¡Sí, Se Puede! / Yes, We Can! by Diana Cohn

I think it’s important for children in monolingual classrooms to see the value in their ability to use two languages.

However, for students who thought they had to publish in English-only, books like Si, Se Puede! / Yes We Can! show them that it’s possible to tell one story, in two languages, so that even more people will be able to read it. Clearly, a student who is going to take this on as s/he is publishing a piece of writing, needs to be adept with English and their native language. When I saw this book, as well as other books from Cinco Puntos Press, who provided me with a review copy of Si, Se Puede! / Yes We Can!, I thought this book would be a dynamic mentor for bilingual children hoping to write in two languages. This made me think beyond the idea of code-switching, which is something I’ve encouraged my former students to do. Si, Se Puede! / Yes We Can!: Janitor Strike in L.A., is written with English and Spanish on the same page (see photograph). On this page of Si, Se Puede! / Yes, We Can!: Janitor Strike in L.A., the English text is at the top of the page and the Spanish follows beneath it. As I flipped through the pages I was impressed with the way Cohn and Delgado’s prose and artwork, respectively, worked together to tell the story.

It was published in 2002, yet I had never seen or heard of the book. It’s a book based on the successful 2000 Janitorial Strike in Los Angeles. “The worst thing about new books is that they keep us from reading the old ones.” - Joseph Joubert When I was at NCTE less than three months I was captivated with the bilingual picture book, Si, Se Puede! / Yes We Can!: Janitor Strike in L.A., written by Diana Cohn and illustrated by Francisco Delgado.

¡Sí, Se Puede! / Yes, We Can! by Diana Cohn