Tomás and the Library Lady

by José Cruz González, based on the book by Pat Mora
Childsplay Theatre Company

Friday, October 5, 2007
9:45 a.m. and 1 p.m.
Recommended for grades 3 - 6

Tomás loves stories! Grandfather tells them every night during the long summers, when the family leaves Texas to pick crops in Iowa. But soon Tomás knows all the stories by heart, and that’s when Papa Grande tells him there is a place full of stories he’s never heard before: the library. When Tomás meets the library lady, nothing is ever the same again. Tomás and the Library Lady celebrates the wonder of reading.

Tomás and the Library Lady, a play with music adapted by José Cruz González from the book of the same name by Pat Mora is based on the inspiring true story of Tomás Rivera.  Rivera grew up in a migrant worker family, befriended a librarian in Iowa, and learned to love books and the places they took him. Tomás went on to a successful career in academia and became the Chancellor of the University of California at Riverside. This timely story inspires children to look beyond the confines of poverty, language barriers, and cultural intolerance to find joy in reading.