Dizzy In Your Eyes

Beloved children’s book author and speaker Pat Mora has written an original collection of poems, each with a different teen narrator sharing unique thoughts, moments, sadness, or heart’s desire: the girl who loves swimming, plunging into the water that creates her own world; the guy who leaves flowers on the windshield of the girl he likes. Each of the teens in these 50 original poems, written using a variety of poetic forms, will be recognizable to the reader as the universal emotions, ideas, impressions, and beliefs float across the pages in these gracefully told verses.Also included are the author’s footnotes on the various types of poetic forms used throughout to help demystify poetry and showcase its accessibility, which makes this a perfect classroom tool for teachers as well as an inspiration to readers who may wish to try their own hand at writing.

Rules of Attraction

Living on the University of Colorado-Boulder campus with his older brother Alex, a college student and ex-gang member, high school senior Carlos is not ready to give up his wild ways until he meets a shy classmate named Kiara and becomes unwillingly involved in a drug ring.

Muchacho: A Novel

Living in a neighborhood of drug dealers and gangs in New Mexico, high school junior Eddie Corazon, a juvenile delinquent-in-training, falls in love with a girl who inspires him to rethink his life and his choices.

Tortuga In Trouble

Yum! Tortuga is bringing a delicious supper to his abuela of ensalada, tamales, and flan. No wonder his amigos–Iguana, Conejo, and Culebra–are following him. But they aren’t the only ones after the tortoise. Coyote has his own dinner plans for Tortuga and his grandmother. Can the three amigos warn them in time, in this variation of Little Red Riding Hood? A companions to Mañana, Iguana; Fiesta Fiasco; and Count on Culebra.

Abuelo Vivia Solo

A young woman recalls her grandfather’s abiding presence in her life as he cares for her throughout her infancy and childhood while her mother is at school or work, until she is the one fixing his snacks and seeing him safely to bed.

My Special Day at Third Street School

A school visit from children’s book author Amanda Drake brings a day full of fun. A boy tells how his class prepares for author Amanda Drake’s arrival: reading her books, decorating the room, making lemonade, baking a cake and discussing what questions to ask (and not to ask). The writer makes a terrific impression and motivates the children to write their own stories later. Meanwhile the narrator has made a suggestion to Miss Drake that inspires her next book , My Special Day in Third Street School.