Hispanic and Latino

Just a Minute!: A Trickster Tale and Counting Book (Pura Belpre Medal Book Illustrator (Awards))

In this original trickster tale, Senor Calavera arrives unexpectedly at Grandma Beetle’s door. He requests that she leave with him right away. “Just a minute,” Grandma Beetle tells him. She still has one house to sweep, two pots of tea to boil, three pounds of corn to make into tortillas – and that’s just the start! Using both Spanish and English words to tally the party preparations, Grandma Beetle cleverly delays her trip and spends her birthday with a table full of grandchildren and her surprise guest. This spirited tribute to the rich traditions of Mexican culture is the perfect introduction to counting in both English and Spanish. The vivacious illustrations and universal depiction of a family celebration are sure to be adored by young readers everywhere.

The Migrant Project: Contemporary California Farm Workers

The images in this book highlight the lives of the men and women who struggle to exist while literally feeding this country. Countless words and studies over decades bemoan the plight of those who toil in the fields, but Rick Nahmias’s pictures bring farm workers to us in an unforgettable way, taking us beyond stoop labor stills and into their intimate moments and inner lives. Having traveled over four thousand miles to document California’s migrant workforce, Nahmias’s soulful images and incisive text go beyond one state’s issues, illuminating the bigger story about the human cost of feeding America. The Migrant Project includes the images and text of the traveling exhibition of the same name, along with numerous outtakes and an in-depth preface by Nahmias. Accompanied by a Foreword from United Farm Worker co-creator Dolores Huerta, essays by top farm worker advocates, and oral histories from farm workers themselves, this volume should find itself at home in the hands of everyone from the student and teacher, to the activist, the photography enthusiast, and the consumer.”Every day in the hot fields of California, hundreds of thousands of farmworkers toil for long hours at low pay to provide fruit and vegetables to feed our nation. Most Americans never see the faces of these hard-working men and women, and know little or nothing about the harsh conditions they endure. The Migrant Project has done an extraordinary job documenting these workers’ lives. Rick Nahmias’s powerful photographs and the beautiful essays of dedicated advocates tell an inspiring story of the farmworkers’ historic struggle for the respect, the dignity, and the justice they so obviously deserve.”–U.S. Senator Edward M. Kennedy, Massachusetts “Nahmias’s images starkly capture both the humanity of the farm workers who literally feed our country, and the inhumanity of a system which has kept them and their predecessors prisoners to poverty for decades. This book is a testament to the flesh-and-blood cost of feeding America.”–Arianna Huffington, author, editor-in-chief of The Huffington Post, and nationally syndicated columnistExhibition schedule for The Migrant Project photographs:Mexican Cultural Institute, Washington D.C., February 21-April 14, 2008Museum of Tolerance, Los Angeles, California, March 4-April 25, 2008For more information on immigrant and migrant worker issues, please access the following organizations:Farmworker JusticeCalifornia Rural Legal AssistanceNational Association of State Directors of Migrant EducationNational Council for La RazaInternational Relations Center Americas ProgramCongressional Hispanic Caucus InstituteGlobal Commission on International MigrationInstitute for Agriculture and Trade PolicyNational Farmworker MinistryNational Rural Funders CollaborativeNational Farm Worker AllianceSouthern Poverty Law CenterUMOS Clergy and Laity United for Economic JusticeAmerican Friends Service CommitteeAFL-CIOCoalition for Comprehensive Immigration ReformCatholic Campaign for Immigration Reform

Tortilla Chronicles: Growing Up In Santa Fe

A family memoir full of New Mexico flavor, Tortilla Chronicles serves up a hearty helping of the “City Different” from the perspective of the humble, hardworking Romeros, a family honored for its contributions to regional folk arts. Marie Romero Cash, herself a renowned artist, poignantly sketches each family member using his or her own voice. Their stories present a rare glimpse into the life of a traditional Hispano family and provide an antidote to typical nostalgic tourist accounts of 1950s Santa Fe. One of the main characters is Santa Fe itself, and the narrative tours the city’s streets, shops, plaza, and surrounding hills and arroyos in astounding detail. The ancestry and rituals of family life, the culture and religion of northern New Mexico, and the growth of a neighborhood and its children are all part of the recipe.

The Secret Stars

In New Mexico on a rainy, icy Night of the Three Kings, Sila and Pepe worry that the kings will not be able to use the stars to navigate, so their grandmother takes them on a magical journey to see the secret stars all around them.

The Year Of Our Revolution: Love And Rebellion In The 1960s: Stories And Poems

Teenaged Mary Ellen-known to her parents as María Elenita-is pulling away from their conservative Puerto Rican world, towards dreams of rock music, political protest, and first love. But as she learns about the “secret” lives of her parents and other adults, she finds that the taste of freedom is not so sweet. Judith Cofer’s new collection-drawn from her own adolescence, with a novella included especially for the paperback edition-will speak to readers of both sexes, and all races.”…her descriptions of barrio life with a pervasive current of sensuality and rebellion…there is wisdom aplenty in this radiant collection.” -Publishers Weekly

Too Many Tamales

While preparing dough for her family’s Christmas tamales, Maria discovers that she has lost her mother’s prized diamond ring somewhere in the dough and sets out to eat her way through the many finished tamales to find the missing ring.

Tiny Tortilla

Juan Carlos is dreaming of a hot, tasty tortilla. But the old tortilla maker in the plaza has sold them all—except for a tiny piece of masa (corn dough) that she gives him with instructions.This tiny piece is magical—it becomes a hat to shade him from the hot sun, a boat to carry him through a flood, and an enormous feather that floats him home. And then it becomes a delicious tortilla for his well-earned supper. Featuring inventive art with Southwestern folk accents, this is a rich and satisfying book about finding magic in ordinary places.

The Other Side: How Kids Live In A California Latino Neighborhood (World Of My Own)

Provides a brief look at three Latino children who live in the border town of Chula Vista. The book covers the lives of three Latino children who have successfully adapted to a new culture and language while still maintaining close ties to family members in Mexico.

Treasure Of Taos: Tales Of Northern New Mexico

Set in the mountains of Northern New Mexico these five cuentos are an engaging blend of history and fantasy. Warmly accented with fine pencil illustrations, this collection of folktales invites readers of all ages to experience New Mexico’s Hispanic heritage. Winner of the First Place Award for short fiction from the National Press Women’s Association.

The Smell Of Old Lady Perfume

Claudia Guadalupe Martinez’s debut novel for young adults is a bittersweet story about death, family, and the resilient emotional strength of the human heart. Chela Gonzalez, the book’s narrator, is a nerd and a soccer player who can barely contain her excitement about starting the sixth grade. But nothing is as she imagined-her best friend turns on her to join the popular girls and they all act like Chela doesn’t exist. She buries herself in schoolwork and in the warm comfort of her family. To Chela, her family is like a solar system, with her father the sun and her mother, brothers, and sister like planets rotating all around him. It’s a small world, but it’s the only one she fits in.But that universe is threatened when her strong father has a stroke. Chela’s grandmother moves in to help the family. The smell of her old lady perfume invades the house. That smell is worse than Sundays. Sundays were sad, but they went just as sure as they came. Death was a whole other thing, and Chela doesn’t understand that’s what everyone is waiting for. In her grief and worry, Chela begins to discover herself and find her own strength.Claudia Guadalupe Martinez was born in El Paso, Texas. She learned that letters form words from reading the subtitles of old Westerns for her father. She went on to graduate from college and moved to Chicago to become one of the city’s youngest nonprofit executives.