Materials from the Americas
Some people live to make a difference. However they find the world around them, they try to make it better. For them, nothing is so perfect it can’t be improved, and no problem is so difficult it can’t be faced. This is the story of a young girl who in a small way made a difference to many people in her community. She had no special gift beyond caring, but you will see how, much you can do when you care enough to make a difference.
See the review at WOW Review, Volume VI, Issue 4
A rope passed down through the generations frames an African American family’s story as they journey north during the time of the Great Migration.
See the review at WOW Review, Volume VI, Issue 4
Carlos knows that when the soldiers arrive with warnings about the Communist rebels, it is time to be a man and defend the village, keep everyone safe. But Mama tells him not yet — he’s still her quiet moonfaced boy. The soldiers laugh at the villagers, and before they move on, a neighbor is found dangling from a tree, a sign on his neck: Communist. Mama tells Carlos to run and hide, then try to find her. . . . Numb and alone, he must join a band of guerillas as they trek to the top of the mountain where Carlos’s abuela lives. Will he be in time, and brave enough, to warn them about the soldiers? What will he do then? A novel in verse inspired by actual events during Guatemala’s civil war, Caminar is the moving story of a boy who loses nearly everything before discovering who he really is. Set in 1981 Guatemala, a lyrical debut novel tells the powerful tale of a boy who must decide what it means to be a man during a time of war.
Poems that describe the landscape, people, and animals of the American Southwest.
In Cousins a little girl lives in two opposite worlds. There’s the house where she lives with her father and grandmother that is full of beautiful and expensive things, but rather quiet. Then there’s her other grandmother’s house where her cousin lives, which is always brimming with people. She loves her cousin’s world. But when she does something she regrets, she must confront her feelings of guilt. Eventually, she realizes she is very lucky to be able to move gracefully between two such wonderful worlds.
Thirteen Latino poets detail the powerful bond between mothers, grandmothers, and children, and describe the profound impact their mothers and grandmothers had on them, in an enchanting book filled with vivid illustrations.
A collection of popular tales told to young children in places such as Argentina, Cuba, Colombia, Nicaragua, and Mexico.
Poems celebrating the beauty of the Southwest as experienced by a Mexican American girl who lives there.
A young Mexican boy tells how he, his mother, and his sister travel across the border to search for his father and for work in Los Angeles.
See the review at WOW Review Volume VII, Issue 4
Retells the Zapotec legend of Lucia Zenteno, a beautiful woman with magical powers who is exiled from a mountain village and takes its water away in punishment.