Planting Stories: The Life of Librarian and Storyteller Pura Belpré

Manhattan. A city of hustle and bustle. Bigger, louder, crowded-yet alive with hope and possibility.
What began as a visit to celebrate her sister’s wedding becomes the first steps in a new land—y una vida nueva-for Pura.
She works first in a garment factory. But it is cold floors and hard edges, not the soft, fertile ground
where seeds take root.
Then a golden opportunity! ¡Una bendición! The library needs a bilingual assistant. Pura speaks Spanish, English, and French. She is perfect for the job.
But where are her abuela’s stories? Not one folktale from Puerto Rico is on the shelves.
How lucky for the library that Pura has story seeds
ready to plant and grow.
In the children’s room, she lights the story hour candle… and begins: Her eyes dance! Her voice sings!
Pura’s words paint a picture of a little house with a round balcony, where Martina, a beautiful Spanish cockroach, meets Pérez, a handsome and gallant mouse.
El ratoncito Pérez y la cucarachita Martina, a tale from the tamarind tree.
When Pura’s story is done, each child makes a wish on the candle, and, with a wisp of air… whoosh!
La vela is blown out.
Now Pura has a wish, too: to plant her story seeds throughout the land. Pura learns to make puppets. She snips and sews their clothes… paints their delicate faces.
Families come to hear folktales en inglés y español,
to watch Pura’s puppets dance across the stage of her stories.
But the library needs libros for its shelves. How can more children read Pérez y Martina and other cuentos de Puerto Rico?
Pura puts her story in an envelope and mails it to Frederick Warne, a publisher.