La Frontera: el viaje con papá por Deborah Mills. Alfredo y su papá deben cruzar la frontera en un viaje difícil de México a los Estados Unidos. Éncontrarán el nuevo hogar que están buscando en el otro lado? Basándose en hechos reales, esta historia cobra vida gracias a la ilustradora Mexicana Claudia Navarro, y está repleta de notas al final del texto para iniciar conversaciones sobre inmigración.
La Frontera: My Journey with Papa by Deborah Mills. Join a young boy and his father on a daring journey from Mexico to Texas to find a new life. They'll need all the resilience and courage they can muster to safely cross the border - la frontera - and to make a home for themselves in a new land.
Marisol McDonald no combina por Monica Brown, ilustraciones por Sara Palacios.
Marisol McDonald Doesn't Match by Monica Brown, illustrated by Sara Palacios. Marisol McDonald has flaming red hair and nut-brown skin. Polka dots and stripes are her favorite combination. She prefers peanut butter and jelly burritos in her lunch box. To Marisol, these seemingly mismatched things make perfect sense together. Other people wrinkle their nose in confusion at Marisol—can’t she just choose one or the other? Try as she might, in a world where everyone tries to put this biracial, Peruvian-Scottish-American girl into a box, Marisol McDonald doesn’t match. And that’s just fine with her.
Libro de las Preguntas por Pablo Neruda.
Book of Questions by Pablo Neruda. This bilingual Spanish-English edition is the first illustrated selection of questions, 70 in all, from Pablo Neruda's original poem (320 questions) The Book of Questions.
Los mejores colores por Eric Hoffman, ilustraciones por Celeste Henriquez.
Best Best Colors by Eric Hoffman, illustrated by Celeste Henriquez. With the help of his two mammas, Nate learns he can have more than one best color and one best friend.
Perro grande, perro pequeño: un cuento de las buenas noches por Philip D. Eastman.
Big Dog, Little Dog: a Bedtime Story by Philip D. Eastman. This book follows a day in the life of Ted and Fred, canine best friends who introduce young children to the concepts of size, color, and opposites. By the author of Go, Dog, Go! and Are You My Mother? The presence of the English text beneath the Spanish makes it especially helpful in the primary-grade bilingual classroom.
Arrorró, mi niño: Latino Lullabies and Gentle Games, selected and illustrated by Lulu Delacre. In this beautiful bilingual collection of classic Latino lullabies and games, mothers and children happily embrace and treasure their traditions while sharing the universal joy of the special bond between parent and child. The fifteen selections in the book were compiled from the recollections of Latinas from fourteen different countries. These sweet lullabies and gentle games have withstood the test of time and travel across nations. They are now gathered in this book to help families rejoice in this beautiful lore as their play with their babies or cuddle just before bedtime.
Diez Deditos - Ten Little Fingers - and Other Play Rhymes and Action Songs from Latin America, selected, arranged, and translated by José-Luis Orozco, illustrated by Elisa Kleven. This bilingual collection of finger rhymes and action songs highlights the richness of the Latin American culture to support a child's language development, listening skills and basic concepts. Your kids will have fun singing, clapping, dancing and enjoying vibrant themes such as languages, parts of the body, animals, sounds and musical instruments. This collection also teaches kids the importance of family and self-esteem.
Our Celebracíon by Susan Middleton Elya, illustrated by Ana Aranda. Come join the crowd headed for the parade! Marvel at the people riding motorcycles, bicycles, tricycles, and unicycles. Duck out of the way as firefighters spray water on hot spectators. Clap to the music as bands of musicians playing clarinetes, saxophones, flautas, trumpets, and drums march by. Feast on lemonade, watermelon, tacos, and ice cream. Wave to the corn princess as her float passes by. Then take cover when a quick rain shower comes, followed by a bright rainbow. Back in the town plaza as night falls, marvel at the sparkling fireworks that end the day's festivities. Pop, pop, pop! ¡Bón, bón, bón! A delightful rhyming romp through the festivities of a small town's summer parade and celebration, written in English with Spanish words sprinkled throughout.
El Gato ensombrerado escrito por Dr. Seuss, traducido por Carlos Rivera. Un gato trae, de una forma alegre, exótica y exuberante, caos a una familia de dos hijos, un hermano y una hermana, un día lluvioso, mientras que su madre los deja sin atención
The Cat in the Hat by Dr. Seuss. A zany but well-meaning cat brings a cheerful, exotic, and exuberant form of chaos to a household of two young children one rainy day while their mother is out.
