One evening, Pulitzer Prize-winning photographer Jos Galvez heard Luis Alberto Urrea read “Hymn to Vatos Who Will Never Be in a Poem” with its chant-like repetitions and its evocation of Chicano manhood. As Luis read each line, an image clicked in Jos’s memory, and he knew that he had already taken that photograph. The result of that experience is this remarkable book. Vatos is street slang for dude, guy, pal, brother. It sprang from the highly stylized language of the Pachucos (los chukotes) in the ’50s. It’s a Chicano term derived from the once-common friendly insult chivato, or goat. It had a slightly unacceptable air to it, which the Locos and Weesas of the Chuco world enjoyed. They were able to take the sting out of racism by calling themselves a bunch of names assimilated “good Mexicans” didn’t like.
Poetry
Poetry genre
Amrica Is Her Name
Set in the Pilsen barrio of Chicago, this children’s picture book gives a heartwarming message of hope. The heroine, Amrica, is a primary school student who is unhappy in school until a poet visits the class and inspires the students to express themselves creatively-in Spanish or English. Amrica Is Her Name emphasizes the power of individual creativity in overcoming a difficult environment and establishing self-worth and identity through the young girl Amrica’s desire and determination to be a writer. This story deals realistically with the problems in urban neighborhoods and has an upbeat theme: you can succeed in spite of the odds against you. Carlos Vzquez’s inspired four-color illustrations give a vivid sense of the barrio, as well as the beauty and strength of the young girl Amrica.Luis J. Rodrguez grew up in Watts and East L.A. His bestselling memoir about gang life, Always Running (now available in paperback in both English and Spanish from Touchstone Books), won the Carl Sandburg Award. His Poems Across the Pavement (Ta Chucha Press) won the Poetry Center Book Award from San Francisco State University, and his poetry collection, The Concrete River was awarded the 1991 PEN Oakland/Josephine Miles Award for Poetry. Mr. Rodrguez has worked extensively with gang members to guide them in positive directions, and he is frequently featured as a keynote speaker or guest poet at national conferences and cultural centers. Rodrguez explores the Chicano experience with an unrelenting, socially conscious eye that moved Larry Weintraub of the Chicago Sun-Times to call him a poet “we need to hear.”Illustrator Carlos Vzquez was born in Mexico, studied physics and art, and now teaches in adult education programs in New York City.This book is also available in a Spanish language edition as La llaman Amrica translated by Tino Villanueva. 1-880684-41-1
Crashboomlove: A Novel In Verse
In this novel in verse, unprecedented in Chicano literature, renowned poet Juan Felipe Herrera illuminates the soul of a generation. Drawn from his own life as well as a lifetime of dedication to young people, CrashBoomLove helps readers understand what it is to be a teen, a migrant worker, and a boy wanting to be a boy. Sixteen-year-old Cesar Garcia is careening. His father, Papi Cesar, has left the migrant circuit in California for his other wife and children in Denver. Sweet Mama Lucy tries to provide for her son with dichos and tales of her own misspent youth. But at Rambling West High School in Fowlerville, the sides are drawn: Hmongs vs. Chicanos vs. everybody vs. Cesar, the new kid on the block. Precise and profound, CrashBoomLove will appeal to and resonate with high school readers across the country.
Laughing Out Loud, I Fly : A Carcajadas Yo Vuelo
From one of the most prominent Chicano poets writing today, here are poems like sweet music-to make the body shake and move to the rhythm of rhyme, to the pulse of words. Juan Felipe Herrera writes in both Spanish and English about the joy and laughter and sometimes the confusion of growing up in an upside-down, jumbled-up world-between two cultures, two homes. With a crazy maraca beat, Herrera creates poetry as rich and vibrant as mole de ole and pineapple tamales…an aroma of papaya…a clear soup with strong garlic, so you will grow not disappear Herrera’s words are hot& peppery, good for you. They show us what it means to laugh out loud until it feel like flying.Juan Felipe Herrera’s vibrant poems dance across these pages in a dazzling explosion of two languages English and Spanish. Skillfully crafted, beautiful, joyful, fun, the poems are paired with whimsical black and white drawings by Karen Barbour. The resulting collage fills the soul and the senseshot and peppery, good for you and celebrates a life lived between two cultures.Laughing out loud, I fly, toward the good things,to catch Mama Lucha on the sidewalk, afterschool, waiting for the green-striped bus,on the side of the neighborhood store, next to almonds,Jose’s tiny wooden mule, the wiseboy from San Diego,teeth split apart, like mine in the coppery afternoon . . .22000 Pura Belpre Award
Laughing Tomatoes And Other Spring Poems / Jitomates Risuenos Y Otros Poemas De Primavera
Tomatoes laugh, chiles explode, and tortillas applaud the sun in this playful and moving collection of twenty English and Spanish poems written in honor of the wonders of life and nature.
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.
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.
Fearless Fernie: Hanging Out With Fernie and Me
For Fernie and his best friend, the fun begins when they are babies who crawl across the lawn towards each other, away from their parents’ watchful eyes. And once they find each other, they are inseparable. Together, they grow to be the self-proclaimed artistic geniuses and master athletes of their school. But they do admit to being losers at spelling bees and camping out. And when it comes to romance, well, if waltzing with a broom in the kitchen or sporting glowing orange socks to a school dance counts, these guys are cool. Gary Soto’s original poems and Regan Dunnick’s clever illustrations will spark recognition in all middle-schoolers who’ve gone through the humiliation of sports try-outs and first dances; who’ve had to deal with body images and swinging moods. Each of the poems in this book shows a scene from their sometimes difficult, sometimes comical lives growing up together as best friends. Even though they don’t have everything in common, they both know that at least they’re in it together.
Red Hot Salsa: Bilingual Poems On Being Young and Latino in the United States
A collection of English and Spanish bilingual poems from the editor of Cool Salsa.
Yum! Mmmm! Que Rico!: America’s Sproutings
Peanuts, blueberries, corn, potatoes, tomatoes, and more-here is a luscious collection of haiku celebrating foods native to the Americas. Brimming with imagination and fun, these poems capture the tasty essence of foods that have delighted, united, and enriched our lives for centuries.