May 8 2014

Book Review: América is Her Name by Luis J. Rodríguez

By Sonia Alejandra Rodríguez

696056 DESCRIPTION FROM THE BOOK JACKET: Set in the Pilsen barrio of Chicago, this children’s picture book gives a heartwarming message of hope. The heroine, América, is a primary school student who is unhappy in school until a poet visits the class and inspires the students to express themselves creatively–in Spanish or English. América Is Her Name emphasizes the power of individual creativity in overcoming a difficult environment and establishing self-worth and identity through the young girl América’s desire and determination to be a writer. This story deals realistically with the problems in urban neighborhoods and has an upbeat theme: you can succeed in spite of the odds against you. Carlos Vázquez’s inspired four-color illustrations give a vivid sense of the barrio, as well as the beauty and strength of the young girl América.

MY TWO CENTS: Luis Rodríguez’s América is Her Name (1998) tells the story of América Soliz, an undocumented immigrant from Oaxaca, Mexico to Pilsen, Illinois—Chicago’s predominantly Mexican community—and her struggles to find her voice and an identity that captures the complexity of who she is. Throughout the text, América faces discrimination in the classroom, witnesses the violence in her community, and feels patriarchal oppression in her home. Through poetry, however, she gains a language and agency to challenge and transform her reality.

At the beginning of the story, the narrator makes clear that América is having a difficult time feeling like she belongs in her new home in the United States. Pilsen is not like her hometown in Oaxaca. She witnesses gun violence—a shooting between two youth groups—as she walks to school. Her white teachers marginalize her for not speaking English and she also overhears them calling her an “illegal.” While América is not sure what that means or how a person can be illegal,she understands they do not want her to belong. At home, América becomes aware of the discrimination her parents face as manual labor workers when her father loses his job and her mother comes home expressing her frustration at being called a “wetback.” The narrator also alludes to the fact that the uncle that lives with them is an alcoholic.

Despite the barrage of oppressions that América confronts on a daily basis, she is able to find a sense of self and a voice through poetry. Her classroom gets a visit from a Puerto Rican poet, Mr. Aponte, who encourages América to write her story in any form and any language that best represents her. América writes about her Mixteca indigenous culture in Oaxaca and encourages her mother and younger brother to do the same. The most beautiful scene in the book is a representation of América and her mother sitting at the kitchen table as they practice their writing.

Illustrator Carlos Vazquez depicts mother and daughter in vibrant colors as their words come alive. It is an empowering moment for América and for the reader. Poetry, and writing in general, is not reserved only for América, who has access to education and the possibility of belonging in the United States, but América also makes is available to her mother. By sharing this practice with her mother, América challenges understandings of who gets to belong, which is an extremely important theme in the book. Furthermore, by making poetry available to her family, América attempts to bridge the divide between (im)migrants and their children. América is Her Name is a heartfelt and empowering story that explores issues of what it means to belong in the United States.

AUTHOR: Luis J. Rodriguez is one of the leading Chicano writers in the country with fifteen published books in memoir, fiction, nonfiction, children’s literature, and poetry. Luis’ poetry has won a Poetry Center Book Award, a PEN Josephine Miles Literary Award, and a Paterson Poetry Book Prize, among others. His children’s books—America is Her Name and It Doesn’t Have to be This Way: A Barrio Story—have won a Patterson Young Adult Book Award, two Skipping Stones Honor Awards, and a Parent’s Choice Book Award. Luis Rodriguez is best known for the 1993 memoir of gang life, Always Running: La Vida Loca, Gang Days in L.A.

FOR MORE INFORMATION about América Is Her Name visit your local library or bookstore. Also check out worldcat.org, indiebound.org, goodreads.com, amazon.com, barnesandnoble.com, and Curbstone Press.

Sonia Alejandra Rodríguez has been an avid reader since childhood. Her literary world was first transformed when she read Rudolfo Anaya’s Bless me, Última as a high school student and then again as a college freshman when she was given a copy of Sandra Cisneros’s The House on Mango Street. Sonia’s academic life and activism are committed to making diverse literature available to children and youth of color. Sonia received her B.A. in English from the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign. She is currently a PhD candidate at the University of California, Riverside, where she focuses her dissertation on healing processes in Latina/o Children’s and Young Adult Literature.

