A collection of ten original and traditional stories set in New Mexico, including “Lupe and la Llorona,” “The Shepherd Who Knew the Language of Animals,” and “Coyote and Raven.”
See the review at WOW Review, Volume 3, Issue 2
In thirteen stories full of wit and energy, Gary Soto illuminates the ordinary lives of young people. Meet Angel, who would rather fork over twenty bucks than have photos of his naked body plastered all over school; Philip, who discovers he has a “mechanical mind,” whatever that means; Estela, known as Stinger, who rules José’s heart and the racquetball court; and many other kids, all of them with problems as big as only a preteen can make them. Funny, touching, and wholly original, Local News is Gary Soto in top form.
With real wit and heart, Gary Soto takes readers into the lives of young people in ten funny, heartbreaking tales. Meet Carolina, who writes to Miss Manners for help not just with etiquette but with bigger messes in her life; Javier, who knows the stories his friend Veronica tells him are lies, but can’t find a way to prove it–and many other kids, each caught up in the difficulties of figuring out what it means to be alive.
“Pops stormed his way down the hall in a pissed-off march–trouble on the move. A quick glance at his florid, contorted face told me he was smashed. I looked down at meat, spoon, dough–anything to avoid his bleary red eyes. The stench of booze sickened me. So did my father.” In the title story of this gritty collection for teens, a young girl remembers the night her father almost killed her mother. The peace that comes when her father is put in jail is short lived though, because in order to keep him behind bars she will have to testify against him in court. Can she be strong enough to overcome her fear? What if he leaps out of his chair and attacks her too? Can she do what needs to be done in order to keep her mother and grandmother safe? In Theresa Saldana’s first collection of stories for young adults, her characters confront issues relevant to all teens, from friendship to dreams for the future. Many, though, must overcome suffering–whether physical or emotional–that impacts their sense of security and well being. A teenager survives an auto accident that has left her with multiple disfiguring scars. Will she ever be able to really live again? A young high school student prepares to leave the safety of her neighborhood where her friends have accepted her the way she is–overweight. Will her new classmates at Hunter College be able to see who she really is inside her big body? Sure to intrigue young adult readers who will identify with numerous contemporary cultural references–from reality TV shows to computers and the Internet–the engrossing stories in this collection give voice to young Latinas who, like their counterparts everywhere, yearn to be “normal.”
In this bilingual collection of five stories, Don Cecilio tells the neighborhood children stories that make their hair stand on end. \”In my barrio they told the story…\” and so his cuento would begin. In \”The Owl and the Bundle,\” young Tomas disappears without a trace. Distraught, his parents and siblings look for him everywhere with no luck. Upon returning home, his father sees something curious, an owl flying above the house carrying a bundle with its talons. \”Is it possible,\” he wonders, \”that the bundle is Little Tomas?\” Could the owl have taken their precious son? Based on oral tradition, these stories featuring witches, owls, and other spooky creatures have been told in Spanish-speaking barrios for generations. Now, this new edition with a first-ever English translation provided by John Pluecker will entertain and terrify a new generation of English- and Spanish-speaking children with the supernatural tales of the Hispanic community. Originally published in Spanish in 1972 as La Lechuza: Cuentos de mi barrio (The Naylor Company), Brujas, lechuzas y espantos / Witches, Owls and Spooks will fascinate children interested in scary stories and at the same time will provide a window into a different time and place, when people lived a more rural life and winged shadows flitted across the darkened countryside.
The violent world of the underclass and the daily battle with hopeless poverty, drug addiction, and other urban horrors come vividly to life in a collection of stories about being young and desperate in the South Bronx. A first collection. Original.
In the first story, a clever young man uses his culinary talents to win the hand of a princess, and in the second, a cripple sets off on a fantastic journey that leads him to the amazing court of the drunken King Cocambo.
Seven well-known German tales: The Frog Prince, The Elves and the Shoemaker, Rapunzel, The Cat and the Mouse in Partnership, Rumpelstiltskin, Hansel and Gretel, and The Bremen Town Musicians.
Retold from Charles Perrault and Other French Storytellers