Carmela Full of Wishes by Matt de la Peña. Carmela, finally old enough to run errands with her brother, tries to think of the perfect birthday wish, while his wish seems to be that she stayed home.
Funny Bones: Posada and his Day of the Dead Calaveras by Duncan Tonatiuh. Funny Bones tells the story of how the amusing calaveras--skeletons performing various everyday or festive activities--came to be. They are the creation of Mexican artist José Guadalupe (Lupe) Posada (1852-1913). Posada first drew political cartoons, much to the amusement of the local population but not the politicians. His drawings have become synonymous with Mexico's Día de los Muertos festival. Juxtaposing his own art with that of Lupe's, Duncan Tonatiuh brings to light the remarkable life and work of a man whose art is beloved by many but whose name has remained in obscurity.
Doña Flor by Pat Mora. Doña Flor has gigantic proportions and unusual skills such as understanding the language of plants. Eventually, her talents are appreciated by the villagers in this attractively illustrated, richly told original tale.
Separate is Never Equal: Sylvia Mendez and Her Family's Fight for Desegregation by Duncan Tonatiuh. Almost 10 years before Brown vs. Board of Education, Sylvia Mendez and her parents helped end school segregation in California. An American citizen of Mexican and Puerto Rican heritage who spoke and wrote perfect English, Mendez was denied enrollment to a “Whites only” school. Her parents took action by organizing the Hispanic community and filing a successful lawsuit in federal court
Viva Frida by Yuyi Morales. Mixed media illustrations evoke artist Frida Kahlo and lyrical language is used to suggest her life. Rather than a biography, this homage to art and an artist is visually stunning and will likely generate interest in many topics.
Image of Juan Ponce de León
Image of Joseph Marion Hernández, the first Hispanic member of Congress
Image: Mexicans wait to be bathed and de-loused at the Sante Fe Bridge quarantine plant.
Image of Octaviano Ambrosio Larrazolo
Image of young men in zoot suits
June 3, 1943:
The Zoot Suit Riots begin in the Los Angeles area, lasting 10 days, in which U.S. military men targeted young Mexican Americans dressed in the popular zoot suits of the time—long coats with wide, ankle-pegged pants. With racial tensions growing between the Hispanic and Anglo communities following an injust murder trial, sailors drag Latino youth from diners, cafes, bars and movie theaters, ripping off their baggy suits and beating them with clubs and whips. The youth fight back, leaving both Mexicans and servicemen hospitalized.
April 14, 1947
The 9th Circuit Court of Appeals makes a landmark ruling prohibiting segregation in California public schools in Mendez v. Westminster School District. In the case, the family of Sylvia Mendez, then 9, and others sued four school districts for being denied entrance to Westminster Elementary School because they were Mexican. The ruling sets precedent for the historic Brown v. Board of Education Supreme Court case seven years later.
Image: Wreckage of the plane carrying Ritchie Valens
Image of Cesar Chavez
March 17, 1966
Cesar Chavez, general director of the National Farm Workers Association, leads 75 Latino and Filipino farm workers on a historic 340-mile march from Delano, California to the state capitol in Sacramento. Drawing attention to the demands of grape growers, the march, held at the onset of a strike that would last five years, lasts 25 days, and upon arrival in Sacramento on Easter Sunday, the group is met by a crowd of 10,000. Later that summer, the NFWA merges with the Agricultural Workers Organizing Committee to form the United Farm Workers union that affiliates with the AFL-CIO.
April 16, 1973
The Dade County Commission unanimously passes a resolution from Miami's mayor making Spanish the city's second official language and creating a department of bilingual and bicultural affairs. In 1974, the Florida city is home to 350,000 Cubans who have been fleeing the country under Fidel Castro's regime for more than 15 years. On November 8, 1973, Maurice A. Ferré is elected Miami's first Hispanic mayor, also becoming the first Puerto Rican to lead a major U.S. mainland city.
