Gabi in her little world / Gabi en su mundito

A publication of La Casita Cultural Center’s Dual Language Reading Circles Una publicación del Centro Cultural La Casita Círculos de Lectura Bilingüe

Written and Illustrated by Escrito e Ilustrado por Ailanees León Aliana Russell-Anamaría Gian Criollo-Rivera Heidy Rodríguez Gómez Karla Anamaría Kiana Anamaría Kimari Jenkins Nereida Edwards Stella Paniagua Stevanna Gray-Rivera Zoe-Ann M. Gray

Graphic Design/ Diseño Gráfico Dashel Hernández Olivia Hager

GABI

in her little world en su mundito

A publication of La Casita Culutral Center Una publicaciรณn del Centro Cultural La Casita

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isten carefully to this story that happened not very long ago….

scucha cuidadosamente esta historia que ocurrió no hace mucho tiempo atrás…

Gabi was a clever, active glamour girl who lived in a house near the forest. She was 12 years old, now in 7th grade, and more than anything she loved running, jumping and tumbling. Her dreams were full of animals. Gabi could speak English, Spanish and French. She could also communicate with the many animals that were always in her dreams.

Gabi era una niña inteligente, activa y glamorosa que vivía en una casa cerca del bosque. Tenía 12 años, estaba en séptimo grado, y más que nada, le gustaba correr, saltar y hacer maromas. Sus sueños estaban llenos de animalitos. Gabi hablaba inglés, español y francés. Ella podía comunicarse con los muchos animales que siempre veía en sus sueños.

One day, Gabi was in school and looked out the window. She saw a cardinal and wondered what he did all day.

Un día, Gabi estaba en la escuela y mirό por la ventana. Viό un cardenal y se preguntó que él hacía durante todo el día.

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The bell rang for recess so Gabi and her friends went outside. She was doing a cartwheel when she heard an unfamiliar voice calling, “Follow me, follow me.” It was the cardinal. Gabi followed his voice into a grove of bushes next to the playground.

La campana del recreo sonó y Gabi salió con sus amigos. Estaba haciendo la voltereta cuando oyó una voz extraña que decía “Sígueme, sígueme”. Era el cardenal.

Gabi siguió su voz hasta unos arbustos al lado del patio de recreo.

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The cardinal’s friend, Pancho, was there too. Pancho was an enchanted unicorn and he was happy to greet Gabi. When Gabi saw Pancho, she was very confused. “Unicorns aren’t real, are they?” she thought. She didn’t know what to believe.

Pancho, el amigo del cardenal, también estaba allí. Pancho era un unicornio encantado y estaba feliz de saludar a Gabi. Cuando Gabi viό a Pancho se sintió muy confundida.

“Los unicornios no son reales, ¿verdad?” ella pensó. No sabía que creer.

Suddenly a bunny hopped into the bushes, gasping for air. “Help me, help me, please! The wolf boy, Moonhowl, threatened to kidnap my family and destroy our home.”

The cardinal and the unicorn were upset to hear this because the bunny, Snoozy, was their friend. Gabi asked her, “How do you know that it was Moonhowl?” Snoozy said, “Because there were scratch marks on the door and there were wolf boy footprints.”

De repente una conejita saltó entre los arbustos, casi sin aire. “¡Ayuda, ayuda por favor! El niño-lobo ‘Aullido-de-Luna’ amenazó con secuestrar a mi familia y destruir nuestro hogar.” El cardenal y el unicornio se preocuparon al oír esto ya que ‘Sueñitos’, la conejita, era su amiga. Gabi preguntó “¿Cómo sabes que fue ‘Aullido-de-Luna’?”

Sueñitos contestó “Porque había arañazos en la puerta y pisadas de niño-lobo.”

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The cardinal begged Gabi to take on the mission of helping Snoozy to find Moonhowl and make peace among the animals again. The cardinal and Pancho offered to use their special powers to help Gabi. The cardinal was brave, fast, smart and he liked to explore, but he was also mischievous. The unicorn’s magical powers were that he could change the weather, breathe fire, and read minds.

El cardenal le suplicó a Gabi que se encargara de la misión de ayudar a Sueñitos a encontrar a ‘Aullido-de-Luna’ y volver a hacer la paz entre los animales. El cardenal y Pancho ofrecieron ayudar a Gabi con sus poderes especiales. El cardenal era valiente, rápido, inteligente y le gustaba explorar, pero también era travieso. Los poderes mágicos del unicornio eran cambiar el clima, respirar fuego y leer mentes.

Gabi insisted, “No, I won’t take on this mission.” The cardinal, the unicorn and the bunny were very disappointed. Then, the cardinal decided to use his tricks and smarts.

He, along with Pancho and Snoozy, just kept strolling down the path, leading Gabi toward the bunny’s family home. Pancho read Gabi’s mind, and realized that she was so hungry that her belly was rumbling and suggested that they gather food for a picnic. They found magic watermelon-shaped seeds, gum, and hotdogs, which Pancho immediately grilled by breathing his fire.

