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2007 Tomasito's Mother Comes to School/La mamá de Tomasito visita la escuela Ellen Mayer, Joe Cepeda Download a PDF of this publication (548 kb)

When his Spanish-speaking mother makes an unexpected visit to his classroom, second-grader Tomasito is angry and embarrassed…until he discovers that his mother and teacher actually want to get to know each other better in order to help him learn.

A Children's Story and Family Involvement Resource

This bilingual storybook about family involvement at school is designed to engage children and their families. For educators, the printable online storybook is an easy-to-use family involvement tool that supports literacy. The story was developed from research and is based on the real experiences of one Latino boy and his family who are acculturating to the U.S. We hope that the storybook, full of vibrant illustrations by award-winning children's book illustrator Joe Cepeda, as well as information for families and story discussion questions, will delight children, parents, and teachers alike.

See Storybook Corner in the Family Involvement section of this website for these related resources

•  Information for educators about using the storybook

•  A letter from the author to parents and other family members / Una carta de la autora a los padres y a los otros miembros de la familia

•  The research behind the story

•  About the creators of the storybook

To stay informed about future family involvement storybook resources, as well as other innovative research-based tools, visitor our subscription center on this website. 

Permissions and Usage

Text © 2007 President and Fellows of Harvard College. Illustrations © 2007 Joe Cepeda. All rights reserved. Any redistribution or reproduction of part or all of the contents in any form without permission from Harvard Family Research Project, with respect to the text, and Joe Cepeda, with respect to the illustrations, is prohibited, with the exception of the following:

• You may print or download the file to a local hard disk for noncommercial use only.
• You may reproduce hard copies of this publication for noncommercial, educational use in your school or program.

Any reproduction or copying of all or part of this publication as outlined above must include this copyright notice. For questions about permissions, contact Harvard Family Research Project.

The Storybook Corner was developed through a grant from the W. K. Kellogg Foundation, with additional support from the Reading Is Fundamental/Coca-Cola partnership, Reading Takes You Places.