Image: One of the boats in the Mariel Boatlift
Image: Ileana Ros-Lehtinen, the first Hispanic woman elected to Congress
Translated Woman: Crossing the Border with Esperanza's Story by Ruth Behar. Translated Woman tells the story of an unforgettable encounter between Ruth Behar, a Cuban-American feminist anthropologist, and Esperanza Hernández, a Mexican street peddler. The tale of Esperanza's extraordinary life yields unexpected and profound reflections on the mutual desires that bind together anthropologists and their "subjects."
Forgotten Journey by Silvia Ocampo. Delicately crafted, intensely visual, deeply personal stories explore the nature of memory, family ties, and the difficult imbalances of love. In this, Silvina Ocampo's first book of stories, we discover the purest form of what would become her signature style over the years: lyrical, oneiric, and menacing--and an atmosphere, both mundane and mysterious, bordering on the fantastical.
La Casa en Mango Street por Sandra Cisneros. Elogiado por la crítica, admirado por lectores de todas las edades, en escuelas y universidades de todo el país y traducido a una multitud de idiomas, La casa en Mango Street es la extraordinaria historia de Esperanza Cordero. Contado a través de una serie de viñetas a veces desgarradoras, a veces profundamente alegres es el relato de una niña latina que crece en un barrio de Chicago, inventando por sí misma en qué y en quién se convertirá. Pocos libros de nuestra era han conmovido a tantos lectores.
Cuando era puertorriqueña por Esmeralda Santiago. La historia de Esmeralda Santiago comienza en la parte rural de Puerto Rico, donde sus padres y siete hermanos, en continuas luchas los unos con los otros, vivían una vida alborotada pero llena de amor y ternura. De niña, Esmeralda aprendió a apreciar cómo se come una guayaba, a distinguir la canción del coquí, a identificar los ingredientes en las morcillas y a ayudar a que el alma de un bebé muerto subiera al Cielo. Pero precisamente cuando Esmeralda parecía haberlo aprendido todo sobre su cultura, la llevaron a Nueva York, donde las reglas y el idioma eran no sólo diferentes, sino también desconcertantes. Cómo Esmeralda superó la adversidad, se ganó entrada a la Performing Arts High School y después continuó a Harvard, de donde se graduó con altos honores, es el relato de la tremenda trayectoria de una mujer verdaderamente extraordinaria.
El naranjo por Carlos Fuentes. En El naranjo, Carlos Fuentes juega con diversos mitos -el conquistador conquistado, la atemporalidad de la historia- y recorre las obsesiones típicas de su literatura. El árbol del naranjo, así, no sólo es el hilo conductor de los cinco relatos o novelas breves que conforman este volumen, sino una síntesis de la obra de Fuentes y el libro con el que se cierra el ciclo narrativo "La edad del tiempo".
Los huesos de mi abuelo por Esthela Calderón. Los peomas de Esthela Calderón reunidos en esta edición bilingüe tienen esa condición de despertar al lector como un latigazo en el ojo, de ser tiempo joven donde todo alrededor se aplasta. Pero la cosa va más allá y no se queda en ese primer encuentro cegador. El poema además de siempre ser tiempo joven, tiene la condición de ser pausa donda el tiempo se para y se expande, para luego retomar el flujo interrumpido del Soplo de corriente vital. Y cuando digo que se expande, puee ser un tiempo de largo alcance. Por eso las colección se titula "Los huesos de mi abuelo": hay una búsqueda ancestral que abarca un tiempo intergeneracional, que es el tiempo de la semilla.--De la Introducción, de Roberto Forns-Broggi
Cuentos: An Anthology of Short Stories from Puerto Rico, edited by Kal Wagenheim. With Spanish and English on facing pages. This is a bilingual anthology of twelve short stories by six of Puerto Rico's leading contemporary writers. Themes vary in time, mood, and style. Sometimes sad, and sometimes hilariously comic, these stories are in many respects an authentic voice of the Puerto Rican people.
The Poem of the Cid by anonymous. One of the finest of epic poems, and the only one to have survived from medieval Spain, The Poem of the Cid recounts the adventures of the warlord and nobleman Rodrigo Díaz de Vivar - 'Mio Cid'. A forceful combination of heroic fiction and historical fact, the tale seethes with the restless, adventurous spirit of Castille, telling of the Cid's unjust banishment from the court of King Alfonso, his victorious campaigns in Valencia, and the crowning of his daughters as queens of Aragon and Navarre - the high point of his career as a warmonger. An epic that sings of universal human values, this is one of the greatest of all works of Spanish literature.
