Realistic Fiction

Realistic Fiction genre

Estrella’s Quinceañera

For as long as Estrella Alvarez can remember, her mother has been planning to throw her an elaborate quinceañera for her fifteenth birthday — complete with a mariachi band, cheesy decorations, and a hideous dress. Just thinking about her quince makes Estrella cringe. But her mother insists that it’s tradition. Estrella has other things on her mind, anyway — like dating Speedy. Does it matter that her new friends — and her parents — would never approve of aguy from el barrio? Estrella’s almost fifteen and wants to start making her own decisions. But is she ready to find out who she is — and who she really wants to be?

Free Baseball

Felix knows his dad was a famous baseball player in Cuba—and that his father risked everything to send Felix to America. But his mom won’t reveal anything else. When a baseball team with Cuban players comes to town, Felix wonders if they knew his dad and sneaks into their locker room to ask. That’s when the players mistake him for their new batboy. Determined to uncover the truth about his mysterious father, Felix plays along, going as far as running away from home to become the team’s batboy. His bittersweet adventure glows with the friendship of a miraculous dog, the warmth of a mother’s love, and the magic of baseball.

Manuel and the Lobsterman

Manuel, a Puerto Rican thirteen-year-old from New Haven, Connecticut, goes to Maine with his mother and new stepfather for the summer, where he learns to work on a lobster boat and to get along with the townsfolk.

Radio Man/Don Radio

As he travels with his family of migrant farmworkers, Diego relies on his radio to provide him with companionship and help connect him to all the different places in which he lives.

Sunflowers / Girasoles

After helping her grandfather plant squash, onions, carrots, cabbage, and other vegetables that her mother uses in soups and salsas, seven-year-old Marisol plants sunflower seeds in her neighbors’ yards, and weeks later, everyone gets to enjoy the fruits of Marisol’s labor.

”My name is Marisol. I’m seven years old. This spring, I helped my grandfather make a garden.” First, Marisol and her grandfather had to prepare the ground. They pulled out the old plants and weeds. They mixed up all the dirt ”to make it soft.” Then it was time to plant the seeds. They planted seeds to grow the vegetables Mama uses in soup squash, onions, carrots, and cabbage. They planted seeds to grow the things she needs to make salsa garlic, tomatoes, cilantro, and chili peppers. They planted mint for Abuela’s tea. They planted watermelon seeds for Marisol and her brother. And for Grandad, they planted sunflower seeds because their ”big black eyes with long yellow eyelashes” make him happy. And he likes to eat the seeds! One day, Marisol’s grandfather gives her a small bag of sunflower seeds, but instead of eating them she plants them here and there one in the corner of Mrs. Sosa’s yard, another in Mr. Binh’s yard. In fact, as she walks to school, she plants seeds in the corners of all the yards she passes. And she plants the last three seeds in the playground at school. As the days pass, sometimes it’s rainy and sometimes it’s sunny. Finally, one bright day, Marisol’s sunflower surprise shines a bit of happiness all around. The tender relationship between grandparent and grandchild is illuminated in this children’s book by author Gwendolyn Zepeda with warm illustrations by Alisha Gambino. Children ages 3-7 will sow and reap ideas of their own about ways to share a little joy, just as Marisol does with sunflowers.

Hello, Amigos!

Extends a warm invitation to share Frankie Valdez’s birthday and to sample his culture’s traditional festivities.

What Can You Do With a Rebozo?

A cradle for baby, a superhero’s cape, a warm blanket on a cool night–there are so many things you can do with a rebozo. Through the eyes of a young girl, readers are introduced to the traditional shawl found in many Mexican and Mexican-American households. Lively rhymes and illustrations as brightly colored as the woven cloths themselves celebrate a warm cultural icon that, with a little imagination, can be used in many different ways.

See the review at WOW Review, Volume 3, Issue 2

Alphabet City Ballet

balletMarisol has always loved to dance–from the salsa at family parties to the boom boxes on Loisada Avenue. Then she wins a scholarship to ballet school and discovers an inspiring new world of beauty and discipline. When violence erupts in Alphabet City, Marisol’s dream starts to slip away. To keep dancing she must make heartbreaking choices–perhaps impossible ones.

Case Of The Pen Gone Missing: A Mickey Rangel Mystery / El Caso De La Pluma Perdida: Coleccion Mickey Rangel, Detective Privado

When Toots Rodriguez approaches Mickey on the playground, he knows something is up. Toots, the prettiest girl in the fifth grade, never talks to Mickey, not even when they’re assigned to work together on a class project. But Toots has come to Mickey because she’s in trouble, and he’s a detective. The real deal. He has a badge and a certificate after completing an online course two years ago. ”You have to believe me, Mickey. I didn’t take that pen. I didn’t.” When Toots shines her big green eyes on him and insists repeatedly that she’s innocent, Mickey’s intuition tells him to run fast in the opposite direction. But he’s a sucker for a pretty girl, so he takes on the case of the missing pen. Rumor has it that Toots stole Eddy’s pen. It’s not just any old pen; it’s his dad’s pen. It has the White House logo on it. Eddy’s father, a senator from South Texas, got the pen from the President of the United States when he visited the White House last year. As Mickey begins his investigation, though, all the clues point to Toots and her newly ex-boyfriend as the primary suspects. The first book in The Mickey Rangel Mystery series for intermediate readers, author and educator Rene Saldana, Jr. has crafted another appealing book for kids, and his wise-cracking, smart protagonist will appeal to even the most reluctant readers.