By Leticia Ordaz
Immedium, Inc., 2020
Picture Book, 40 Page, Ages 3 – 8
Little Leticia is growing up near Sacramento, CA. She dreams of being a newscaster but doesn’t understand why none of them look like her! She has a fear of public speaking, is shy, and has lots of work to do to make her dream come true.
It takes hard work, failures, determination, and gumption to swim upstream and maintain your dream, dignity, and positivity!
This is the story of Leticia Ordaz, an Anchor/Reporter for KCRA 3, in Sacramento, CA grew up wondering why the people on television didn’t look like her! She was shy and often spoke so quietly nobody could hear her, but she dreamed of being a news anchor and practiced at home in her room, then began to enter pageants to give her the confidence to perform in front of an audience. Her parents encouraged her in her dream to go to college and she worked her way up the ladder until she landed the job she had dreamed of.
This book is appealing on so many levels. Written without the angst so many books portray when overcoming social barriers, this book is about hard work and perseverance and has no hint of victimism. From the perspective of a minority and a woman, this book is full of hope, ambition, and determination. We can all take away the overall lesson in this book – it takes hard work, failures, determination, and gumption to swim upstream and maintain your dream, dignity, and positivity.
As a reviewer I found myself trying to speak the Spanish sentences in this book, which gave me some perspective of what it must be like to come to a country without the language skills needed. But it was also quite fun and it’s my hope, like that of the author, that more books will be written for a bilingual audience so that literacy can be shared across the board. And what a great way to help children learn other languages as well!! The illustrations convey the emotions and reactions without overwhelming the story. With humorous parts including a snake and lots of mosquitos this book has everything to please readers everywhere.
That Girl On TV Could Be Me! By Leticia Ordaz receives 5 stars from this reviewer.