My Nana’s Remedies/Los Remedios De Mi Nana

A little girl tells how her grandmother makes special teas and warm drinks for her and her little brother when they are not feeling well.

See the review at WOW Review, Volume 3, Issue 2

Sofi Mendoza’s Guide to Getting Lost in Mexico

When Southern California high school senior Sofi Mendoza lies to her parents and crosses the border for a weekend party, she has no idea that she will get stuck in a Mexican village with family she has never met before, unable to return to the United States and the easy life she knew.

Estrella’s Quinceañera

For as long as Estrella Alvarez can remember, her mother has been planning to throw her an elaborate quinceañera for her fifteenth birthday — complete with a mariachi band, cheesy decorations, and a hideous dress. Just thinking about her quince makes Estrella cringe. But her mother insists that it’s tradition. Estrella has other things on her mind, anyway — like dating Speedy. Does it matter that her new friends — and her parents — would never approve of aguy from el barrio? Estrella’s almost fifteen and wants to start making her own decisions. But is she ready to find out who she is — and who she really wants to be?

Chupacabra and the Roswell UFO

In this second ChupaCabra mystery, Professor Rosa Medina has just arrived in Santa Fe where she meets Nadine, a mysterious sixteen-year-old who insists that the two of them travel to Roswell, New Mexico. Nadine is convinced that C-Force, a secret government agency, has decoded the DNA of ChupaCabra and an extraterrestrial. If the two genomes are combined, a new and horrific life form will be created.In this fast-paced mystery, Anaya expands the ChupaCabra folklore into a metaphor that deals with the new powers inherent in science. Is ChupaCabra a beast in Latino folktales, used to frighten children, or a lost species being manipulated by C-Force? Rosa\’s life hangs in the balance as she and her young accomplice try to find a way to stop C-Force before its mad scientists create a monster.

Fitting In

Written with deep understanding and compassion, these are the bittersweet tales of young Cuban immgrants adjusting to life in the United States as they cross the threshold into young womanhood.

El Dilema De Trino

To be thirteen is worthless, Trino Olivares thinks. Trino has three little brothers he’s supposed to look after, but no father he can look up to. He rules at video games, but in the classroom, and out in the real world, he’s barely getting by—just like his mom, who scarcely manages to pay the bills and feed her kids by working all the time.Trino gets angry when he looks around at his terrible life. But when Rosca, an older teen with a vicious streak, invites him to start hanging with his crowd—and maybe make some quick money, too—Trino doesn’t know what to think. What kind of choices does he have, anyway? To run or die?

Ruiz Street Kids / Los Muchachos De La Calle Ruiz

On a hot summer day, a new kid named David rides into the neighborhood. Gossip about the mysterious boy stretches longer than a wad of gum. The kids wonder why he rides a different bike everyday. Is he stealing them? He gets rough at the swimming pool, he scares the younger kids, and he spies over the fence. Why is he always so mean? Is it true that he eats a bee’s nest for breakfast and sleeps on a bed of nails? What does he want from the kids who live on Ruiz Street and why in the world would they ever want to be friends with somebody like David? The young narrator, Joe Silva, introduces intermediate readers to both his friends and their common enemy on Ruiz Street. David doesn’t have good people skills and doesn’t know quite how to improve them.

Isabel’s Texas Two-Step (Beacon Street Girls)

Isabel’s sister Elena Maria is turning fifteen, and the Martinez family is planning her quinceañera — at Uncle Hector’s ranch in San Antonio!