Ten-year-old Jimena loves El Salvador but when gangs threaten to force her to join, she and her mother immigrate to the United States, but are separated at the border.
Jimena Perez Puede Volar
Latin America
Materials from South America
You Can’t Be Too Careful!
Introduces a colorful cast of characters whose fates are connected in different ways, exploring the importance of kindness and the dangers of greed.
Hans Christian Andersen Award
The Boy And The Whale
Abelardo defies his father’s instructions and sets out to free a whale caught in their tangled fishing net.
The Rooster Who Would Not Be Quiet!
So the villagers elect the bossy Don Pepe as their mayor. Before long, singing of any kind is outlawed. Even the teakettle is afraid to whistle! But there is one noisy rooster who doesn’t give two mangos about this mayor’s silly rules. Instead, he does what roosters were born to do.
The Rooster Who Would Not Be Quiet is a WOW Recommends: Book of the Month for August 2017.
Bravo!
Bold, graphic portraits and beautiful poems present famous and lesser-known Latinos from varied backgrounds who have faced life’s challenges in creative ways.
The Horse of Seven Colors
One night, Don Isidro and his three sons heard a stampede of horses crashing through their gardens. They were shocked to see horses of every color of the rainbow. When they shot at them, the horses fled the garden, leaving the vegetables completely destroyed. Don Isidro ordered his sons to guard the crop during the night. The oldest son failed, the middle son failed, and then it was the youngest son’s turn to guard. He succeeded in capturing one of the horses, which asked him to let it go. “Then I will rescue you when you are in danger,” it said. The youngest son agreed and freed the horse.
Emerald Lizard (World Storytelling)
A retelling in English and Spanish of fifteen traditional tales from a variety of Latin American countries.
The Case of the Three Kings/El Caso De Los Reyes Magos
After receiving the perfect Christmas gifts (a fingerprint-taking kit, a flashlight, and police tape to block off crime scenes), junior detective Flaca is reluctant to travel to Puerto Rico to spend Three Kings Day with her grandmother, until Flaca finds a mystery to solve involving the holiday’s traditions.
Spit and Sticks
Succinct and factual text follows chimney swifts as they arrive on a Texas farm, build their nest, lay eggs, ready for fledglings to take flight, and eventually prepare to migrate back to South America. In a parallel, wordless story, a mom, dad, and young girl on the farm watch the chimney swifts throughout the summer and fall, even as they build a new crib and ready for the new baby they’re expecting.
The Impossible Voyage of Kon-Tiki
Combining history with culture, the ocean with exploration, and risk with triumph—this rich offering is the only picture book account of Thor Heyerdahl’s world-famous Kon-Tiki expedition, during which he sailed a raft 5,000 miles from the coast of South America to the islands of the South Pacific.