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Eleven-year-old Margarito, a big fan of the form of wrestling known as lucha libre, begins to suspect that he has a close connection with his favorite luchador, El Angel de La Guardia, the Guardian Angel.
Lupita, a budding actor and poet in a close-knit Mexican American immigrant family, comes of age as she struggles with adult responsibilities during her mother’s battle with cancer in this young adult novel in verse. When Lupita learns Mami has cancer, she is terrified by the possibility of losing her mother, the anchor of her close-knit family. Suddenly, being a high school student, starring in a play, and dealing with friends who don’t always understand, become less important than doing whatever she can to save Mami’s life. While her father cares for Mami at an out-of-town clinic, Lupita takes charge of her seven younger siblings. As Lupita struggles to keep the family afloat, she takes refuge in the shade of a mesquite tree, where she escapes the chaos at home to write. Forced to face her limitations in the midst of overwhelming changes and losses, Lupita rediscovers her voice and finds healing in the power of words. Told with honest emotion in evocative free verse, Lupita’s journey toward hope is captured in moments that are alternately warm and poignant. Under the Mesquite is an empowering story about testing family bonds and the strength of a young woman navigating pain and hardship with surprising resilience.
See the review at WOW Review, Volume IV, Issue 4
This book has been included in WOW’s Language and Learning: Children’s and Young Adult Fiction Booklist. For our current list, visit our Booklist page under Resources in the green navigation bar.
In 1940, Hans and Margret Rey fled their Paris home as the German army advanced. They began their harrowing journey on bicycles, pedaling to Southern France with children’s book manuscripts among their few possessions. Louise Borden combed primary resources, including Hans Rey’s pocket diaries, to tell this dramatic true story. Archival materials introduce readers to the world of Hans and Margret Rey while Allan Drummond dramatically and colorfully illustrates their wartime trek to a new home. Follow the Rey’s amazing story in this unique large format book that resembles a travel journal and includes full-color illustrations, original photos, actual ticket stubs and more. A perfect book for Curious George fans of all ages.
After his home was invaded by Saddam Hussein’s soldiers, a young Kurdish boy named Mohammed and his mother take on a daring quest to flee Iraq; risking their lives to travel through several countries in order to reach freedom in England.
Provides interviews with twenty young Iraqi children who have moved away from their homeland and tells of their fears, challenges, and struggles to rebuild their lives in foreign lands as refugees of war.
Life has been very lonely for Christopher. The young Rwandan refugee is having trouble getting used to his new school, new language, and new life. Worst of all, he misses his grandfather who had to be left behind. His teacher persuades Christophe to share his story with his classmates — so he tells them of the terrifying day the soldiers came to his house and killed his baby brother. The spoken story fills the air and his classmates are spellbound. But when his teacher asks him to write it down and read it out at an assembly, Christophe is horrified. In his culture, it is believed that once a story is written down, it loses its potency. Will Christophe find a way to break through the barriers and share his story?
“You must not use the mountain road.” “We know no other way,” the girl told him. “Perhaps not, but moon does,” answered Tenzin. He knelt down to stroke the long hair from the little dog’s eyes. “Take them. Show them the way.” A young monk is moved by the bravery of two children journeying alone to the freedom of Nepal. He offers what help he can–a hot bowl of soup, a warm bed for the night–but he realizes their best chance lies with Moon. She is the little dog who knows the unguarded paths out of the mountains, the very dog who will leave an ache in his heart when she goes. This story was inspired by the sacrifice and courage of those who struggle to be free. It is not uncommon in Tibet for parents to send their children into the treks through the mountains in the hope they will find refuge in Nepal. During the winter when the passes are not heavily guarded, the bitter cold is considered a smaller threat than remaining at home. Many such children have made it, many have turned back, many more have simply disappeared.
When she is forced to leave Vietnam, a young girl brings a lotus seed with her to America in remembrance of her homeland. “Exquisite artwork fuses with a compelling narrative–a concise endnote places the story effectively within a historical context–to produce a moving and polished offering.”–Publishers Weekly
Describes the experiences of a family of Cambodian refugees as they learn to adjust to a different way of life in the United States while holding on to their ethnic heritage.
Tells the story of a boy and his father who endure danger and difficulties when they escape by boat from Vietnam, spend days at sea, and then months in refugee camps before making their way to the United States.