May 2 2014

2014 Reading Challenge: April Update and We Need More Diverse Books Campaign

We love to post the monthly Reading Challenge update because it’s fun to see what people are reading, readers give us titles to add to our book lists, people are reading more Latin@ Kid Lit (yay), and look at all the beautiful artwork on those covers. We’re even more excited than usual about this month’s post because it comes as the We Need Diverse Books Campaign is underway. The hashtag #WeNeedDiverseBooks has been trending on Twitter since before the campaign official began.

Here are contributions from our own Zoraida Córdova, Lila Q. Weaver, and Cindy L. Rodriguez (well, her daughter):

Today, people are engaged in the second part of the campaign. A Twitter chat is scheduled for 2 p.m. (EST). Use the same hashtag and share your thoughts on the issues with diversity in literature and why diversity matters to you.

Tomorrow, is the third part of the campaign, called the Diversify Your Shelves initiative to encourage people to buy diverse books and take photos of them. Before you head out to buy books, take a look at what participants in our 2014 Latin@s In Kid Lit Challenge read in April.

We will say this and mean it every month: Thank you to everyone for participating in the challenge and purposely selecting books by/about/for Latin@s. Remember, you can join the challenge any time during the year, and you’re not required to review–only read and enjoy! If you do post a review somewhere, we will link it to the book covers below. If you choose not to review, we will link the covers to Goodreads.

May 1 2014

Book Review: Jumped In by Patrick Flores-Scott

By Edith Campbell

DESCRIPTION FROM THE BOOK JACKET: Sam has the rules of slackerhood down: Don’t be late to class. Don’t ever look the teacher in the eye. Develop your blank stare. Since his mom left, he has become an expert in the art of slacking, especially since no one at his new school gets his intense passion for the music of the Pacific Northwest—Nirvana, Hole, Sleater-Kinney. Then his English teacher begins a slam poetry unit and Sam gets paired up with the daunting, scarred, clearly-a-gang-member Luis, who happens to sit next to him in every one of his classes. Slacking is no longer an option—Luis will destroy him. Told in Sam’s raw voice and interspersed with vivid poems, Jumped In by Patrick Flores-Scott is a stunning debut novel about differences, friendship, loss, and the power of words.

MY TWO CENTS: Sam is a teen who once had much going for him but has decided to give up on everything after his mother dumps him with her parents and leaves. Sam now wants to also disappear by becoming a slacker. He’s got the slacker rules down pat and he follows them quite well until the new guy, Luis, is assigned to sit near him in every single class. Everyone assumes Luis is a gangster; after all, his brother is.

Flores-Scott writes to teach the power of words and the obliterating effect of silence. Sam finds comfort in the music of Nirvana. His sadness is echoed in the gray, wet landscape that surrounds him in Seattle. The humor and optimism of his grandparents emphasize what a jerk Sam is becoming. Luis appears in poetic form and he while he really isn’t much more than a thought, a poem in the story, his presence changes Sam. We never really know what’s going on in young people’s minds, do we? Flores-Scott captures their inconsistencies as he writes about so many characters who seem one way but act another. Rupe and Dave were Sam’s touch stones, but even they grew and changed in ways Sam wasn’t quite prepared for.

The writing will attract students who don’t often find themselves in books, those who try to disappear as well as those who are fascinated by the power of language. Some of the short chapters themselves look like poems. I wanted to slow down the story and clean up the ending. I wanted the parrot to go ahead and scream “goodbye Sam” and for Sam to be OK with that. I wanted to add “Trayvon” to the graffiti on the cover because that young man in the hooded green jacket reminds us all how our young boys in hoodies too often disappear.

Jumped In was listed on YALSA’s 2014 list of Best Fiction for Young Adults and as a Favorite Chapter Book by the International Reading Association.

