Fifteen-year-old Mara leaves her mother and their Puerto Rican home to live in the barrio of New York with her father, feeling torn between the two cultures in which she has been raised.
Call Me Maria
Puerto Rico
Books that take place in, are written by, or feature characters from Puerto Rico, an unincorporated US territory.
Juan Bobo And The Pig
While his mother goes to church, Juan cares for the pig with humorous results.
Juan Bobo: Four Folktales From Puerto Rico (I Can Read Book 3)
Mama puts Juan Bobo to work whenever he is having a good time. But he always finds a way to make work fun — like using baskets instead of buckets to carry water, or sprinkling the pig with Mama’s favorite perfume.
My Name Is María Isabel
Third grader Maria Isabel, born in Puerto Rico and now living in the U.S., wants badly to fit in at school; and the teacher’s writing assignment “My Greatest Wish” gives her that opportunity.
Grandma’s Gift
The author describes Christmas at his grandmother’s apartment in Spanish Harlem the year she introduced him to the Metropolitan Museum of Art and Diego Velazquez’s portrait of Juan de Pareja, which has had a profound and lasting effect on him.
Clemente!
A little boy named Clemente learns about his namesake, the great baseball player Roberto Clemente, in this joyful picture book biography. Born in Puerto Rico, Roberto Clemente was the first Latin American player to be inducted into the Baseball Hall of Fame, and the only player for whom the five-year initiation period was waived. Known not only for his exceptional baseball skills but also for his extensive charity work in Latin America, Clemente was well-loved during his eighteen years playing for the Pittsburgh Pirates. He died in a plane crash while bringing aid supplies to earthquake victims in Nicaragua. Willie Perdomo’s rhythmic text and Bryan Collier’s energetic art combine to tell the amazing story of one of baseball’s greats.
Arrorró, Mi Niño: Latino Lullabies and Gentle Games
A bilingual recording of the selections in Arrorró, Mi niño, the award-winning collection of traditional Latino baby games and lullabies from fourteen Spanish-speaking countries.
El Flamboyan Amarillo
A young boy and his mother go for a walk in the country and are awed by the beauty of a yellow flamboyan tree. After enjoying its company and shade, the child takes one of its seeds with him and plants it. He cares for it over many years and in time the plant grows into a beautiful flowering tree.
La Canción Del Coquí Y Otros Cuentos De Puerto Rico
Three Puerto Rican stories include the title story, which represents the land’s indigenous Tainos; the tale of la Guinea, which is rooted in the nation’s African culture; and la Mula’s tale, a story of Spanish origin.
La Cucarachita Martina
A retelling of the folktale about the criollo cockroach who has many suitors but choses the gentlemanly mouse unaware of his weakness for food. At dinnertime during their first day of marriage, he cannot wait for the meal to be served and jumps into the boiling pot, subsequently dying.