Elta Paulina Morales (left) handing over “Chella y la Mujer Misteriosa” to a representative of Prince Bernhard Cultural Fund Caribbean.
PHILIPSBURG–Spanish-language book Chella y la Mujer Misteriosa by author Loekie Morales has been published by Beyond Kultura Events Foundation. The full-colour book was recently presented to a representative of Prince Bernhard Cultural Fund Caribbean in Curaçao by the author’s sister Elta Paulina Morales.
Prince Bernhard Cultural Fund Caribbean has subsidised the cost of translating the book, which will be soon handed over to Philipsburg Jubilee Library.
The book is a thriller for children from the age of eight years old and depicts the story of a stubborn girl who will not listen to her grandmother and finds herself in a desperate situation.
“The story teaches children to open their eyes and ears to strange things happening in their surroundings. They learn that being obedient to good parents has a simple and protected goal, that they cannot go away with strangers, even how nice and sweet they look like,” Morales stated in a press release. The story is illustrated by Penka Petkova, an artist of mural paintings in St. Maarten.
The 500 printed copies will be mainly used to encourage migrant children of Spanish-speaking background to read more. The books will be distributed among primary schools and after-school programmes in St. Maarten to support comprehensive reading. All primary schools in St. Maarten and Curaçao will receive reading books free of charge.
“There are more and more children today who are Spanish-speaking in St. Maarten and in Curaçao. Many are growing up without books or hardly come into contact with reading and books. Some are hardly reading out loud.
“Beyond Kultura Events Foundation (BKE) aims to promote reading and writing, but also storytelling. This book can stimulate more Spanish-speaking children to read, listen to stories and to use fantasies, to invent stories and to share them with their peers. This stimulates the ability to listen better, and also enhances the art of understanding what you read,” Morales explains. By publishing in Spanish, BKE reaches out to children in the Spanish-speaking Caribbean, as well, she said.
Chella y la Mujer Misteriosa will also be read during the upcoming Kids Night Out 2019, an evening story event for children, which will take place at Philipsburg Cultural Centre on Saturday, July 6.
Source: The Daily Herald https://www.thedailyherald.sx/islands/87442-morales-going-spanish-with-chella-y-la-mujer-misteriosa
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