A History of Latin America: collision of cultures by Marshall Eakin. This narrative history of Latin America surveys five centuries in less than five hundred pages. The collision of peoples and cultures--Native Americans, Europeans, Africans--that defines Latin America, and gives it both its unity and diversity, provides the central theme of this concise, synthetic history.
Pancho Villa and the Mexican Revolution by Manuel Plana. In 1910 a revolt breaks out in Mexico that, over the course of just a few years, will change the face of the nation. Among the popular leaders of this movement is Pancho Villa, who embodies the epic of Mexico in flames. A man of the northern desert regions, he organizes an army that will become legendary, administers immense expanses of territory, and challenges the power of the United States. He seizes the property of large landowners, understands the anxiety of the poor, becomes an advocate for the lower classes, and seems on the brink of controlling the entire country.
But as is true of many other revolutionary leaders, Villa's parabola reaches its nadir when opposing forces gain the upper hand in the military and political spheres. While he retires in 1920 to private life, Villa cannot evade the chain of revenge that hits him, as well as other losers and winners of the revolution, such as Madero, Zapata, Carranza, and Obregon. Once the protagonists of this epic story have all disappeared, it becomes evident how their contributions helped create a new nation.
The Silence and the Scorpion: The Coup Against Chavez and the Making of Modern Venezuela by Brian Nelson. On April 11, 2002, nearly a million Venezuelans marched on the presidential palace to demand the resignation of President Hugo Chavez. Led by Pedro Carmona and Carlos Ortega, the opposition represented a cross-section of society furious with Chavez’s economic policies, specifically his mishandling of the Venezuelan oil industry. But as the day progressed the march turned violent, sparking a military revolt that led to the temporary ousting of Chavez. Over the ensuing, turbulent seventy-two hours, Venezuelans would confront the deep divisions within their society and ultimately decide the best course for their country — and its oil — in the new century. An exemplary piece of narrative journalism, The Silence and the Scorpion provides rich insight into the complexities of modern Venezuela.
Our America: a Hispanic History of the United States by Felipe Fernández-Armesto. This book maps the influence of America's Hispanic past, from the explorers and conquistadors who helped colonize Puerto Rico and Florida, to the missionaries and rancheros who settled in California and the 20th-century resurgence in major cities like Chicago and Miami.
My Beloved World by Sonia Sotomayor. The first Hispanic on the U.S. Supreme Court tells the story of her life before becoming a judge in an inspiring memoir. With startling candor and intimacy, Sotomayor recounts her life from a Bronx housing project to the federal bench, a progress that is testament to her extraordinary determination and the power of believing in oneself. She writes of her precarious childhood and the refuge she took with her passionately spirited grandmother. She describes her resolve as a young girl to become a lawyer, and how she made this dream become reality: valedictorian of her high school class, summa cum laude at Princeton, Yale Law, prosecutor in the Manhattan D.A.'s office, private practice, federal district judge before the age of forty. She writes about her deeply valued mentors, about her failed marriage, about her cherished family of friends. Through her still-astonished eyes, America's infinite possibilities are envisioned anew in this warm and honest book.
Butterfly Boy by Rigoberto González. Heartbreaking, poetic, and intensely personal, Butterfly Boy is a unique coming out and coming-of-age story of a first-generation Chicano who trades one life for another, only to discover that history and memory are not exchangeable or forgettable. Growing up among poor migrant Mexican farmworkers, Rigoberto González also faces the pressure of coming-of-age as a gay man in a culture that prizes machismo. Losing his mother when he is twelve, González must then confront his father’s abandonment and an abiding sense of cultural estrangement, both from his adopted home in the United States and from a Mexican birthright. His only sense of connection gets forged in a violent relationship with an older man. By finding his calling as a writer, and by revisiting the relationship with his father during a trip to Mexico, González finally claims his identity at the intersection of race, class, and sexuality. The result is a leap of faith that every reader who ever felt like an outsider will immediately recognize.
Undocumented: A Dominican Boy's Odyssey from a Homeless Shelter to the Ivy League by Dan-el Padilla Peralta. Discover Dan-el Padilla Peralta’s journey from a New York City homeless shelter to the top of his Princeton class. Undocumented is essential reading for the debate on immigration, but it is also an unforgettable tale of a passionate young scholar coming of age in two very different worlds.
