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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.
Books that take place in, are written by, or feature characters from Puerto Rico, an unincorporated US territory.
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.
While his mother goes to church, Juan cares for the pig with humorous results.
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.
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.
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.
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.
A collection of stories captures the lives of different teenagers growing up in the barrio, including Rita, who goes to live with her grandparents in Puerto Rico; Luis, who spends his days working at his father’s junkyard; and Sandra, who tries to rediscover her natural Latino beauty.
A Taino Indian legend about a young boy and his search for the healing caimoni tree.
La nina seria, the serious child. That’s how Consuelo’s mother has cast her pensive, book-loving daughter, while Consuelo’s younger sister Mili, is seen as vivacious–a ray of tropical sunshine. Two daughters: one dark, one light; one to offer comfort and consolation, the other to charm and delight. But something is not right in this Puerto Rican family. Set in the 1950s, a time when American influence is diluting Puerto Rico’s rich island culture, Consuelo watches her own family’s downward spiral. It is Consuelo who notices as her beautiful sister Mili’s vivaciousness turns into mysterious bouts of hysteria and her playful invented language shift into an incomprehensible and chilling “language of birds.” Ultimately Consuelo must choose: Will she fulfill the expectations of her family–offering consolation as their tragedy unfolds? Or will she risk becoming la fulana, the outsider, like the harlequin figure of her neighbor, Mario/Maria Sereno, who flaunts his tight red pedal pushers and empty brassiere as he refuses the traditional macho role of his culture. This affecting novel is a lively celebration of Puerto Rico as well as an archetypal story of loss, the loss each of us experiences on our journey from the island of childhood to the uncharted territory of adulthood.
Americas Award For Children’s And Young Adult Literature. Winner