Intermediate (ages 9-14)

Material appropriate for intermediate age groups

Worlds Apart: Fernie And Me

We met these spirited best friends in Fearless Fernie, and now they’re taking on the world! From boxing a kangaroo in Australia to craving Mexican food in Taiwan, or riding a runaway camel in Egypt and eating cheese as holey and smelly as their socks in Switzerland, the globe is their imaginary playground.

Gary Soto’s accessible and humorous poems will elicit nods of recognition and bursts of laughter as readers enjoy this outrageous jaunt around the world.

The Magic Shell

Living in two cultures – the Domonican Republic & New York – a kid learns to speak English as he overcomes his loneliness.

Our Beckoning Borders: Illegal Immigration To America

Examines the problems connected with illegal immigration in the United States, from the perspectives of the immigrants themselves as well as from that of law enforcement officials.

The Civil War: 1840s-1890s (Hispanic America)

Describes Hispanic American participation in the United States Civil War and how Hispanics in New Mexico and other acquired territories transitioned to becoming a part of the nation.

Sor Juana Ines De La Cruz: A Trailblazing Thinker

Recounts the inspiring story of the young seventeenth-century Mexican girl who, forbidden a formal education and opposed by the Spanish Inquisition, became one of Mexico’s greatest writers and thinkers.

We Are One: The Story of Bayard Rustin

Bayard Rustin dedicated his life to helping others—fighting injustices and discriminations—so that people could live as one. Protesting segregation long before there was a civil rights movement, he often was arrested for his beliefs and actions. As a nonviolent activist, Bayard made his mark working alongside many African American leaders, notably A. Philip Randolph and Martin Luther King, Jr. As an organizer, Bayard was largely responsible for bringing people together to walk for freedom and jobs in Washington, D.C., on that memorable summer day, August 28, 1963. With style and careful attention to history, Larry Dane Brimner captures a story of passion, courage, and triumph through Bayard’s own words and archival photographs in this Jane Addams Children’s Book Award winner.

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.

Novio Boy: A Play

Ninth grader Rudy has a date with eleventh grader Patricia. Now he has to come up with the money, the poise, and the conversation to carry it off. This one-act play, by turns heartwarming and heart-wrenching, follows Rudy from his desperate search for guidance through the hilarious date itself–all the way to its happy conclusion.      Includes a glossary of Spanish phrases. 

Spirits of the High Mesa

In this moving coming-of-age novel set in rural New Mexico, the young protagonist, Flavio, is torn between the seductiveness of progress and new technology and his loyalty to village traditions so steadfastly preserved by his grandfather, El Grande.