Lupe and Maritza are super best friends. When they’re together, they can be anything they want—pirates, scientists, or heroes. When they’re apart, well, life just isn’t as fun. This is the story of two girls who make each day a new adventure. And when they get into a spat—which is inevitable even among the most super, best of friends—they have to find a way to make it right. And luckily, with a little bit of this and a little bit of that, they do.
Primary (ages 6-9)
Material appropriate for primary age groups
First Day in Grapes
All year long, Chico’s family moves up and down the state of California to pick fruits and vegetables. Every September, Chico starts at a new school. Often, the other kids pick on him — maybe because he’s always new, or maybe because he speaks Spanish sometimes. But third grade promises to be different. He likes his teacher, and she recognizes his excellent abilities in math — he may even get to go to the math fair! When some fourth-grade bullies tease him, he surprises them with strengths of his own.
This book has been included in WOW’s Kids Taking Action Booklist. For our current list, visit our Boolist page under Resources in the green navigation bar.
Rene has two Last Names / Rene tiene dos apellidos
Young Rene is from El Salvador, and he doesn’t understand why his name has to be different in the United States. When he writes Colato, he sees his paternal grandparents, Rene and Amelia. When he writes Lainez, he sees his maternal grandparents, Angela and Julio. His new classmates giggle when Rene tells them his long name. So when the students are given a project to create a family tree, Rene is determined to explain the importance of using both of his last names. On the day of his presentation, Rene explains that he is as hard working as Abuelo Rene, who is a farmer, and as creative as his Abuela Amelia, who is a potter. He can tell stories like his Abuelo Julio and enjoys music like his Abuela Angela.
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.
Botas Negras
This story takes place in Mexico in the summer of 1830, during the fight for independence. Neto and his family seek refuge in the countryside, away from the bloody conflict. During this time of anxiety and confusion, Neto finds a friend in a goat named Black Boots. (Spanish version.)
Chiles For Benito / Chiles Para Benito
This charming bilingual fable explains the origins of the all-important chile Chiles ristras adorn the kitchen and dishes all over New Mexico. In the winter, when the nights grow longer and the winds blow stronger, chiles season meats and stews bringing New Mexico spice to every hungry taste bud. But chiles didn’t always grow in New Mexico, and Ana Baca tells a special fable about Benito and the chiles that crawled all over his family’s simple homestead. Benito’s mother sends him to the country fair in the hopes of their cow winning the first place prize. This would give them money to buy some seeds for the crop, but the cow misbehaves and they must leave the fair. Suddenly, Benito is stopped by a mysterious man with a peculiar bird on his shoulder. The man offers Benito some powerful seeds in exchange for his cow, which Benito quickly accepts. But when only uncontrollable weeds grow from the ground, Benito begins to feel foolish. The neighboring farmers begin to complain that the relentless weeds are killing their crop. How will the community survive? Will the rapidly growing weeds ever bear fruit for Benito?
El Barrio
Join a young boy as he explores his vibrant neighborhood. The city shimmers with life—at once a party, a waltz, and a heartbeat. El Barrio is his sister preparing for her quinceañera, his grandfather singing about the past, and his cousins’ stories from other lands. The city is alive with the rhythms of the street. Told in lyrical language and through bold, colorful illustrations, this celebration of Hispanic culture and urban life is sure to fire children’s curiosity about where they live and what they can discover in their own neighborhoods.
Family Pictures, 15th Anniversary Edition / Cuadros De Familia, Edición Quinceañera
Family Pictures is the story of Carmen Lomas Garza\’s girlhood: celebrating birthdays, making tamales, finding a hammerhead shark on the beach, picking cactus, going to a fair in Mexico, and confiding to her sister her dreams of becoming an artist. These day-to-day experiences are told through fourteen vignettes of art and a descriptive narrative, each focusing on a different aspect of traditional Mexican American culture. The English-Spanish text and vivid illustrations reflect the author\’s strong sense of family and community. For Mexican Americans, Carmen Lomas Garza offers a book that reflects their lives and traditions. For others, this work offers insights into a beautifully rich community.
See the review at WOW Review, Volume 3, Issue 2
My Feet Are Laughing
Sadie, an imaginative young Dominican American, relates her experiences growing up in her grandmother’s brownstone house in Harlem.
My Mother and I Are Growing Strong
A five-year-old describes the way her mother is working and coping with problems while her father is in prison.
Tomas And The Library Lady
Tomás is a son of migrant workers. Every summer he and his family follow the crops north from Texas to Iowa, spending long, arduous days in the fields. At night they gather around to hear Grandfather’s wonderful stories. But before long, Tomás knows all the stories by heart. “There are more stories in the library,” Papa Grande tells him. The very next day, Tomás meets the library lady and a whole new world opens up for him. Based on the true story of the Mexican-American author and educator Tomás Rivera, a child of migrant workers who went on to become the first minority Chancellor in the University of California system, this inspirational story suggests what libraries–and education–can make possible. Raul Colón’s warm, expressive paintings perfectly interweave the harsh realities of Tomás’s life, the joyful imaginings he finds in books, and his special relationships with a wise grandfather and a caring librarian.