United States

Materials from United States of America

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 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.

In My Family / En Mi Familia

From the author of Family Pictures/Cuadros de familia comes a second book that returns readers once again to the town of Kingsville, Texas, near the border with Mexico. Through ful-color paintings and warm personal stories, Garza brings to life more loving memories of growing up in a traditional Mexican American community.

Juan The Bear And The Water Of Life: La Acequia De Juan Del Oso (Paso Por Aqui Series On The Nuevomexicano Literary Heritage)

La Acequia del Rito y la Sierra in the Mora Valley is the highest and most famous traditional irrigation system in New Mexico. It carries water up and over a mountain ridge and across a sub-continental divide, from the tributaries of the Río Grande to the immense watershed of the Mora, Canadian, Arkansas, and Mississippi Rivers. The names and stories of those who created this acequia to sustain their communities have mostly been lost and replaced by myths and legends. Now, when children ask, some parents attribute the task of moving mountains and changing the course of rivers to Juan del Oso, the stouthearted man whose father was a bear.From the mountains of northern Spain to the Andes in South America, Spanish-speaking people have told ancient legends of Juan del Oso and his friends. In this children’s tale, agriculturalist Juan Estevan Arellano and folklorist Enrique Lamadrid share a unique version of a celebrated story that has been told in northern New Mexico for centuries.Reading level: age 10 years and up

Laughing Out Loud, I Fly : A Carcajadas Yo Vuelo

From one of the most prominent Chicano poets writing today, here are poems like sweet music-to make the body shake and move to the rhythm of rhyme, to the pulse of words. Juan Felipe Herrera writes in both Spanish and English about the joy and laughter and sometimes the confusion of growing up in an upside-down, jumbled-up world-between two cultures, two homes. With a crazy maraca beat, Herrera creates poetry as rich and vibrant as mole de ole and pineapple tamales…an aroma of papaya…a clear soup with strong garlic, so you will grow not disappear Herrera’s words are hot& peppery, good for you. They show us what it means to laugh out loud until it feel like flying.Juan Felipe Herrera’s vibrant poems dance across these pages in a dazzling explosion of two languages English and Spanish. Skillfully crafted, beautiful, joyful, fun, the poems are paired with whimsical black and white drawings by Karen Barbour. The resulting collage fills the soul and the senseshot and peppery, good for you and celebrates a life lived between two cultures.Laughing out loud, I fly, toward the good things,to catch Mama Lucha on the sidewalk, afterschool, waiting for the green-striped bus,on the side of the neighborhood store, next to almonds,Jose’s tiny wooden mule, the wiseboy from San Diego,teeth split apart, like mine in the coppery afternoon . . .22000 Pura Belpre Award 

Return to Sender

After his family hires migrant Mexican workers to help save their Vermont farm from foreclosure, eleven-year-old Tyler befriends the oldest daughter, but when he discovers they may not be in the country legally, he realizes that real friendship knows no borders.

Featured in WOW Review Volume XI, Issue 3