Lucha Libre champion Niño has no trouble fending off monstrous opponents, but when his little sisters awaken from their naps, he is in for a no-holds-barred wrestling match that will truly test his skills.
Niño wrestles the world
Latinx in US
When We Wuz Famous
Francisco Ortiz, a handsome straight-A student and gifted basketball player from the barrio, wins a full scholarship to an elite boarding school. His future seems promising. But soon after Francisco moves into the dorm, his new classmates assume the worst of him: they pepper him with questions about drugs and gangs. It’s all so confusing, made even more complicated when Francisco realizes that back home in the hood, he no longer fits in, though his friends still rely on him to solve their problems. In a desperate attempt to help one of his homies, Francisco makes a terrible decision and becomes everything he fought so hard to rise against. Novel adaptation of the author’s feature film, “Up with me.”
Luz Makes a Splash
When the city restricts water usage, Luz, with her friends and neighbors, strive to conserve and reuse what little water they have access to. They protest the new soda factory using the spring water at a nearby pond.
Fiesta! Board Book
Horns, airplanes, and tops. Whistles, gum, and rings. What should the children choose? And what will they do with all the things they buy? Open this book to find out and to count with them — in English and in Spanish. It’s easy! Trompetas, aviones y trompos. Silbatos, chicles y anillos. ¿QuÉ deben escoger los niÑos? ¿Y quÉ harÁn con todas las cosas que compran? Abra este libro para averiguarlo, y para contar con ellos — en inglÉs y en espanol. Es fÁcil.
My Name Is Jorge: On Both Sides of the River
A collection of 27 insightful poems that illuminates the migrant experience from the point of view of a grade school child from Mexico. Jorge doesn’t want to be called George. He thinks the name sounds strange. “What an ugly sound!/Like a sneeze!” His struggles to fit in result in a friendship with a boy named Tim; a tentative coming to terms with American society; and some degree of sadness when, upon his grandmother’s death, his family must cross the river again.
This book has been included in WOW’s Language and Learning: Children’s and Young Adult Fiction Booklist. For our current list, visit our Booklist page under Resources in the green navigation bar.
Don’t Call Me Hero
Educator and author Ray Villareal has written another fast-paced novel for young adults about celebrity and what it means to be a “hero.”
How Tia Lola Ended Up Starting Over
Welcome to Tia Lola’s bed-and-breakfast! With the help of her niece and nephew and the three Sword sisters, Tia Lola is opening the doors of Colonel Charlesbois’s grand old Vermont house to visitors from far and near. But Tia Lola and the children soon realize that running a B & B isn’t as easy as they had initially thought–especially when it appears that someone is out to sabotage them! Will Tia Lola and the kids discover who’s behind the plot to make their B & B fail? And will Tia Lola’s family and friends be able to plan her surprise birthday party in her own B & B without her finding out?
La Intriga Del Limonero/ The Lemon Tree Caper
This second, bilingual short novel in the Mickey Rangel Mystery series for intermediate readers has Mickey tracking a lemon thief!
Maximilian: The Mystery of the Guardian Angel
Eleven-year-old Margarito, a big fan of the form of wrestling known as lucha libre, begins to suspect that he has a close connection with his favorite luchador, El Angel de La Guardia, the Guardian Angel.
Under The Mesquite
Lupita, a budding actor and poet in a close-knit Mexican American immigrant family, comes of age as she struggles with adult responsibilities during her mother’s battle with cancer in this young adult novel in verse. When Lupita learns Mami has cancer, she is terrified by the possibility of losing her mother, the anchor of her close-knit family. Suddenly, being a high school student, starring in a play, and dealing with friends who don’t always understand, become less important than doing whatever she can to save Mami’s life. While her father cares for Mami at an out-of-town clinic, Lupita takes charge of her seven younger siblings. As Lupita struggles to keep the family afloat, she takes refuge in the shade of a mesquite tree, where she escapes the chaos at home to write. Forced to face her limitations in the midst of overwhelming changes and losses, Lupita rediscovers her voice and finds healing in the power of words. Told with honest emotion in evocative free verse, Lupita’s journey toward hope is captured in moments that are alternately warm and poignant. Under the Mesquite is an empowering story about testing family bonds and the strength of a young woman navigating pain and hardship with surprising resilience.
See the review at WOW Review, Volume IV, Issue 4
This book has been included in WOW’s Language and Learning: Children’s and Young Adult Fiction Booklist. For our current list, visit our Booklist page under Resources in the green navigation bar.