When Oscar the caterpillar discovers that he will one day become a butterfly, he’s overjoyed. And his friend Edna the bookworm encourages his hopes of flying to Mexico with the other Monarch butterflies. To prepare, Oscar learns Spanish and dreams of flying through the purple Sierra Madre Mountains. But when Oscar emerges from his cocoon with stubby little wings, a craving for the taste of designer sweaters — and the urge to take a spin around the bathroom light bulb– his dreams are dashed. There will be no trip to Mexico for Oscar — or will there? Yes there will! How Oscar ignores the limitations of being a moth and learns how to dream like a butterfly is both inspirational, liberating — and hilariously funny.
United States
Materials from United States of America
Blow Away Soon
Disliking the wind that whisks away her favorite possessions, Sophie appeals to her grandmother for help and is instructed on how to build a blow-away-soon, an appeasing gift for the wind, in a story about keeping and giving away.
Ce´sar
Born in 1927 in Yuma, Arizona, César Chavez lived the hard-scrabble life of a migrant worker during the depression. He grew to be a charismatic leader and founded the National Farm Workers Association, an organization that fought for basic rights for his fellow farm workers. In powerful poems and dramatic stylized illustrations, Carmen T. Bernier-Grand and David Díaz pay tribute to his life and legacy.
Eating Enchiladas (Simply Sarah)
Sleepovers are especially fun at a Mexican family’s house.
Fiesta U.S.A.
In a tribute to the customs and traditions of Latinos in the United States, engaging photographs capture four fiestas: the Day of the Dead, las Posadas, the dance of the Matachines, and Three Kings’ Day.
Grandma’s Records
The author describes his boyhood summers spent at his grandmother’s apartment in Spanish Harlem where she intoduced him to the sounds and steps of the merengue and the conga and told him stories of Puerto Rico.
Henry Cisneros
A biography of the Mexican-American mayor of San Antonio, Texas, who became the first Hispanic mayor of a major United States city in 1981.
I’m New Here
Follow Jazmin Escalante, newly arrived in California from El Salvador, as she recounts her first days of school in America.
Juan And The Jackalope: A Children’s Book In Verse
When Rosita, the loveliest gal in the Pecos River Valley, offers her delicious rhubarb pie as first prize for the Great Grasshopper Race, a thousand love-struck vaqueros line up for the competition. Of course everyone believes that the legendary cowboy Pecos Bill, riding his giant grasshopper, Hoppy, is a shoo-in for the grand prize. Sure enough, Bill and Hoppy give an impressive performance, crisscrossing the Southwest in a raucous ride. But young Juan, who is hopelessly in love with Rosita, astonishes them all when he and Jack the Jackalope take a miraculous ride around the world and across the Milky Way. The daring pair return, covered in stardust, to claim the beautiful Rosita and her delicious pie. Set in New Mexico, Anaya’s fanciful story, coupled with Amy Cordova’s vivid illustrations, brings the tradition of Southwestern tall tales to a new generation of young readers.
Kikirikí / Quiquiriquí
Marta and Celia have never seen Sunday dinner strut in their backyard, so when Abuela brings home a wily rooster, they are shocked at the rooster’s ugly fate. When the girls accidentally overhear Abuela telling their parents about dinner plans that involve Kiki, they know that they have to save their new friend. They hide him in the closet in their room, but when his joyful cries wake the family at dawn, they know that they’ve been caught. They soon discover that Kiki has a few tricks of his own up his wing, and with a wink, he manages to save the day.