Seventeen-year-old Chloé Rodriguez, who inherited her uncle’s beloved Harley after his death, spends the subsequent year trying to pass chemistry, wondering whether she should look for her birth parents, and beginning an unlikely relationship with her chemistry tutor, while also trying to figure out how she really feels about the boy who has been her best friend since they were children.
Young Adult (ages 14-18)
Material appropriate for young adults
Tortilla Chronicles: Growing Up In Santa Fe
A family memoir full of New Mexico flavor, Tortilla Chronicles serves up a hearty helping of the “City Different” from the perspective of the humble, hardworking Romeros, a family honored for its contributions to regional folk arts. Marie Romero Cash, herself a renowned artist, poignantly sketches each family member using his or her own voice. Their stories present a rare glimpse into the life of a traditional Hispano family and provide an antidote to typical nostalgic tourist accounts of 1950s Santa Fe. One of the main characters is Santa Fe itself, and the narrative tours the city’s streets, shops, plaza, and surrounding hills and arroyos in astounding detail. The ancestry and rituals of family life, the culture and religion of northern New Mexico, and the growth of a neighborhood and its children are all part of the recipe.
Tyrone’s Betrayal (Roosevelt High School)
Drinking and fighting are nothing new in Tyrone’s house, but this time, his dad leaves and doesn’t come back. Tyrone’s anger at his father’s desertion finds an outlet through violent eruptions at school. Life at home is no better as his mother begins working a night job to pay the bills and expects him to take care of his siblings. Instead, he starts partying with older kids, skipping school, and sneaking home in the early morning hours. But when his younger brother is caught stealing candy, Tyrone realizes that he will have to take on the responsibility whether he wants to or not. Settling in to his new role, Tyrone is furious when he learns that his father wants to come home. He just doesn’t understand how his mother can forgive his father so easily. With the help of his friends and counselor, Tyrone begins to deal with his feelings of anger and betrayal as the son of an alcoholic, absentee father. This book is the seventh novel in Gloria Velasquez’s popular Roosevelt High School series, which features a multiracial group of teenaged students who must individually confront social and cultural issues (such as violence, sexuality, and prejudice) that young adults face today.
The Confessional
Mexican guy. White guy. Classmates and enemies from across the border and on each other’s turf. Big fight. White guy wins. Next day, he’s dead. Everyone’s a suspect. Everyone’s guilty of something.
Does what you look like or where you come from finally determine where your loyalties lie? Who’s Us? Who’s Them? Which side is your side? Is it Truth?
Contemporary politics, the consequences of guys-being-guys, and questions about faith and personal responsibility pulse throughout the pages of this provocative, eloquent debut.
¡scandalosa!: A Honey Blonde Chica Novel (Honey Blonde Chica)
In this sequel to Honey Blonde Chica, Evie Gomez finally has it all: a sweet boyfriend, two mejor amigas, and an upcoming sixteeñera that’s the talk of the school. Too bad reality has a way of ruining things. Just when things look perfect, everything starts to unwind. Evie’s life takes one bad turn after another. Things can’t get more complicated…can they?
Nerdlandia
A humorous play in which Martin, a Chicano nerd, undergoes a transformation with the help of his friends and experiences true love. Includes a glossary of Spanish words and phrases used in the dialogue.
Seeds of Struggle, Songs of Hope
This is a collection of poetry written by Chicano/Latino youths about their dreams, struggles, identity, hope and love.
The Migrant Project: Contemporary California Farm Workers
The images in this book highlight the lives of the men and women who struggle to exist while literally feeding this country. Countless words and studies over decades bemoan the plight of those who toil in the fields, but Rick Nahmias’s pictures bring farm workers to us in an unforgettable way, taking us beyond stoop labor stills and into their intimate moments and inner lives. Having traveled over four thousand miles to document California’s migrant workforce, Nahmias’s soulful images and incisive text go beyond one state’s issues, illuminating the bigger story about the human cost of feeding America. The Migrant Project includes the images and text of the traveling exhibition of the same name, along with numerous outtakes and an in-depth preface by Nahmias. Accompanied by a Foreword from United Farm Worker co-creator Dolores Huerta, essays by top farm worker advocates, and oral histories from farm workers themselves, this volume should find itself at home in the hands of everyone from the student and teacher, to the activist, the photography enthusiast, and the consumer.”Every day in the hot fields of California, hundreds of thousands of farmworkers toil for long hours at low pay to provide fruit and vegetables to feed our nation. Most Americans never see the faces of these hard-working men and women, and know little or nothing about the harsh conditions they endure. The Migrant Project has done an extraordinary job documenting these workers’ lives. Rick Nahmias’s powerful photographs and the beautiful essays of dedicated advocates tell an inspiring story of the farmworkers’ historic struggle for the respect, the dignity, and the justice they so obviously deserve.”–U.S. Senator Edward M. Kennedy, Massachusetts “Nahmias’s images starkly capture both the humanity of the farm workers who literally feed our country, and the inhumanity of a system which has kept them and their predecessors prisoners to poverty for decades. This book is a testament to the flesh-and-blood cost of feeding America.”–Arianna Huffington, author, editor-in-chief of The Huffington Post, and nationally syndicated columnistExhibition schedule for The Migrant Project photographs:Mexican Cultural Institute, Washington D.C., February 21-April 14, 2008Museum of Tolerance, Los Angeles, California, March 4-April 25, 2008For more information on immigrant and migrant worker issues, please access the following organizations:Farmworker JusticeCalifornia Rural Legal AssistanceNational Association of State Directors of Migrant EducationNational Council for La RazaInternational Relations Center Americas ProgramCongressional Hispanic Caucus InstituteGlobal Commission on International MigrationInstitute for Agriculture and Trade PolicyNational Farmworker MinistryNational Rural Funders CollaborativeNational Farm Worker AllianceSouthern Poverty Law CenterUMOS Clergy and Laity United for Economic JusticeAmerican Friends Service CommitteeAFL-CIOCoalition for Comprehensive Immigration ReformCatholic Campaign for Immigration Reform
The Year Of Our Revolution: Love And Rebellion In The 1960s: Stories And Poems
Teenaged Mary Ellen-known to her parents as María Elenita-is pulling away from their conservative Puerto Rican world, towards dreams of rock music, political protest, and first love. But as she learns about the “secret” lives of her parents and other adults, she finds that the taste of freedom is not so sweet. Judith Cofer’s new collection-drawn from her own adolescence, with a novella included especially for the paperback edition-will speak to readers of both sexes, and all races.”…her descriptions of barrio life with a pervasive current of sensuality and rebellion…there is wisdom aplenty in this radiant collection.” -Publishers Weekly
¿de Veras?
For one month each year, the National Hispanic Cultural Center in Albuquerque brings together New Mexico teens for a creative writing program that immerses them in a process of reflection and creativity while encouraging them to explore their identity as people, as a culture, as a region, and as a society. These students unite their varied experiences, backgrounds, and beliefs to form a supportive community of respect through conversation and writing.¿de Veras? (really?) features a collection of poems, essays, and stories written in the Voces program between 2002 and 2006 that represent the diversity of perspectives and individuality of voices of the young creators. These writings reflect the authors’ courage to examine their lives, their neighborhoods, their families, and their cultures. What emerges is their amazingly perceptive, sometimes damning, yet always-honest insights.