Latin American Story Time is a community event organized by CLACS and the Urbana Free Library since 2006, funded by the U.S. Department of Education. At this event, children and their parents participate in bilingual storytelling and traditional music and art. While the story times are most commonly in Spanish-English or Portuguese-English, they are also held in less common language such as Quechua.
Latin American Story Time typically takes place at 2:00-3:00 PM on the second Saturday of each month during the academic year (September through May), at the Urbana Free Library.
Please check the CLACS Event Calendar for future scheduled story times. Previous story times are listed below:
2025
February 8th, 2025: Drummer Boy of John John reading
2024
January 25th, 2024: Carnivals in Brazil & in the Andes
February 10th, 2024: To Carnival! A Celebration in Saint Lucia reading
February 27th, 2024: Challwaschay / Pececito reading
March 9th, 2024: El mamboretá reading
March 26th, 2024: El reino del revés reading
April 13th, 2024: My Two Border Towns reading
April 23rd, 2024: Caranguejo não é peixe reading
September 14th, 2024: 9 Kilometers reading
September 17th, 2024: Mexican Muralism
September 24th, 2024: Dame la mano reading
October 22nd, 2024: Yaw, Yaw, Puka Pulleracha reading
2023
February 11th, 2023: Guaraní reading
March 11th, 2023: Portuguese reading
April 8th, 2023: Quechua reading
November 11th, 2023: "ABC El Salvador" reading
December 9th, 2023: Portuguese reading
2022
February 12th, 2022: Spanish/English reading
March 12th, 2022: Quechua/Spanish/English reading
April 9th, 2022: Portuguese/English reading
May 14th, 2022: Spanish/English reading of Rescatando palabras / Digging for Words, by Angela Burke Kunkel
2021
February 13th, 2021: Quechua/English reading of ¿Uchuy kanichu? / Am I Small?, by Philipp Winterberg
March 13th, 2021: Spanish/English reading of Across the Bay, by Carlos Aponte
April 10th, 2021: Portuguese/English reading of Eu adoro comer frutas e vegetais / I Love to Eat Fruits and Vegetables, by Shelley Admont
May 8th, 2021: Spanish/English reading
September 18th, 2021: Spanish/English reading
November 13th, 2021: Portuguese/English reading
2020
May 2nd, 2020: Spanish/English reading of Marimba! Animales from A to Z, by Pat Mora
May 22nd, 2020: Spanish/English reading of Drum Dream Girl: How One Girl's Courage Changed Music, by Margarita Engle
June 26th, 2020: Portuguese/English reading of Boa Noite, Lontrinha do Mar / Good Night, Little Sea Otter, by Janet Halfmann
July 24th, 2020: Quechua/Spanish/English reading of Maria Had a Little Llama / María tenía una llamita, by Angela Dominguez
August 22nd, 2020: Spanish/English reading of La Luz de Lucía / Lucy's Light, by Margarita del Mazo
October 24th, 2020: Guarani/Spanish/English reading of Canta, rana, canta / Sing, Froggie, Sing, traditional folksong, illustrated by Carolyn Dee Flores
November 21st, 2020: Spanish/English reading of Sembrando historias: Pura Belpré: bibliotecaria y narradora de cuentos / Planting Story: The Life of Librarian and Storyteller Pura Belpré, by Anika Aldamuy Denise, illustrated by Paola Escobar