Children's Magazine Preserves the Spanish Language and Culture

Lawmakers today are debating legislation that would make English America's "official" language. The global economy, however, continues to operate in multiple languages. Being an American does not necessitate giving up or forgetting one's language or culture. As easily as Hispanics can enjoy eating hamburgers and tamales, they can assimilate and still retain their cultural heritage. Iguana, a Spanish language children's magazine, is making it easier for Hispanics to help pass their language and culture on to the next generation.

"There is an ever-increasing number of Spanish-speaking children in the United States," according to the Children's Book Council. "There is also a large number of Spanish-speaking parents in the U.S. who want their children to maintain their Spanish-language skills. As a result, many Hispanic children in the United States, even those who are second and third generation, speak Spanish in the home and retain ties to their roots."

Created and published by Christianne Meneses Jacobs, an elementary school teacher, and her husband Marc Jacobs, Iguana is the first children's Spanish language magazine. As the parents of bicultural, bilingual daughters, they saw that there was very little original Spanish language reading material available. "One of Iguana's goals is to provide parents with a variety of original Spanish language stories to help maintain the language," explains Meneses Jacobs. "It is a fun and educational tool to help preserve the Latino culture and Spanish language amongst all of our children."

The magazine is geared toward children ages 7 to 12. Each bimonthly issue is 32 pages of original Spanish content, including short stories, poems, art and crafts projects, recipes, articles on science, history, geography and even mithology. T-Bo, a rhinoceros iguana that lives in Arizona and has appeared on the cover of several issues, answers questions from the readers. "We do not accept translated articles," Meneses Jacobs stresses. "All of our writers are native Spanish speakers."