A posada is an important Latino holiday tradition that happens all over the world on each of the nine nights before Christmas. There’s a lot to do every night before the party can begin, and here a little girl guides us through each step—from putting out poinsettias to hanging the piñata—as she counts to ten in English and Spanish. Young readers can follow along by counting the different items mentioned. An author’s note at the end of the story further explains the origins of the posada. Sprinkled with Spanish vocabulary and filled with lively illustrations, this is a posada no one should miss!
United States
Materials from United States of America
A Box Full of Kittens
Ruthie loves Superman. Ruthie wants to be Superman. And when Ruthie is asked to go spend the afternoon with her aunt, who is about to have a baby any day day now and may need some help., Ruthie seizes the opportunity. It could be her chance to be a hero, should the baby come while she’s visiting! But when Ruthie is out fetching a snack for her aunt, she gets so distracted by a box full of kittens in the bodega that she doesn’t hear her aunt calling for her, nor does she notice the policemen running to the apartment or the ambulance pulling to the curb. When she realizes what’s happened, she’s devastated — she’s missed her one chance to be a hero! Or has she? Sonia Manzano, best known as “Maria” on Sesame Street, once again captures the warmth, love, and adventures of her childhood Bronx neighborhood.
Cesar: Si, Se Puede! / Yes, We Can!
An award-winning title now available in Spanish
Born in 1927 in Yuma, Arizona, César Chavez lived the hard-scrabble life of a migrant worker during the Depression. Although his mother wanted him to get an education, César left school after eighth grade to work. He grew to be a charismatic leader and founded the National Farm Workers Association, an organization that fought for basic rights for farm workers. In powerful poems and dramatic stylized illustrations, Carmen T. Bernier-Grand and David Díaz pay tribute to Chavez’s legacy helping migrant workers improve their lives by doing things by themselves for themselves.
Chupacabra and the Roswell UFO
In this second ChupaCabra mystery, Professor Rosa Medina has just arrived in Santa Fe where she meets Nadine, a mysterious sixteen-year-old who insists that the two of them travel to Roswell, New Mexico. Nadine is convinced that C-Force, a secret government agency, has decoded the DNA of ChupaCabra and an extraterrestrial. If the two genomes are combined, a new and horrific life form will be created.In this fast-paced mystery, Anaya expands the ChupaCabra folklore into a metaphor that deals with the new powers inherent in science. Is ChupaCabra a beast in Latino folktales, used to frighten children, or a lost species being manipulated by C-Force? Rosa\’s life hangs in the balance as she and her young accomplice try to find a way to stop C-Force before its mad scientists create a monster.
El Barrio
Join a young boy as he explores his vibrant neighborhood. The city shimmers with life—at once a party, a waltz, and a heartbeat. El Barrio is his sister preparing for her quinceañera, his grandfather singing about the past, and his cousins’ stories from other lands. The city is alive with the rhythms of the street. Told in lyrical language and through bold, colorful illustrations, this celebration of Hispanic culture and urban life is sure to fire children’s curiosity about where they live and what they can discover in their own neighborhoods.
Pillars of Gold and Silver
After her father is killed in the Korean War, young Blanca Estela and her mother leave California to spend the summer in Revilla, an old town in Northern Mexico with Blanca’s grandmother. At first, Blanca is unhappy in their holiday retreat, but gradually makes friends and becomes part of the community.
Probably the World’s Best Story about a Dog and the Girl Who Loved Me
The further adventures and misadventures of twelve-year-old Paolo, his six-year-old brother Georgie, and their nine-year-old deaf cousin Billy as they try to find their missing dog, cope with a new paper route, and discover romance in their small California town in 1951.
Scratch and the Pirates of Paradise Cove
On the first day of summer vacation, ten-year-old Rafi and his father are searching for their lucky, six-toed cat, Scratch, when an earthquake knocks them off a cliff and they find themselves on a pirate ship, heading toward adventure.
The Magic Shell
Living in two cultures – the Domonican Republic & New York – a kid learns to speak English as he overcomes his loneliness.
The Stranger And The Red Rooster/ El Forastero Y El Gallo Rojo
One day in a small California barrio, a scary-looking stranger with an ugly scar on his face arrives. Silence falls on the streets. Normally raucous children stop playing, and their fearful mothers quickly beckon them inside. Everyone peeks out of windows and doors to watch the stranger walk down Main Street. Later in the week, the stranger again appears in town. And a few days later, on a pleasant Sunday morning, the man shows his frightening face yet again. But this time, he’s not alone. Cradled in the stranger’s arms is a big, red rooster with a yellow ribbon tied around its neck. When the rooster sets off after a bug with the stranger hanging on to the ribbon “like a cowboy who had lassoed a wild bull,” the townspeople are finally able to look past the long, ugly scar on the stranger’s face. Echoing the oral tradition common to so many Latinos, acclaimed author Victor Villaseñor shares with young readers one of his father’s favorite stories. With vibrant illustrations by José Jara, this will soon become the favorite of many children aged 3 to 7.