United States

Materials from United States of America

Brothers Torres, The

brothersFrankie Towers has always looked up to his older brother, Steve, and with good reason. Steve is a popular senior who always gets what he wants: girls, a soccer scholarship, and–lately–street cred. Frankie, on the other hand, spends his time shooting off fireworks with his best friend Zach, working at his parents’ restaurant, and obsessing about his longtime crush, Rebecca Sanchez.

Frankie has reservations about Steve’s crusade to win the respect of the local cholos. He doesn’t think about them, though, until he gets into a fist fight John Dalton – the richest, preppiest kid in his New Mexican high school, and longtime nemesis of Steve. After the fight, Steve takes Frankie under his wing – and Frankie’s social currency begins to rise. The cholos who used to ignore him start to recognize him; he even lands a date to Homecoming with Rebecca.

The situation with Dalton continues to simmer, and after another incident Steve is bent on retaliating. Frankie starts to think that his brother is taking this respect thing too far. He may have to choose between respecting his brother and respecting himself.

In an honest and humorous debut novel, Coert Voorhees uses a coming of age story to look at where loyalty ends and the self begins.

Dark Dude

He didn’t say good-bye. He didn’t leave a phone number. And he didn’t plan on coming back – ever.

In Wisconsin, Rico could blend in. His light hair and lighter skin wouldn’t make him the “dark dude” or the punching bag for the whole neighborhood. The Midwest is the land of milk and honey, but for Rico Fuentes, it’s really a last resort. Trading Harlem for Wisconsin, though, means giving up on a big part of his identity. And when Rico no longer has to prove that he’s Latino, he almost stops being one. Except he can never have an ordinary white kid’s life, because there are some things that can’t be left behind, that can’t be cut loose or forgotten. These are the things that will be with you forever…. These are the things that will follow you a thousand miles away.

For anyone who loved The Outsiders — and for anyone who’s ever felt like one — Pulitzer Prize-winning novelist Oscar Hijuelos brings to life a haunting choice and an unforgettable journey about identity, misidentity, and all that we take with us when we run away.

Earth Daughter: Alicia of Acoma Pueblo

Alicia, a member of the Acoma Pueblo, learns the art of pottery from her parents, from shale collecting in the canyon to the formation and decoration of pots, in a cultural examination of a time-honored Pueblo tradition.

Fiesta Fiasco

There is another desert party in the works in this spicy companion book to Mañana, Iguana. This time it is Snake’s birthday, and Iguana, Tortoise, and Rabbit are shopping for birthday gifts to bring to his fiesta. But what presents should they buy for Snake? In a sneaky twist, Rabbit convinces them to buy gifts that aren’t for Snake at all—but for him! With a clever text, a spattering of Spanish vocabulary. and lively illustrations, this author-illustrator team presents quite the fiesta fiasco. Glossary included.

Free Baseball

Felix knows his dad was a famous baseball player in Cuba—and that his father risked everything to send Felix to America. But his mom won’t reveal anything else. When a baseball team with Cuban players comes to town, Felix wonders if they knew his dad and sneaks into their locker room to ask. That’s when the players mistake him for their new batboy. Determined to uncover the truth about his mysterious father, Felix plays along, going as far as running away from home to become the team’s batboy. His bittersweet adventure glows with the friendship of a miraculous dog, the warmth of a mother’s love, and the magic of baseball.

Help Wanted: Stories

With real wit and heart, Gary Soto takes readers into the lives of young people in ten funny, heartbreaking tales.      Meet Carolina, who writes to Miss Manners for help not just with etiquette but with bigger messes in her life; Javier, who knows the stories his friend Veronica tells him are lies, but can’t find a way to prove it–and many other kids, each caught up in the difficulties of figuring out what it means to be alive.

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.

Skippyjon Jones

Skippyjon Jones is a Siamese cat with an overactive imagination who would rather be El Skippito, his Zorro-like, Chihuahua alter ego. With a dual-image lenticular cover, original illustrations, and new art.