Honey Blonde Chica

Evie Gomez is one chill chica.She and her best friend, Raquel, hang with the Flojos, a kick-back crew named for their designer flip-flops. And their habit of doing absolutely nothing.But the return of long-lost amiga mejor Dee Dee wrecks Evie and Raquel’s Flojo flow. A few years in Mexico City have transformed their shy, skinny, brunette Dee Dee into a Sangro nightmare. Dee Dee has reinvented herself as “Dela,” complete with tight designer threads, freaky blue contacts, and that signature blond hair.When Raquel wants precisely nada to do with the new Dela, Evie finds herself caught between two very different friends. At heart, is Evie a Cali-casual Flojo chick, or a sexy Sangro diva?How’s a chica to choose?

Latino Voices (Writers Of America)

Latino poets, novelists and journalists contribute to an exciting anthology of works that give voice to the dreams, desires, fears, and painful struggles of the Latino community as they write about family, oppression, and success while living as Americans.

Lasso the Moon

In a compelling story by the author of Lizard, April cannot stop thinking about Fernando, her father’s patient from El Salvador, but when she hears two different stories of his life she wonders which one is the truth.

A Crazy Mixed-Up Spanglish Day

get readyPart of the Get Ready for Gabi Series. In Northern California, Maritza Gabriela Morales Mercado struggles to deal with the third grade.

The Uncertain Journey (Stories Of Illegal Aliens In El North)

Twelve moving stories of men and women who have come to America as illegal aliens in search of a future tell how they struggle to find jobs and warm places to sleep while avoiding deportation.

Rituals of Survival: A Woman’s Portfolio

A collection of five short stories and a novella which offers valuable portraits of New York City women and the rituals of survival that shape their lives.

The Smell Of Old Lady Perfume

Claudia Guadalupe Martinez’s debut novel for young adults is a bittersweet story about death, family, and the resilient emotional strength of the human heart. Chela Gonzalez, the book’s narrator, is a nerd and a soccer player who can barely contain her excitement about starting the sixth grade. But nothing is as she imagined-her best friend turns on her to join the popular girls and they all act like Chela doesn’t exist. She buries herself in schoolwork and in the warm comfort of her family. To Chela, her family is like a solar system, with her father the sun and her mother, brothers, and sister like planets rotating all around him. It’s a small world, but it’s the only one she fits in.But that universe is threatened when her strong father has a stroke. Chela’s grandmother moves in to help the family. The smell of her old lady perfume invades the house. That smell is worse than Sundays. Sundays were sad, but they went just as sure as they came. Death was a whole other thing, and Chela doesn’t understand that’s what everyone is waiting for. In her grief and worry, Chela begins to discover herself and find her own strength.Claudia Guadalupe Martinez was born in El Paso, Texas. She learned that letters form words from reading the subtitles of old Westerns for her father. She went on to graduate from college and moved to Chicago to become one of the city’s youngest nonprofit executives.

Surprising Cecilia

Surprising Cecilia is the second novel-following the success of Cecilia’s Year-about a girl whose dreams carry her far beyond the small farm community she lives in. Both novels are set in the rich Hispanic culture of the Rio Grande Valley in the 1930s. Cecilia has worked hard so that she can go to high school. Now it’s September-the school bus is bringing Cecilia to the new adventures, surprises, and responsibilities of growing up. Susan Gonzales Abraham and Denise Gonzales Abraham are the daughters of Cecilia Gonzales Abraham, the hero of the Cecilia books. Cecilia’s Year has been selected as the Best Book for Young Adults in 2004 by the Texas Institute of Letters.