A young girl’s first sights and experiences in the United States are sometimes familiar “just like home.”
Realistic Fiction
Realistic Fiction genre
Barrio: Jose’s Neighborhood
Welcome to José’s neighborhood. In his barrio, people speak an easy mix of Spanish and English and sometimes even Chinese. The masked revelry of Halloween leads into the festive remembrances of the Day of the Dead. And murals on the walls and buildings sing out the stories of the people who live here. As familiar as any neighborhood yet as strange as a foreign country, Jose’s barrio isn’t in Mexico or Argentina–it’s in San Francisco. Award-winning author and photographer George Ancona follows José through a season in the barrio, and in the process gives readers a glimpse of a community as rich and varied as America itself.
Cuentos Con Sazon (Spanish Edition)
It¹s New Year’s Day and Carmen Teresa’s Maryland home is filled with relatives, friends, and neighbors from all over Latin America. Everyone is eating, dancing, and telling stories. When Dona Josepha gives Carmen a blank notebook, each guest tells her a story to write down but Carmen has an idea of her own!
Ruiz Street Kids / Los Muchachos De La Calle Ruiz
On a hot summer day, a new kid named David rides into the neighborhood. Gossip about the mysterious boy stretches longer than a wad of gum. The kids wonder why he rides a different bike everyday. Is he stealing them? He gets rough at the swimming pool, he scares the younger kids, and he spies over the fence. Why is he always so mean? Is it true that he eats a bee’s nest for breakfast and sleeps on a bed of nails? What does he want from the kids who live on Ruiz Street and why in the world would they ever want to be friends with somebody like David? The young narrator, Joe Silva, introduces intermediate readers to both his friends and their common enemy on Ruiz Street. David doesn’t have good people skills and doesn’t know quite how to improve them.
The Birthday Swap
With her teenage sister’s birthday rapidly approaching, five-year-old Lori, a young Mexican-American girl, sets out to find the perfect gift for Cookie, only to end up with special surprise of her very own.
My Name Is Sangoel
As a refugee from Sudan to the United States, Sangoel is frustrated that no one can pronounce his name correctly until he finds a clever way to solve the problem.
Read more about My Name Is Sangoel in WOW Review.
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.
My Abuelita
Abuelita’s hair is the color of salt. Her face is as crinkled as a dried chile. She booms out words as wild as blossoms blooming. She stuffs her carcacha–her jalopy–with all the things she needs: a plumed snake, a castle, a skeleton, and more. Her grandson knows he has the most amazing grandmother ever–with a very important job. With her booming voice and wonderful props, Abuelita is a storyteller. Next to being a grandmother, that may be the most important job of all. Sprinkled with Spanish and infused with love, My Abuelita is a glorious celebration of family, imagination, and the power of story.
See the review in WOW Review, Volume 4, Issue 1.
Bait
When a guy in his class looks at him funny, Diego punches him in the face, and ends up on probation. At first he wants nothing to do with his probation officer. But as Diego starts to open up, he begins to realize that Mr. Vidas is the first person in his life who ever really wanted to listen to him. With Vidas’s help, Diego begins to make real progress in controlling his anger. He even opens up enough to tell Vidas about the shark tooth that his stepfather gave him that he uses to cut himself. But only if Diego can find the courage to trust Vidas with the darkest secrets from his past will he be able to heal completely. In this story of a boy trying to grow beyond a painful past, award-winning author Alex Sanchez calls upon his personal experience as a probation officer to reveal the complexities of one of his most genuinely realized characters to date.
Ivy And Bean – Book 6 (Ivy & Bean)
Finally! After begging their parents for ballet lessons, Ivy and Bean finally get what they want…well, not exactly. Much to their surprise, it turns out ballet lessons do not include karate chops and roundhouse kicks to the villain’s heart. The girls have no interest in learning how to dance gracefully, but they promised their parents they would finish the entire ballet course! When it comes time for Ivy and Bean to participate in the ocean-themed class recital, the girls must figure out a way to get out of it without breaking their promises.
Prince William, Maximilian Minsky and Me
In Berlin, thirteen-year-old Nelly Sue Edelmeister–a self-described nerd and aspiring astronomer–gains a greater understanding of herself and those around her as she develops her first crush, considers whether to go through with her bat mitzvah, and tries out for the basketball team.