Americas

Materials from the Americas

Lucia The Luchadora

Lucía zips through the playground in her cape just like the boys, but when they tell her “girls can’t be superheroes,” suddenly she doesn’t feel so mighty. That’s when her beloved abuela reveals a dazzling secret: Lucía comes from a family of luchadoras, the bold and valiant women of the Mexican lucha libre tradition. Cloaked in a flashy new disguise, Lucía returns as a recess sensation! But when she’s confronted with a case of injustice, Lucía must decide if she can stay true to the ways of the luchadora and fight for what is right, even if it means breaking the sacred rule of never revealing the identity behind her mask. A story about courage and cultural legacy, Lucía the Luchadora is full of pluck, daring, and heart.

American Street

In this stunning debut novel, Pushcart-nominated author Ibi Zoboi draws on her own experience as a young Haitian immigrant, infusing this lyrical exploration of America with magical realism and vodou culture.

Featured in WOW Review Volume X, Issue 4.

Canticos Little Skeletons Countdown to Midnight

Follow the little skeletons as they go about their surprising and intriguing day while counting down from 1 PM to midnight.

Letters to a Prisoner

Told entirely through illustrations, Letters to a Prisoner is a wordless story about the power of hope and the written word. Inspired by Amnesty International’s letter-writing campaigns to help free people who have been jailed for expressing their opinion, the book tells the story of a man who is arrested during a peaceful protest. In solitary confinement, he begins to despair―until a bird delivers a letter of support written by somebody outside the prison. Every day more missives arrive until the prisoner escapes his fate on wings made of letters.

Featured in WOW Review Volume XII, Issue 4

Rooster Summer

For the brother and sister in this novel in verse, each day begins with a barnyard wakeup call. During a summer spent on their grandparents’ farm, they collect eggs from the chicken coop, put on shows for city folks in passing trains, fill in for the farm dog by barking the cows home and dance around the perfectly ripening watermelon growing in Grandma’s garden. All of these barnyard adventures happen in the company of Rexter the rooster, Seed-Sack the mule and Ginger-Tea the farm dog animal friends that will steal readers’ hearts over the course of a carefree rooster summer.

Running Through Sprinklers

Two life-long best friends grow up and begin to grow apart in this honest, deeply felt middle grade debut. Sara and Nadine. Nadine and Sara. It’s only ever been the two of them. Two halves of the same person. Best friends forever—until they aren’t. Everything has changed this year. Nadine has suddenly skipped a grade and gone to high school without Sara. No matter how hard she fights to save their friendship, Sara can feel it slipping away. But change can happen from the inside, too. The forever-friend days of running through sprinklers and slurping up ice cream cones may be over. Yet in their place, Sara just might discover something new and wonderful: herself.

Sisters In Blue

In the early 1600s, imagines an encounter between a Pueblo woman and Sister María de Jesús de Ágreda, New Mexicoʹs famous Lady in Blue, during the nun’s mystical spiritual journeys.

Featured in WOW Review Volume X, Issue 3.