Search in York County Library SystemTwelve stories about young people caught between their Puerto Rican heritage and their American surroundings.
Showing posts with label Hispanic and Latino Booklist. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Hispanic and Latino Booklist. Show all posts
Wednesday, June 4, 2008
An Island Like You - Judith Ortiz Cofer
Search in York County Library SystemTwelve stories about young people caught between their Puerto Rican heritage and their American surroundings.
Brothers Torres - Coert Voorhees
Search in York County Library SystemClick here for our review
Frankie has reservations about Steve's crusade to win the respect of the local cholos. He doesn't think about them, though, until he gets into a fist fight John Dalton - the richest, preppiest kid in his New Mexican high school, and longtime nemesis of Steve. After the fight, Steve takes Frankie under his wing - and Frankie's social currency begins to rise.
Buried Onions - Gary Soto
Search in York County Library SystemNineteen-year-old Eddie has spent his entire life in a crime-ridden and run-down Mexican-American neighborhood in Fresno, California, where kids are as likely to graduate from juvie hall as they are from high school. Drugs, desperadoes, and death are the norm; the streets are mean and the facts of life as cruel as they come. Hoping to learn a trade and improve his chances in life, Eddie enrolls in City College, where he often watches the mortuary students who also attend the school, wondering if they have handled any of the dead friends and family members Eddie has recently lost to violence. When a lack of money forces Eddie to drop out, he hits the streets in search of income, soliciting odd jobs wherever he can and struggling to get by. When he finds a steady job with a kindhearted and generous man, Eddie focuses on toeing the line and staying out of trouble. But soon both fate and the vicious cycle of violence spin wildly out of control, threatening to pull Eddie into the vortex.
Caramelo - Sandra Cisneros
Search in York County Library SystemThe author's long-awaited second novel (following The House on Mango Street, 1984) is a sweeping, fictionalized history of her Mexican American family. When Celaya (or "Lala") Reyes takes a family vacation from Chicago to Mexico City, she begins a journey from girl to young adult and from the present to the past.
Cuba 15 - Nancy Osa
Search in York County Library SystemViolet Paz has just turned 15, a pivotal birthday in the eyes of her Cuban grandmother. Fifteen is the age when a girl enters womanhood, traditionally celebrating the occasion with a quinceañero. But while Violet is half Cuban, she’s also half Polish, and more importantly, she feels 100% American. Except for her zany family’s passion for playing dominoes, smoking cigars, and dancing to Latin music, Violet knows little about Cuban culture, nada about quinces, and only tidbits about the history of Cuba. So when Violet begrudgingly accepts Abuela’s plans for a quinceañero–and as she begins to ask questions about her Cuban roots–cultures and feelings collide.
Crazy Loco - David Rice
Search in York County Library SystemMeet Loco, a dog with a passion for firecrackers. And Pedro, an altar boy forced to learn a hard lesson from two of the toughest, oldest men ever to serve the Lord. Jordan and Todd are two boys from California who don't know what they're in for when they push their Texas cousins a little too far...
Drift – Manuel Luis Martinez
Search in York County Library SystemAt sixteen, Robert Lomos has lost his family. His father, a Latin jazz musician, has abandoned the family in San Antonio for life on the road as a cool-hand playboy. His mother, shattered by a complete emotional and psychological breakdown, has moved to Los Angeles and taken Robert's little brother with her. Only his iron-willed grandmother, worn down by years of hard work, is left. But Robert's got a plan: duck trouble, save some money, and head to California to put the family back together. Trouble is, no one believes a delinquent Mexican-American kid has a chance - least of all, Robert himself.
Eva Luna - Isabel Allende
Search in York County Library SystemBorn in the back room of the mansion where her mother toils, and herself in service from an early age, the enchanting and ever-enchanted Eva Luna escapes oppression through story telling. Rolf Carle flees Germany for South America, and ultimately works as a documentary film maker, to escape childhood memories of burying the concentration camp dead. The two are brought together by guerrilla Huberto Naranjo, Eva's lover and a subject for Rolf's camerain this dense, opulent novel that serves as a metaphor for redemption through creative effort.
The House on Mango Street – Sandra Cisneros
Search in York County Library SystemSometimes heartbreaking, sometimes deeply joyous, The House on Mango Street tells the story of Esperanza Cordero, whose neighborhood is one of harsh realities and harsh beauty. Esperanza doesn't want to belong - not to her run-down neighborhood, and not to the low expectations the world has for her. Esperanza's story is that of a young girl coming into her power, and inventing for herself what she will become.
Jesse - Gary Soto
Search in York County Library SystemJesse, artistic and religious, is forced to field work to pay for food while he attends a junior college after leaving high school. He remembers that once "I worked on my knees nine hours - one hundred seventy-eight trays of grapes-so I could buy my mom an umbrella." These Mexican-American brothers hope junior college will help them escape their heritage of tedious physical labor.
How the Garcia Girls Lost Their Accents – Julia Alvaraz
Search in York County Library SystemIt's a long way from Santo Domingo to the Bronx, but if anyone can go the distance, it's the Garcia girls. Four lively latinas plunged from a pampered life of privilege on an island compound into the big-city chaos of New York, they rebel against Mami and Papi's old-world discipline and embrace all that America has to offer.
One Hundred Years of Solitude – Gabriel Garcia Marquez
Search in York County Library SystemClick here to read our review
The novel tells the story of the rise and fall of the mythical town of Macondo through the history of the Buendía family. It is a rich and brilliant chronicle of life and death, and the tragicomedy of humankind. In the noble, ridiculous, beautiful, and tawdry story of the Buendía family, one sees all of humanity, just as in the history, myths, growth, and decay of Macondo, one sees all of Latin America.
Romiette and Julio – Draper, Sharon
Search in York County Library SystemRomiette, an African-American girl, and Julio, a Hispanic boy, discover that they attend the same high school after falling in love on the Internet, but are harassed by a gang whose members object to their interracial dating.
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