Seventh-grader Joshua knows his best friend Artie Mendoza is a liar. They have been friends since kindergarten, and Artie has told far-fetched stories for years. So when Artie tells Josh that there’s a body buried in Mrs. Foley’s garden, Josh doesn’t believe him at first. But when Josh walks by the Foleys’ house, he sees the mound of earth, about seven feet long and covered with flowers, and has to admit it does look like a grave. Artie insists that Mrs. Foley killed her husband and buried him in the back yard. The Foleys used to fight so loudly that kids walking in the alley behind their house could hear the arguments. Lately, there hasn’t been any sign of Mr. Foley. Still, Josh has his doubts. But Wolf Man, Artie’s other best friend, naively believes everything his friend tells him and encourages Artie’s plan to dig up the body. Josh doesn’t care much for Wolf Man, and if he’s honest with himself, he knows he’s jealous of the friendship between Wolf Man and Artie. Unlike Josh, they watch wrestling on TV, don’t care much about school, and on top of that, speak Spanish fluently, which makes Josh feel left out. While Josh struggles to avoid getting caught up in Artie’s scheme to get famous by digging up the supposed body in Mrs. Foley’s backyard he also tries to cultivate his budding friendship with Lorena, the prettiest girl in the seventh grade, who challenges Josh to see both Artie and Wolf Man in a different light. With other problems sprouting up all around him, Josh can’t help but wonder if there’s really a shovel-wielding criminal living in the neighborhood. Instead of digging up the garden, or grave, shouldn’t they call the police? Young adult author and educator Ray Villareal has written another fast-paced, exciting novel for middle-school students that explores the impact of making poor decisions and the importance of choosing the right friends.
Americas
Materials from the Americas
Our Beckoning Borders: Illegal Immigration To America
Where Fireflies Dance / Ahí, Donde Bailan Las Luciérnagas
Sophie’s Trophy
Sophie’s brother has a mantel full of awards for his cute warts— verrugas—and shiny skin, but Sophie isn’t nearly as good looking and doesn’t have any trophies at all. One day, while Sophie is singing about her sorrows, the Toadettes are impressed and ask her to join their group. They convince her to do a solo at the fair when the rest of the group gets sick from eating bad flies. You can guess who finally gets a trophy of her own that night. Susan Elya’s seamless verse that includes Spanish vocabulary and Viviana Garofoli’s vivid, lively illustrations makes Sophie’s story one all kids will relate to while they search for their special talents.
My Colors, My World/Mis colores, mi Mundo
Little Maya longs to find brilliant, beautiful, inspiring color in her world.…but Maya’s world, the Mojave Desert, seems to be filled with nothing but sand. With the help of a feathered friend, she searches everywhere to discover color in her world. In the brilliant purple of her mother\’s flowers, the cool green of a cactus, the hot pink sunset, and the shiny black of Papi\’s hair, Maya finally finds what she was looking for. The book’s appealing narrative and bold illustrations encourage early readers to observe and explore, and to discover the colors in their own
Tio Armando
500 Years of Chicana Women’s History/Anos de Historia de las Chicanans
The history of Mexican Americans spans more than five centuries and varies from region to region across the United States. Yet most of our history books devote at most a chapter to Chicano history, with even less attention to the story of Chicanas. 500 Years of Chicana Women’s History offers a powerful antidote to this omission with a vivid, pictorial account of struggle and survival, resilience and achievement, discrimination and identity. The bilingual text, along with hundreds of photos and other images, ranges from female-centered stories of pre-Columbian Mexico to profiles of contemporary social justice activists, labor leaders, youth organizers, artists, and environmentalists, among others. With a distinguished, seventeen-member advisory board, the book presents a remarkable combination of scholarship and youthful appeal. In the section on jobs held by Mexicanas under U.S. rule in the 1800s, for example, readers learn about flamboyant Doña Tules, who owned a popular gambling saloon in Santa Fe, and Eulalia Arrilla de Pérez, a respected curandera (healer) in the San Diego area. Also covered are the “repatriation” campaigns” of the Midwest during the Depression that deported both adults and children, 75 percent of whom were U.S.-born and knew nothing of Mexico. Other stories include those of the garment, laundry, and cannery worker strikes, told from the perspective of Chicanas on the ground. From the women who fought and died in the Mexican Revolution to those marching with their young children today for immigrant rights, every story draws inspiration. Like the editor’s previous book, 500 Years of Chicano History (still in print after 30 years), this thoroughly enriching view of Chicana women’s history promises to become a classic.
Let’s Eat!/A Comer! (My Family: Mi Familia)
It’s dinnertime. Look at all the food! Es la hora de cenar. ¡Cuánta comida! There are beans, tortillas, Hay frijoles, tortillas, cheese, and even a green salad. queso y hasta una ensalada de lechuga. Enough for the whole family. Suficiente para toda la familia. Let’s sit down and enjoy it together. Vamos a sentarnos y disfrutarla juntos. Let’s eat! ¡A comer! This first book in the new bilingual My Family/Mi familia series will charm readers with its close-knit family—a family that is grateful for its many blessings. Éste es el primer libro de la nueva serie My Family/ Mi familia. Los lectores quedarán encantados con esta familia unida que se siente agradecida por todas sus bendiciones.
Sí, Puedes (Play Ball!)
Presents a story of right-handed Jorge Posada being coached by his father to bat left-handed, and how it leads right to the major leagues.
Jorge Posada adora sentir la bola en su guante, el bate en su mano, y el juego del béisbol. Como cualquier otro jugador del equipo Casa Cuba, ya puede batear bien con la mano derecha, pero su padre le dice, “Ser bueno no es ser el mejor.”Su entrenador le dice, “El béisbol es un juego de pulgadas.” De hecho, cuando Casa Cuba tiene que enfrentarse al temible pítcher de Club Caparra, lo que el equipo más necesita es un jugador ambidiestro.Basado en la infancia de Jorge Posada, el cátcher de los New York Yankees, ésta es la historia de un niño puertorriqueño que trabajó duro para convertirse en el mejor, y no se detuvo sino hasta que llegó a ser campeón.
Las Abuelas De Liliana: Spanish Hardcover Edition Of Liliana’s Grandmothers (Spanish Edition)
A gentle, loving look at grandmothers. In a book that will be officially published on Grandparents’ Day, a charming girl named Liliana describes how differently her grandmothers live their lives. Mima lives in New England, does yoga exercises, and likes crossword puzzles, for example. The other grandmother, Mama Gabina, lives in South America, enjoys gardening, and likes to dance around the house. The meals they cook are different, the stories they tell are different, but one thing about them is the same: they both love their granddaughter. And Liliana adores them. Leyla Torres’s watercolors show all the warmth and homeyness that are intrinsic in special family relationships.