Materials from United States of America
With the help of her cat, Chica, Cecilia prepares a special gift in honor of her great-aunt’s ninetieth birthday, a celebration basket filled with things to remind Tia of the wonderful moments that she and Cecilia have shared.
Our new kitty likes to hide. A nuestra nueva gatita le gusta esconderse. She hides under the table, Se esconde debajo de la mesa, inside a flowerpot, dentro de una maceta and behind the curtains. Y detrás de las cortinas. We call out to her, La llamamos, pero . . . but will she ever come close enough to pet? ¿se acercará lo suficiente como para acariciarla? Here, kitty, kitty! ¡Ven, gatita, ven! This third book in Pat Mora’s bilingual My Family/Mi familia series will delight children with its mischievous kitty, playful illustrations, and engaging story. Este tercer libro de la serie bilingüe My Family/Mi familia de Pat Mora entretendrá a los niños con una gatita traviesa, ilustraciones graciosas y una historia encantadora.
“My name is Ana. Every year, my family makes tamales for Christmas. This year, I am six, so I get to mix the dough, which is made of cornmeal. My sister Lidia is eight, so she gets to spread the dough on the corn husk leaves. I wish I was eight, so that my hands would be big enough to spread the dough just right–not too thick and not too thin.” And so the years pass, and Ana turns eight, ten, twelve, fourteen, sixteen. But every year, big sister Lidia is always two years older. Ana envies her elder sibling and wishes she could do what Lidia does: put just the right amount of meat inside the tamales and roll them up; steam the tamales without scalding herself with the hot, hot steam; chop and cook the meat for the tamales without cutting or burning her hands. When she turns eighteen, though, Ana knows she will keep making tamales and she will be able to do all of the steps herself in her very own factory. When Christmas comes around, Ana will deliver tamales to all of her customers around the world, in delivery trucks that say “Ana’s Tamales.” And maybe Ana will even let Lidia work for her. Gwendolyn Zepeda’s rhythmic prose is combined with April Ward’s bright illustrations to create an affectionate and amusing story about sibling relationships that introduces an important Hispanic holiday tradition–making tamales!
Brothers Gabriel and Gustavo, high school students in the Rio Grande Valley of Texas, are horrified when their father suggests that they spend the summer in California doing field work to earn extra money. They’re not immigrants; the boys and their younger sister Paula were born in Texas, and the idea of picking fruits and vegetables hard labor usually associated with undocumented workers is totally humiliating. But their father thinks working in the fields will be good for his children. After all, the experience didn’t hurt him when he was a kid. ”Look at me. I didn’t die. All that work made me stronger.” Gustavo, heading into his senior year, doesn’t want to leave his girlfriend. And what will all his friends think? Gabriel doesn’t care what anyone thinks; he’s just not interested in spending the summer doing back-breaking labor. It’s only when the promise of visiting Disneyland, after working the fields, is offered that they ultimately agree to the ”vacation.” Before long, the family finds itself in a migrant camp, living in a shack with no electricity or bathroom. Toiling in the fields by day, trying to get the hang of picking strawberries, the boys and their father attempt to make sense of it all, including the motives and hopes of their fellow workers: the manic Borrado brothers, who are the fastest pickers around, and Victor, who introduces them to the canal where the migrant teens swim, even though two boys drowned there last season. Unfortunately, while learning their way around town, the family members experience the racism frequently directed at recent immigrants. How often, Gabriel wonders, has he done the same thing and dismissed someone just for being in the U.S. illegally? In this illuminating novel for teens that sheds light on the subjects of immigrant labor and prejudice within the Hispanic community, Genaro Gonzalez blends the ageless theme of fathers and sons at odds with a contemporary issue weighing on many minds. While set in a place unfamiliar to many, the characters’ hopes and dreams for the future will resonate with young adult readers.
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.
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.
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.
Sleepovers are especially fun at a Mexican family’s house.
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.
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.