When nineteen-year-old Eddie drops out of college, he struggles to find a place for himself as a Mexican American living in a violence-infested neighborhood of Fresno, California.
Buried Onions
Americas
Materials from the Americas
Canto Familiar
Twenty-five poems about the pleasures and woes that Mexican American children experience growing up. Simple poems, many involving Mexican Americans, celebrate experiences at school, home, and in the street. A companion to Neighborhood Odes, (1992). Touching, vibrant, and humorous, this lively collection of poems accompanied by beautiful illustrations celebrates childhood and the Mexican American experience. Invoking ordinary domestic and community incidents, it’ a fine introduction not only to poetry but to Chicano culture. Nelson debuts with scenes–homey, comfortable, bright–that make the book even more accessible.
Cool Salsa: Bilingual Poems On Growing Up Hispanic In The United States (Edge Books)
Growing up Latino in America means speaking two languages, living two lives, learning the rules of two cultures. Cool Salsa celebrates the tones, rhythms, sounds, and experiences of that double life. Here are poems about families and parties, insults and sad memories, hot dogs and mangos, the sweet syllables of Spanish and the snag-toothed traps of English. Here is the glory, and pain, of being Latino American.Latino Americans hail from Cuba and California, Mexico and Michigan, Nicaragua and New York, and editor Lori M. Carlson has made sure to capture all of those accents. With poets such as Sandra Cisneros, Martiacute;n Espada, Gary Soto, and Ed Vega, and a very personal introduction by Oscar Hijuelos, this collection encompasses the voices of Latino America. By selecting poems about the experiences of teenagers, Carlson has given a focus to that rich diversity; by presenting the poems both in their original language and in translation, she has made them available to us all.As you move from memories of red wagons, to dreams of orange trees, to fights with street gangs, you feel Cool Salsa’s musical and emotional cross rhythms. Here is a world of exciting poetry for you, y tuacute; tambieacute;n.
Neighborhood Odes
Twenty-one poems about growing up in an Hispanic neighborhood, highlighting the delights in such everyday items as sprinklers, the park, the library, and pomegranates.
The Mystery Of The Mischievous Marker
School principal Mrs. Abrego and nemesis Bucho both ask detective Mickey Rangel to help unmask the vandal who has been writing messages all over the school walls.
Pink Fire Trucks / Los camiones de bomberos de color rosado
Spirited Gladys Elizabeth is at it again! It is career day at school and Gladys Elizabeth boldly announces that she is going to be a firegirl. After a classmate tells her that girls cannot fight fires.
My Very Own Room/Mi Propio Cuartito
With the help of her family, a resourceful Mexican-American girl with two parents, five little brothers, and visiting relatives realizes her dream of having a space of her own to read and to think. Based on the author’s own childhood.
Say Hola to Spanish, Otra Vez
Presents a humorous introduction to Spanish words through illustrations and rhyming text.
Mountain Dog
When his mother is sent to jail in Los Angeles, eleven-year-old Tony goes to live with his forest ranger great-uncle in the Sierra Nevada Mountains, where Tony experiences unconditional love for the first time through his friendship with a rescue dog.
Separate Is Never Equal
“Years before the landmark U.S. Supreme Court ruling Brown v. Board of Education, Sylvia Mendez, an eight-year-old girl of Mexican and Puerto Rican heritage, played an instrumental role in Mendez v. Westminster, the landmark desegregation case of 1946 in California”–