AUTHOR: Patrick Flores-Scott was born and raised in the Snoqualmie Valley (just east of Seattle). He studied theatre at the University of Washington and ended up getting a teaching certificate as well. He spent years working as a reading specialist by day while writing and acting in plays in his free time. While teaching at a middle school in Des Moines, Washington, he was inspired to write a novel that reflected his students’ lives, something that his struggling readers would able to enjoy, something he might have enjoyed all the years he was a struggling reader. Jumped In is his debut novel. He lives in Seattle with his wife and two children.

FOR MORE INFORMATION about Jumped In, visit your local library or bookstore. Also, check out worldcat.org, indiebound.org, goodreads.com, amazon.com, barnesandnoble.com, and Henry Holt/Christy Ottaviano Books.

Edith Campbell is a mother, librarian, educator and quilter. She received her B.A. in Economics from the University of Cincinnati and MLS from Indiana University. Her passion is promoting literacy in all its many forms to teens and she does this through her blog, CrazyQuiltEdi and in her work as an Education Librarian at Indiana State University in Terre Haute, Indiana. Edith currently serves as the IN State Ambassador for the United States Board on Books for Young People and is a past member of YALSA’s Best Fiction for Young Adults selection committee.

Apr 30 2014

For Children’s Day/Book Day, Let’s Meet Angela Dominguez, Illustrator of Maria Had a Little Llama

By Concetta Gleason
editorial assistant/admin coordinator for Scholastic’s Club Leo en Español

The original post can be found here on Scholastic’s site.

Today is Children’s Day/Book Day/El día de los niños/El día de los libros, which is a mouthful, so let’s call it by its common name: Día. ¡Gracias!

Founded in 1996 by Pat Mora, author of Book Fiesta!, Día is a celebration of children reading in their home language and exploring new languages. One of the most amazing things Día strives to do is provide grants for communities and libraries to support literacy for children of all languages and cultural backgrounds. We love this holiday. Bilingualism + books + kids = Club Leo.

To celebrate, we wanted to do something special: interview Angela Dominguez, author and illustrator of the beloved Maria Had a Little Llama/María Tenía una Llamita, which won the 2014 Pura Belpré Illustration Honor.

Angela was born in Mexico City, raised in Texas, and now lives in San Francisco. She is totally awesome. Let’s chat!

Club Leo: Why do you like llamas?

Angela Dominguez: Llamas have so much personality! They have such expressive faces and such interesting bodies. I love their long necks, short legs, and their luscious fur.

CL: Where did you grow up? What do you like about that place?

AD: I was born in Mexico City, but I grew up in Texas. My brother and his family still live there, and I visit often. Texas is very welcoming with friendly people. The summers are wonderful, and I miss the food—especially the corn bread.

CL: Why did you become an illustrator and author of children’s books?

AD: I’m having so much fun writing stories now and feel very privileged to be doing what I do. Children’s books have such an impact on children growing up, and great picture books resonate with people of all ages. I also adore the simplicity. It’s about editing it down to what’s absolutely necessary to tell a good story with pictures and words.

CL: Do you remember Scholastic Book Clubs from when you went to school?

AD: I remember Scholastic Book Clubs fondly. I would take home the catalog and would always want so many books. My mother, who supported me and my brother by herself, never would deny me any books and supported my reading habit. For that and many reasons, I’m very grateful.

CL: What do you like to do when you have free time?

AD: I love walking, swimming, and being outdoors. I also enjoy traveling and hope to do more in the future. In addition, spending time with my family and friends.

Angela has one of the best jobs in the world—she is an author and illustrator! What that means is she writes stories and draws pictures all day long.

Angela does all her cool artwork in a studio—in fact, the studio in the pictures shown above! A studio is a room full of paper, paint, and creative ideas. (When you think about it, a studio is a lot like a personal classroom for one person!) Angela uses digital brushes and a computer screen to add colors to book pages. We love the beautiful illustrations and bright colors in Maria Had a Little Llama/Maria Tenía una Llamita! Especially the little llama!