One Hundred Years of Solitude by Gabriel García Márquez. This brilliant, bestselling, landmark novel tells the story of the Buendia family, and chronicles the irreconcilable conflict between the desire for solitude and the need for love—in rich, imaginative prose that has come to define an entire genre known as "magical realism."
Ficciones by Jorge Luis Borges. The seventeen pieces in Ficciones demonstrate the whirlwind of Borges's genius and mirror the precision and potency of his intellect and inventiveness, his piercing irony, his skepticism, and his obsession with fantasy. Borges sends us on a journey into a compelling, bizarre, and profoundly resonant realm; we enter the fearful sphere of Pascal's abyss, the surreal and literal labyrinth of books, and the iconography of eternal return. To enter the worlds in Ficciones is to enter the mind of Jorge Luis Borges, wherein lies Heaven, Hell, and everything else in between.
The House of the Spirits by Isabel Allende. In one of the most important and beloved Latin American works of the twentieth century, Isabel Allende weaves a luminous tapestry of three generations of the Trueba family, revealing both triumphs and tragedies. Here is patriarch Esteban, whose wild desires and political machinations are tempered only by his love for his ethereal wife, Clara, a woman touched by an otherworldly hand. Their daughter, Blanca, whose forbidden love for a man Esteban has deemed unworthy infuriates her father, yet will produce his greatest joy: his granddaughter Alba, a beautiful, ambitious girl who will lead the family and their country into a revolutionary future. The House of the Spirits is an enthralling saga that spans decades and lives, twining the personal and the political into an epic novel of love, magic, and fate.
Your Face Tomorrow by Javier Marías. Part spy novel, part romance, part Henry James, Your Face Tomorrow is a wholly remarkable display of the immense gifts of Javier Marías.
Our hero, Jaime Deza, separated from his wife in Madrid, is a bit adrift in London until his old friend Sir Peter Wheeler—retired Oxford don and semi-retired master spy—recruits him for a new career in British Intelligence. Deza possesses a rare gift for seeing behind the masks people wear. He is soon observing interviews conducted by Her Majesty's secret service: variously shady international businessmen one day, would-be coup leaders the next. Seductively, this metaphysical thriller explores past, present, and future in the ever-more-perilous 21st century.
Don Quixote by Miguel de Cervantes. Don Quixote, errant knight and sane madman, with the company of his faithful squire and wise fool, Sancho Panza, together roam the world and haunt readers' imaginations as they have for nearly four hundred years.
The Poem of the Cid by anonymous. One of the finest of epic poems, and the only one to have survived from medieval Spain, The Poem of the Cid recounts the adventures of the warlord and nobleman Rodrigo Díaz de Vivar - 'Mio Cid'. A forceful combination of heroic fiction and historical fact, the tale seethes with the restless, adventurous spirit of Castille, telling of the Cid's unjust banishment from the court of King Alfonso, his victorious campaigns in Valencia, and the crowning of his daughters as queens of Aragon and Navarre - the high point of his career as a warmonger. An epic that sings of universal human values, this is one of the greatest of all works of Spanish literature.
Click the photo to go the National Archives' collection on Hispanic and Latino heritage.
Sergeant First Class (ret.) Modesto Cartagena is one of the highest decorated men from the Korean War. Here is Cartagena during a ceremony honoring Korean War veterans at the US Army Reserve center in Puerto Nuevo, Puerto Rico. Cartagena was a member of the 65th Infantry Regiment, an all-Hispanic regiment that hailed mostly from Puerto Rico.
Now the Dead Will Dance the Mambo by Martín Espada (audiobook). This audiobook presents a collection of poems written and performed by Latino poet Martín Espada, many of which arise from his Puerto Rican heritage and his work experiences.
Gran Cocina Latina: the food of Latin America by Maricel Presilla. Gran Cocina Latina unifies the vast culinary landscape of the Latin world, from Mexico to Argentina and all the Spanish-speaking countries of the Caribbean.
Latin American Cooking by Johnathan Norton Leonard.
Latino Arts and Their Influence on the United States: songs, dreams, and dances by Rory Makosz. Explores the history and development of Latino art. This book illuminates how Latino artists have used their work to communicate concepts important to their own communities and cultures. It also explains how Latino art has affected the United States and become an influence in American popular culture.
