Pura Belpré was a Puerto Rican storyteller and folklorist. She built on her love of stories in her career as a librarian at the New York Public Library and as an author. This teaching guide presents a curriculum map for K-12 educators that assumes students will view the documentary about the life and work of Pura Belpré entitled Pura Belpré, Storyteller, and read some of her fiction. As a result of studying about her life, students will understand how Belpré contributed to children’s education and literacy development in New York.
This teaching guide was developed to respond to 2 essential questions:
- What do we know about the folklore carried to the U.S. by Puerto Rican migrants? And,
- What are the contributions of Puerto Rican migrants to the cultural, intellectual and daily life of cities in which they settled such as New York City?
View Teaching Guide
Documentary
Produced by: Center for Puerto Rican Studies
Directed by: Eduardo Aguiar
View complete documentary by registering for the Puerto Rican Heritage Cultural Ambassadors Program Here
Centro Store
Purchase Pura Belpré: Storyteller (DVD)
Pura Belpré, New York City’s first Puerto Rican/Latina librarian, was an ambassador for the New York Public Library’s work with the Latino community. The innovative storyteller used puppetry, arts and crafts as tools to teach kids to read, write and express themselves and transformed a community.