Author’s Note: Club Leo en Español supports your classroom with fun and affordable books that connect children’s home language and learning. Our books include amazing series, original titles, and winners of the Pura Belpré Award, which celebrates the remarkable contributions of artists who give voice to the Latino community through children’s literature.

Club Leo en Español apoya tu salón de clases con libros divertidos y asequibles que conectan la lengua materna y el aprendizaje de los niños. Nuestra colección incluye increíbles series, títulos originales y ganadores del Premio Pura Belpré, que celebra los extraordinarios aportes de artistas que dan voz a la comunidad latina a través de la literatura infantil.

Apr 28 2014

Guest Post: Alidis Vicente Writes So Children Can Temporarily Escape Harsh Realities

By Alidis Vicente

Bruises. That’s what I saw on the face and body of a 15-year-old girl a few years ago as the school nurse examined her in front of me. She was also covered in scars, both physical and emotional. Her body stood frozen with eyes fixed on the floor as she was observed for signs of abuse. Her face was drenched in fear and shame. Fear of what the repercussions of my visit would be and shame of having not covered her bruises well enough so as not be seen. At that moment she was not Latina, African American, Italian American, or a member of any other ethnic group. She was a child. An abused, broken, petrified child.

Later that day, my coworker and I stood, unwelcome, in a living room. We confronted the older brother who physically assaulted that young lady along with the family who defended him. She had served her brother (“the man of the house” in his father’s absence) cold milk instead of hot milk and was irritated at being asked to warm it. The punches and smacks followed, as did the bottom of the stairs when she tumbled down.

Ultimately, the police ordered the monster of an older brother out of the home. I felt everything but relief as I watched him smile and glare at the young lady he abused while he was escorted away. I knew I couldn’t protect her forever, even though I so desperately wanted to. When all was said and done, I had to go home. Unfortunately, so did she. The next day I would have to be at my desk, bright and early, to write a report of my investigative findings. I couldn’t say what I wanted to. I couldn’t write what I saw in the eyes of the people I had met or the emotions felt in the air and chaos of the room. My report would be in black and white–what my trained eyes saw, what my recording ears heard, and what my supervisor told me had to be done.

That was my job. Clocking into work every day at 9 a.m. and sometimes driving home 16 hours later in a car owned by the state government. My job was to protect children and ensure their well-being. My challenge was to detach myself from every investigation. I didn’t make kids happy. I walked into their lives, for a short time, and turned them upside down no matter how terrible they already were. I was rarely ever a source of happiness in their eyes even though, in my heart, I knew I was doing the right thing.

I decided to stop working when my first son was born. Yes, I still wanted to go back to work. It was a part of my identity and one of the most indirectly rewarding experiences of my life. But I wanted to become something different. I wanted to bring joy to children who needed it most. I longed for young faces to smile, and not shudder, when they saw me.

So, I’m sure to the dismay of many, when people ask why I write for Latino kids, my answer is simple. I don’t. My cultural agenda is slim. If young readers learn Spanish vocabulary while reading my books, Great! If they pick up on some cultural nuances embedded within my text, Amazing! But that’s not, and never will be, why I type on my laptop or jot on small pieces of random paper. I concoct stories to set my imagination free. I create books to prompt smiles and silent chuckles. I write so young minds, albeit temporarily, can forget about where they are and dream about where they want to be.

Alidis Vicente is a stay at home mother from New Jersey. After graduating from Rutgers University with a Bachelor’s Degree in 2005, she worked with children and families for New Jersey’s Division of Youth and Family Services. She is currently a client of Writers House Literary Agency and is also the author of The Coquí & the Iguana, her first picture book. Alidis, the original Detective Flaca, continues to write stories from her New Jersey home, only now she uses a laptop instead of a notepad… at least most of the time. The Missing Chancleta and Other Top-Secret Cases is a finalist for the 2014 International Latino Book Awards in the category “Best Youth Chapter Fiction Book: Spanish or Bilingual.”

April is National Child Abuse Prevention Month.
Books by Alidis Vicente: