From a Circle, a Story with Cecilia Ruiz
Author and Illustrator Cecilia Ruiz visited the ISB Library to talk to our French and Spanish Kindergarten classes about her work. Cecilia told our students that “All my drawings start with circle.” Then, she showed them how Mr. Fiorello went from one little circle on a page to the lovable character of her children’s book Mr. Fiorello’s Head. The Kindergarteners really enjoyed Mr. Fiorello’s story and the roller coaster ride he went on after an unexpected change happened in his life — he started losing his beloved hair! From Cecilia’s storybook, they learned life lessons, like “In life things change constantly.” Just like when Mr. Fiorello loses his hair, “Our bodies don’t ask permission to change. They just do.” And, they learned that “we all get angry and sad, but those feelings don’t last forever.” In the final part of her visit, Cecilia taught our Kindergarteners how to draw their own Mr. Fiorellos, whose name they also learned means “little flower” in Italian. Their Mr. Fiorellos did all look like colorful little flowers!
