The Latina
Book Club welcomes children’s author Diana Lee Santamaria. As a child she struggled with reading so she
understands the importance of literacy. As
an educator she recognizes the need for more diverse books. Hence, the birth of DLee’s World – bright fun
stories that engage young readers and expands their learning.
GIVEAWAY! Please leave a comment below to win a free
copy of DLee’s World.
"As a child who
struggled with reading, I understand the importance of literacy and making it
fun for children, so I work on bringing all the essential elements into DLee's
World to engage children and increase learning." --Diana Lee Santamaria
Q: Schools
seem to slowly be coming to the realization that there are no books with
“diverse” characters –African-American, Asian, and Hispanic – available for
children. As an educator, do you also think that, “we need diverse books?”
Yes, I do
believe that there is a lack of books displaying diversity. Therefore it is my
belief that as educators, we need to begin introducing books that have diverse
characters with which children can relate. Growing up, I remember reading books
and seeing characters in those books, which I felt did not look like me. So at times,
it was hard for me to relate to them. I wondered why there were no characters
that even remotely resembled my family or me. That idea sparked something in me
and I decided that the characters in my stories would include people of all
distinctions. Therefore as a children’s writer, I made sure to create a group
of diverse characters in “DLee’s World,” to which all children can relate. As
our population is getting more and more diverse, it is important to display
that diversity throughout all forms of media including books - and with
children’s books a great avenue to start.
Q: Who is
DLee and how did she come to be?
DLee the
character represents bits and pieces of me as a child and as an adult. DLee is
a quirky and inquisitive preschooler who loves to learn and have fun. The name
DLee derives from my own name Diana Lee. As a child, my mother always called me
DLee and I decided to use the name because I think it is catchy, cute, and different.
It just seemed so appropriate. Thanks Mom! When I wrote my first story, I was
not quite sure who my character was going to be. But I did know that I wanted
the character to represent someone who was different then the norm. Then I thought
back to the way I looked as a child and figured that my childhood appearance
would make a great character. Since I had a full face and large glasses, I
experienced a lot of ridicule from children and even adults. Thus based on my
own personal experiences, I wanted my character to represent that child who does
look different; and I would hopefully demonstrate to children that it is okay
to be divergent and also show children to be accepting of others no matter how
they look. However, the difference between DLee and me is that as a child I was
very shy and fearful of everything.
It wasn’t till later in life, after enrolling in acting classes, that I was able to fully come out of my shell and become the “DLee” I always wanted to be. So I created a character that was the opposite of me as a child and more like me as an adult. As a result, I used DLee as an outlet to share my knowledge of early childhood education concepts and knowledge of children and their struggles inside and outside of the classroom to create my bright, bold, and fun preschool learning stories. Additionally, each character in DLee’s World has been created in the image of the people closest to me. For example, DLee’s mother, father and best friend were created in the images of my actual mother, father, and fiancé.
It wasn’t till later in life, after enrolling in acting classes, that I was able to fully come out of my shell and become the “DLee” I always wanted to be. So I created a character that was the opposite of me as a child and more like me as an adult. As a result, I used DLee as an outlet to share my knowledge of early childhood education concepts and knowledge of children and their struggles inside and outside of the classroom to create my bright, bold, and fun preschool learning stories. Additionally, each character in DLee’s World has been created in the image of the people closest to me. For example, DLee’s mother, father and best friend were created in the images of my actual mother, father, and fiancé.
Q: Does writing about personal experiences make
the writing easier?
I think
incorporating personal experiences does make creating concepts of DLee’s World
easier however it does not necessarily simplify the writing process. For
example, I had a great story in mind that I wanted to write about DLee going to
the zoo with her abuela and abuelo. Unfortunately, for some reason when I went
to write the story it just wasn’t coming out right. Since, for now, all my
stories incorporate rhymes, I was having trouble making the story fit the
“DLee’s World” rhyme scheme, which can make the writing process a lot more
difficult than you would think.
Q: You have plotted 15 books in the DLee series.
What kind of stories should we expect? Are there any plans to translate DLee's stories
into Spanish?
Yes, I am
proud to say that I have already written a total of 15 DLee stories and I am
always brainstorming new concepts for future books. Each of my stories touches
upon different objectives that preschool teachers would use in early childhood
classrooms. My books include concepts related to all educational domains social,
emotional, cognitive, mathematics, literacy, language, science and so on.
Resultantly, I have written books on color recognition, number and numeral
recognition, new experiences like the first day of school, and moving, sharing,
germs, being afraid of monsters, planting seeds, exploring caterpillars etc. I
would love to one day be able to translate DLee’s stories into various
languages including the Spanish language. I think translating my books would be
a great opportunity to take DLee to the next level to allow all non-English
speaking children to experience DLee’s World learning books. My stories have
been created so that children can relate, learn, and have fun with literacy.
However, they are also supposed to be useful resources or tools for parents,
teachers and families of all diversities.
Q: I noticed that your website offers a lesson
plan and cue cards for each book. Can a schoolteacher use your books in the
classroom or are they for personal reading only?
Most
definitely! My website does offer free lesson plans, cards or cutouts, and
assessments for both parents and teachers to utilize. As a teacher, I wanted to
make sure that my books were relevant to children as well as resourceful
learning tools for both parents and educators to utilize at home or in the
classroom. Therefore, I created lesson plans that coincide with each book that
anyone can use to enhance the learning experience for each child or group of children
reading my books.
Q: Tell
us about yourself and how teachers and parents can get a copy of your books.
Also, give us your website and social network addresses.
My name is
Diana Lee Santamaria and I am a quirky, positive, creative, fun, and artist
Hispanic woman who loves spending time with my family and friends, working and
helping to teach children and most of all writing children’s books. I have been
teaching for six years and I have a Master’s Degree in Early Childhood Education.
I absolutely love working on my DLee’s World Series and cannot wait till early
childhood children and educators everywhere are experiencing my bright, bold,
fun learning books for themselves!
DLee’s
World books are available on paperback and kindle and can be found on www.createspace.com, www.dleesworld.com under the BUY NOW tab, www.amazon.com in addition to Funky Monkey
Toys and Books in Greenvale, NY and Orion Toy Works in Delaware Water Gap, PA.
My website
is www.dleesworld.com
and my
social networking addresses are as follows: Facebook: www.facebook.com/dleesworld
Instagram:
www.instagram.com/dleesworld
Twitter: www.twitter.com/dleesworld
Google
Plus: www.google.com/+dianaleesantamaria
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