About the Joy Delgado, Author,
Rebekha always knew she wanted to spend her life working with animals. She never lost sight of that dream. She started her 'career' working with animals in elementary school by writing about them. One of her poems, 'Wish', was published in a national poetry contest. It is about wishing that she was a wolf, for only a day or two. In high school, she continued to write about animals and even entered her writing in local contests.
After high school she went to the University of Florida where she received her B.A. in Anthropology. She then attended the Santa Fe Community College Teaching Zoo and earned her A.S. in Zoo Animal Technology. While she was there, she wrote Zooprise Party / Fiesta Zoorpresa, and several other stories not published yet.
Upon graduation, Rebekha began working at an AZA accredited zoo in Orlando where she still works today.
Joy Delgado is the mother of two, stepmother of one and 'yaya' to her stepdaughter's two girls.
When it came time to buy presents for the 'girls', Joy and her husband Julio decided to buy them books. But not just any books, bilingual books in English and Spanish. These are the two languages spoken in Puerto Rico where they live. The search was on. What they discovered was that bilingual books are hard to find and when you do find them, they are usually about a particular culture.
Joy asked her daughter Rebekha, who was an accomplished writer for help. Rebekha agreed to write stories for the girls. Joy taught herself how to draw on the computer and illustrated the book and Julio then translated the story to Spanish.
As the 'project' developed, it became clear that this wasn't just a book. This was a book that would help teach a second language as well as inform people about animals that aren't very common. From that realization, Joy developed the Activity Book and the Teacher's Guide to take the book beyond reading.
To see how these books and website work together go to:
http://www.laughing-zebra-children-books.com
You can also follow our blog with Zebee the laughing zebra and the rest of the gang at the 'V Zoo' at:
