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Lulu Delacre, a bilingual children's author and illustrator,
visited Sunnyside Neighborhood Community Services in
Sunnyside, Queens from April 8 to April 12.
During her residency she met with elementary students,
Alzheimer's patients, an English-speaking senior citizens
group, a Spanish-speaking senior citizen group, and
a creative writing group.
About fifteen Alzheimer's patients were entertained
when Lulu sang songs from her books Arroz con Leche,
and Shake it, Morena! A few of the Spanish speakers
recognized the songs from their childhood and joined
in with her.
 With
the Spanish-speaking senior citizens group, Lulu spoke
in Spanish about her writing life in their native language
and the response was overwhelming. After the reading
of a story "At the Beach," from Salsa Stories,
a gentleman shared his memories of his childhood trips
of going to the Beach in Cuba. He expressed his amazement
that the author captured all the details of a place.
During several afternoons, Lulu met with about 100
children ranging from six to twelve years of age who
were part of three after-school programs located at
three different sites, all coordinated by Sunnyside.
Most of the students were Latino and there were quite
a number of them who did not speak English very well.
In her presentations, Lulu read and used slides to explain
how her artwork inspired the stories in her books. She
emphasized with each group that her heritage is inspiration
for her work, and that is the reason why she writes
in English and in Spanish.
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Lulu
Delacre at Sunnyside Neighborhood Community Services
