“YUM! ¡MMMM! ¡QUÉ RICO! AMERICAS’ SPROUTINGS”

by Pat Mora

Amazon Recommended Grade Level: 2 – 3

Publisher: Lee & Low Books Inc.

ISBN-13: 978-1584302711

Teacher’s Guide: https://www.leeandlow.com/books/yum-mmmm-que-rico-americas-sproutings/teachers_guide

“Smear nutty butter,/then jelly. Gooey party,/my sandwich and me.” Peanuts, blueberries, corn, potatoes, tomatoes, hot peppers, chocolate and more — here is a luscious collection of haiku celebrating foods native to the Americas. Brimming with imagination and fun, these poems capture the tasty essence of foods that have delighted, united and enriched lives for centuries. Exuberant illustrations bring to life the delicious spirit of the haiku, making this title an eye-popping, mouth-watering treat. In addition to the poems, Mora includes fun facts about each food in the book such as how blueberries were once boiled in milk to make gray paint.

“IT DOESN’T HAVE TO BE THIS WAY/NO TIENE QUE SER ASÍ: A BARRIO STORY/UNA HISTORIA DEL BARRIO”

by Luis Rodríguez

Amazon Recommended Age Range: 6 – 11 years

Publisher: Lee & Low Books Inc.

ISBN-13: 978-0892392032

Teacher’s Guide: https://www.leeandlow.com/books/it-doesn-t-have-to-be-this-way-no-tiene-que-ser-asi/teachers_guide

Monchi likes to write poems, hang out with his cousin, Dreamer, and tell stories to his uncle, Tío Rogelio. But things change one day when a member of the local gang tells him it’s time to join up. “But first you have to prove yourself,” he says. Monchi is scared but also excited. He writes his name on the school wall, steals a bike and buys a knife. The older boys give him a special handshake, girls talk to him and even teachers are afraid of him. But when a tragic event changes everything, Monchi must make an important decision.

“UNDER THE LEMON MOON”

by Edith Hope Fine

Amazon Recommended Grade Level: Kindergarten – 2

Publisher: Lee & Low Books Inc.

ISBN-13: 978-1584300519

Teacher’s Guide: https://www.leeandlow.com/books/under-the-lemon-moon/teachers_guide

One night, Rosalinda is awakened by a noise in the garden. When she and her pet hen, Blanca, investigate, they see a man leaving with a large sack—full of fruit from Rosalinda’s beloved lemon tree. After consulting with family and neighbors about how to save her sick tree, Rosalinda sets out in search of La Anciana, the Old One, the only person who might have a solution to Rosalinda’s predicament. When she finally meets La Anciana, the old woman offers an inventive way for Rosalinda to help her tree—and the Night Man who was driven to steal her lemons.

“¡BEISBOL! LATINO BASEBALL PIONEERS AND LEGENDS”

by Jonah Winter

Amazon Recommended Grade Level: 3 – 4

Publisher: Lee & Low Books Inc.

ISBN-13: 978-1584302346

Teacher’s Guide: https://www.leeandlow.com/books/beisbol-latino-baseball-pioneers-and-legends/teachers_guide

Baseball, known as America’s favorite pastime, is a favorite sport in Latin America as well. This title is a guide to Latino heroes, including little known pioneers of the sport, through stats and anecdotes about 14 players. Profiles include Dolf Luque, the Cuban pitcher who became the first Latin American star in the major leagues; Roberto Clemente, the legendary Puerto Rican outfielder of the 1950s and 1960s; and Felipe Alou, the first full-time Dominican star in the majors who later became the first Latin American Manager of the Year. Profiles are accompanied by portraits rendered to resemble traditional baseball cards.

Higher Education

“SPEAK ENGLISH! THE RISE OF LATINOS IN BASEBALL”

by Rafael Hermoso and Rita Rivera

Publisher: The Kent State University Press

ISBN-13: 978-1606351673

Latinos dominate baseball today, leading off lineups, making contenders strong up the middle, or helping to anchor pitching staffs. But “Speak English! The Rise of Latinos in Baseball” chronicles how much—and how little—has changed since the first Latino played in the big leagues in the nineteenth century. By the middle of the next century, the Alous, Vic Power and Rico Carty worked to earn their place in the game amid taunts and ridicule. Today, even established players and stars may be told to speak English in clubhouses—eliciting cringes or shrugs from individuals who are seemingly still hurting.

“DEBATING RACE, ETHNICITY, AND LATINO IDENTITY: JORGE J. E. GRACIA AND HIS CRITICS”

Edited by Iván Jaksić

Publisher: Columbia University Press

ISBN-13: 978-0231169448

The philosopher Jorge J. E. Gracia engages 15 prominent scholars on the topics of race, ethnicity, nationality and Hispanic/Latino identity in the United States. Their discussion joins two distinct traditions: the philosophy of race begun by African-Americans in the nineteenth century, and the search for an understanding of identity initiated by Latin American philosophers in the sixteenth century. Gracia and his interlocutors debate the nature of race and ethnicity and their relation to nationality, linguistic rights, matters of identity and Affirmative Action.  This approach binds the concepts of race and ethnicity together in ways that open new paths of inquiry.

“BANDIDO: THE DEATH AND RESURRECTION OF OSCAR ‘ZETA’ ACOSTA”

by Ilan Stavans

Publisher: Northwestern University Press

ISBN-13: 978-0810120280

El Paso-born Oscar “Zeta” Acosta became a leading figure in the Chicano rights movement of the 1960s and 1970s, winning landmark decisions in civil rights cases as an attorney. As a tireless writer and activist, he had a profound influence on his contemporaries. He seemed to be everywhere at once, knowing everyone in “el movimiento” and involving himself in many of its key moments. In 1974, after a last phone call to his son, Acosta disappeared in the Mexican state of Mazatlán. Through interviews and Acosta’s writings (published and unpublished), Ilan Stavans reconstructs—even reinvents—the man behind the myth.

“AFFECTIVE INTELLECTUALS AND THE SPACE OF CATASTROPHE IN THE AMERICAS”

by Judith Sierra-Rivera

Publisher: Ohio State University Press

ISBN-13: 978-0814254950

In her book, Judith Sierra-Rivera studies five different contexts of crisis: natural disasters in Mexico; forced displacements between Central America and the United States; a whitewashed transition to democracy in Chile; colonialism and wars in Puerto Rico; and racism and patriarchy in Cuba. These scenarios share the common ground of the neoliberal space of catastrophe, which also generates new groups and forms of resistance. “Affective Intellectuals” argues that a new kind of intellectual emerges from these contemporary configurations to speak and act guided by the stories and desires of those who have been systematically pushed out of the public sphere.