Pedro's Yo-Yos: How a Filipino Immigrant Came to America and Changed the World of Toys

by Rob Peñas, Carl Angel (Illustrator)

Overview

Discover the backstory of one of America's favorite toys, the yo-yo, in this colorful biography of businessman Pedro Flores.

It can spin and roll, leap and twirl. You can stretch it between your hands or swing it between your legs. The tricks you can do with one are nearly endless. No wonder the yo-yo is one of the most successful toys ever made! And its popularity began with a Filipino immigrant.

Pedro Flores was born in the Philippines in 1896, when Spain still ruled his country. After the US took over, Pedro traveled to California, received an education, and looked for ways to go into business for himself. Then he remembered a toy from his childhood called the yo-yo, which means "come back" in Tagalog. With a couple of blocks of wood and a little string, Pedro created his first model yo-yo and practiced tricks to show it off.

It was an instant hit! When children saw the yo-yo in action, they clamored to get one themselves. So Pedro always performed his tricks near movie theaters, outside candy shops—anywhere he knew children would see the toy. Soon he was hiring fellow Filipinos to advertise it for him, while he ran factories that manufactured more than a million yo-yos a week! Winner of Lee & Low's New Voices award, Pedro's Yo-Yos is the lively story of one immigrant's ups and downs as an entrepreneur and his determination to create a toy that would capture the imagination of children and adults all over the world.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9781620145746
Publisher:	Lee & Low Books
Publication date:	04/30/2024
Pages:	40
Sales rank:	761,661
Product dimensions:	9.50(w) x 9.50(h) x 0.50(d)
Age Range:	4 - 7 Years

About the Author

Rob Peñas is a second-generation Filipino-American whose parents immigrated to the United States in the 1960s. He grew up in a house filled with books and playing 16-inch softball. Pedro's Yo-Yos was a New Voices winner and marks his debut. Rob was inspired to write this book when he learned that the ever-popular yo-yo toy was credited to a Filipino. It was important to Rob that Pedro's story and achievement not be left in obscurity. He lives with his family in Kansas, where the prairie is not too far away.

Carl Angel is a visual artist who enjoys participating in the creation of narrative media—whether it is illustration, design, or independent films. He has illustrated, designed, and art directed numerous books for young readers, including Lakas and the Manilatown Fish, Willie Wins, and Xochitl and the Flowers / Xóchitl, la Niña de las Flores, among others. He lives with his wife and son in Burbank, California. Visit his site at carlangel.com

Editorial Reviews

04/15/2024

This contextualizing origin story of one of the most successful toys of all time doubles as the biography of Filipino entrepreneur Pedro Flores (1896–1964). Born during Spain’s rule of the Philippines, Flores immigrated to the United States at 15 after the country was sold to the U.S. Arriving in Honolulu, he labored in pineapple fields, then took work on steamships, before heading to high school years later. Working as a bellhop in Santa Barbara, he “felt no better off than when he left the Philippines,” Peñas writes. To entertain the child of a family he stayed with, he carved a wooden yo-yo, a version of a childhood toy he’d played with back home, and taught the boy tricks. Word spread, and Flores soon opened one factory, then more, to manufacture yo-yos. Angel’s uneven digital illustrations capture experiences of colonialism and labor alongside the joy of a new toy in this well-researched picture book affirming ingenuity and perseverance. An author’s note and more concludes. Ages 4–7. (Apr.)

Publishers Weekly

* "Bright smiles on the faces in Angel's illustrations add even more warmth to Peñas' insightful and stirring account. A glowing addition to the stories of immigrants who have made good in this, their new country." — Kirkus Reviews, starred review

"Informative...The concise text, which nicely encapsulates key moments from Flores' life, is beautifully accompanied by Angel's naturalistic and expressive digital paintings." — Booklist

"Peñas's straightforward text is well supported by deeply saturated images that illustrate Flores's experience as an immigrant... Readers will delight in learning (or remembering) how to 'Rock the Baby,' 'Loop the Loop,' and 'Walk the Dog.'" — The Horn Book

"This contextualizing origin story of one of the most successful toys of all time doubles as the biography of Filipino entrepreneur Pedro Flores... Digital illustrations capture experiences of colonialism and labor alongside the joy of a new toy in this well-researched picture book affirming ingenuity and perseverance." — Publishers Weekly

New Voices Award Winner - Lee & Low Books

From the Publisher

★ 2024-01-05
How the toy that taught millions to “walk the dog” and “rock the baby” came to America.

In the wake of the American occupation of the Philippines following the Spanish–American War, Pedro Flores (1896-1963) emigrated at 15 to work as a bellhop. He invented a refined version of what was known in his childhood as a yo-yo—a term that means “come back” in Tagalog—and ended up having to open multiple factories to keep pace with the demand. When he later sold the business to Chicago entrepreneur Donald Duncan, he stayed on for years and oversaw promotional demonstrations and competitions that sent the popular toy all over the world and even into space. Though, as the author explains in an afterword, the yo-yo (first called a “bandalore” and originally from China) was known in other countries, it was not all that popular until Flores redesigned it with a slip-string to make it more versatile; he also came up with some of the most spectacular yo-yo tricks himself. One illustration of him dramatically showing them off before an astounded crowd may inspire young yo-yo enthusiasts to make use of the helpful leads to print handbooks and websites found at the tail end. Bright smiles on the faces in Angel’s illustrations add even more warmth to Peñas’ insightful and stirring account.

A glowing addition to the stories of immigrants who have made good in this, their new country. (Picture-book biography. 7-9)

Kirkus Reviews