Check It Out — Literally!: Sacred Heart Students Publish Their Stories; DCPL Adds to Permanent Collection

Sacred Heart students and the wider community are beaming with pride because their book, Historias y dibujos: Obras de estudiantes de la Escuela del Sagrado Corazón, is now available to purchase online and eight copies are a part of the D.C. public library’s permanent collection!

Through a year-long collaboration shepherded by Spanish teacher Patricia Piñeros between the middle school’s students, La Casa de Cultura El Salvador, Teatro de Luna, Mt. Pleasant Public Library, and Mario Bencastro, the students produced a collection of poems, short stories, and accompanying illustrations about themselves and their families. Piñeros shared that the students composed the collection by interviewing people in their family and engaging in rounds of drafting and editing their pieces and accompanying images.

Many of the family members who were interviewed for the collection were present at the publishing party at the Mount Pleasant library. After welcoming remarks and some grounding in the work of La Casa de Cultura El Salvador from Jeannette Noltenius, students read pieces from the book. Their families, seated in the rows behind more than 70 of the middle school’s students, were visibly moved listening to their stories being told. They were even prouder when student authors signed their copies of the book to close out the event.

To learn more about their stories — you’ll just have to purchase the book or check it out from the library.