Gabi insistió, “No, No voy a hacer esta misión.” El cardenal, el unicornio y la conejita estaban muy decepcionados.

Entonces el cardenal decidió usar sus trucos y su inteligencia. Junto a Pancho y Sueñitos, siguió paseando por el camino llevando a Gabi hasta la casa de la conejita. Pancho leyó la mente de Gabi y se diό cuenta que ella tenía tanta hambre que su estómago gruñía y sugirió que buscaran comida para un picnic.

Encontraron semillas mágicas en forma de melón, chicle y perros calientes, los cuales Pancho cocinó inmediatamente con el fuego 11 de su respiración.

As the cardinal suspected might happen, the wolf boy caught a sniff of the grilled hotdogs and started to follow the smell. Just as he was roaming closer to the food, he ran through a pile of leaves that was covering a hole on the ground and fell in.

“Gotcha!” the animals said.

Now that the four animals were together the cardinal told Gabi that the animals once had all been friends and asked her again if she would accept the mission. Gabi was no longer hungry so she said, “Yes.”

Tal y como sospechó el cardenal, el niño-lobo olió los perros calientes y siguió el olor. Casi llegando al olor, el corrió por una montaña de hojas que tapaba un hoyo en el piso y cayó en el hoyo. “Te agarramos!” dijeron los animales.

Ahora que los cuatro animales estaban juntos, el cardenal le dijo a Gabi que todos habían sido amigos y le volvió a preguntar si aceptaba la misión. Gabi ya no tenía hambre y dijo que sí.

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Gabi asked the wolf boy, “Why did you threaten Snoozy and her family?” Moonhowl, very annoyed, answered, “Because, Snoozy likes to do pranks and did something to provoke me. She used tape to pull fur off of my tail. So, I went to the bunny’s home and threatened to kidnap them and wreck their house. But, that was just a prank.”

Gabi le preguntó al niño-lobo, “¿Por qué amenazaste a Sueñitos y su familia?”

Aullido-de-Luna contestó molesto, “Porque a Sueñitos le gusta hacer travesuras y me provocó. Usó cinta adhesiva para arrancarme el pelo de mi rabo. Así que llegué a su casa y amenacé con secuestrarlos y destruir su casa.

Pero era solamente una broma.”

Gabi asked Snoozy, “How do you like it when a friend plays a prank on you? The bunny said, “I don’t like it at all. I will stop!”

Gabi le preguntó a Sueñitos, “¿Te gusta cuando tus amigos te hacen bromas?” La conejita contestó “¡No me gusta para nada! ¡No lo hare más!”

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In the distance, Gabi heard the school bell. Suddenly she was back on the side of the playground near the grove of green bushes. She wondered if she had been awake or dreaming about her animal friends.

A lo lejos Gabi oyĂł el timbre de la escuela. De pronto estaba otra vez cerca del patio del recreo, junto a los arbustos verdes.

Se preguntĂł si estaba despierta o soĂąando con sus amigos los animales.

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MEET THE AUTHORS

Ailanees León Age: 10 Donlin Elementary School, Liverpool

Kimari Jenkins Age: 7 Seymour Dual Language Academy, SCSD

Aliana Russell-Anamaría Age: 12 Donlin Elementary School, Liverpool

Nereida Edwards Age: 6 Syracuse, New York

Gian Criollo-Rivera Age: 10 Harry E. Elden Elementary, Baldwinsville

Stella Paniagua Age: 10 Hughes Syracuse Latin School, SCSD

Heidy Rodríguez Gómez Age: 9 Syracuse Academy of Science, SCSD

Stevanna Gray-Rivera Age: 4 The Children's Center, Oswego

Karla Anamaría Age: 9 Donlin Drive Elementary School, Liverpool

Zoe-Ann M. Gray Age: 13 Durgee Junior High School, Baldwinsville

Kiana Anamaría Age: 10 Donlin Drive Elementary School, Liverpool 19

Margot Clark Reading Circles Program Coordinator Margot Clark, MLIS. Lower School/ Elementary School Librarian for 16 years; 2nd year working as a Librarian/Archivist at La Casita Cultural Center and with the Dual-Language Reading Circles Lifelong lover of stories, storytelling and children’s books; strongly believe in the value of each person’s story; love working with young people to create stories.

Many thanks to Syracuse University students who helped facilitate La Casita's Dual Language Reading Circles 2017-18 Dashel Hernández Executive Master of Public Affairs Maxwell School of Citizenship & Public Affairs Syracuse University G‘18

Tajanae Jashaye Harris Anthropology Major Maxwell School of Citizenship & Public Affairs Syracuse University

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La Casita Cultural Center

109 Otisco St., Syracuse NY 13204 Tel: 315.443-2151 Email: lacasita@syr.edu A program of the College of Arts & Sciences, Syracuse University

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