?). Part celebration, part simple how-to, this close-up look at a vibrant garden and its enthusiastic gardeners is blooming with photos that will have readers ready to roll up their sleeves and dig in. Back matter includes suggestions for further reading and online resources.

For weeks the people of the Brazilian town of Olinda have been sewing costumes, painting masks, and creating giant puppets--preparing for carnaval. Like Mardi Gras in New Orleans, carnaval is a five-day festival of parades, dancing, and singing. But unlike Mardi Gras, Olinda’s carnaval still celebrates the traditions and folklore of the people and the shared cultures--indigenous, European, and African--that make up Brazil. As generations have done each year, the people of Olinda and their visitors give themselves over to the music, dance, and joy of carnaval.

Real kids make a real difference in their communities in this vibrantly photographed chronicle by George Ancona.George Ancona celebrates the joy of kids giving back. In one after-school program, middle-school students mentor and tutor younger children. Via a special partnership, schoolchildren help professionals train assistance dogs for people with disabilities. At a community farm, families plant, grow, and harvest produce for soup kitchens and charities. In these and other examples of volunteering, kids of all ages work together knitting hats and scarves for those who could use warm clothes, packing hot meals to deliver to housebound people, and keeping roadways clean. Young humanitarians reading these accounts may well be inspired to find ways that they can help, too.

Follow four energetic boys as they train for and take the stage in a community dance performance celebrating classic kids’ books.Can you emote like an angry pirate from Treasure Island — and even act out a fake swordfight? When four boys join their schools' dance teams, that’s just one of the numbers being rehearsed for a performance directed by the National Dance Institute of New Mexico, inspired by favorite books such as The Adventures of Tom Sawyer, Where the Wild Things Are, The Thousand and One Nights, and Oh, the Places You’ll Go! Trailing the four enthusiastic dancers is photographer George Ancona, whose copious images capture the infectious spirit of the boys as they learn to dance, act, sing, leap, pretend-fight, change costumes, work hard, and above all, have fun, together with vivacious boys and girls from many other schools.

“This fun and inspiring season-by-season description of a school gardening project could encourage others to repeat this extraordinary experience.” — School Library JournalWant to grow what you eat and eat what you grow? Visit this lively, flourishing school-and-community garden and be inspired to cultivate your own. Part celebration, part simple how-to, this close-up look at a vibrant garden and its enthusiastic gardeners is blooming with photos that will have readers ready to roll up their sleeves and dig in.

CAPOEIRA it's a game, a dance, a martial art! It's a way of expressing oneself through movement and music. With action-packed photographs and accessible text, readers are introduced to this exciting, popular game. At Madinga Academy in Oakland, California, a group of girls and boys practice the acrobatic moves of capoeira. Then they begin to play games to the infectious, rhythmic beat of traditional music and singing. On to Brazil to experience capoeira in its historic birthplace, where it dates back four hundred years. Capoeira developed as a way of fighting among enslaved Africans, was outlawed the the government, and was permitted once again in 1930 as a martial art and game. Back in Oakland, at an end-of-year ceremony, students receive their colored ropes indicating their levels of accomplishment. They also look forward to next year, and the fun of expressing themselves through the game, dance and martial art of capoeira.

From October 31 to November 2, people in Mexico celebrate the festival of el Dia de Los Muertos, the Day of the Dead. This photodocumentary follows Pablo and his family as they prepare to honor the memory of Pablo's grandmother. Ancona's "photographs catch the affirmation of life that fills the Mexican festival arising from both Aztec and Christian customs honoring the dead....Joyful."--Chicago Tribune. "This intriguing book makes an excellent offering during the Halloween season."--School Library Journal. Also available in a Spanish Language edition, Pablo Recuerda.