“I PLEDGE ALLEGIANCE”
by Pat Mora and Libby Martinez
Amazon Recommended Grade Level: Preschool - 2
Publisher: Dragonfly Books
ISBN-13: 978-0399553417
Libby’s great aunt, Lobo, is from Mexico, but the United States has been her home for many years, and she wants to become a U.S. citizen. At the end of the week, Lobo will say the Pledge of Allegiance at a special ceremony. Libby is also learning the Pledge this week, at school—at the end of the week, she will stand up in front of everyone and lead the class in the Pledge. Libby and Lobo practice together—both asking questions and sharing stories and memories—until they both stand tall and proud, with their hands over their hearts.
“BOOKJOY, WORDJOY”
by Pat Mora
Amazon Recommended Grade Level: 1 - 2
Publisher: Lee & Low Books
ISBN-13: 978-1620142868
Whether we are collecting words, reading favorite books in the library, celebrating holidays, writing poems, sharing secrets, or singing a jazzy duet, words and books can take us on wonderful adventures and bring us joy. Poet Pat Mora has brought together a collection of her poems that celebrates engaging with words and books in all these ways and more. Vivid illustrations by Raúl Colón bring the poems to life and interpret the magic of the language with captivating images in a style influenced by Mexican muralists. Together the poems and illustrations are designed to inspire creative wordplay in all ages.
“MY SINGING NANA”
by Pat Mora
Amazon Recommended Grade Level: Kindergarten - 3
Publisher: Magination Press
ISBN-13: 978-1433830211
Billy is close with his Nana, but she is starting to forget things. When Billy’s sister is too sick to sing in their family summer show, Billy and Nana work together to come up with an act that saves the performance! Billy learns that no matter what happens, he and Nana are “always amigos!” This story celebrates the ideals of family, heritage, and happy memories, showing kids that no matter how their loved one might change they always have ways to maintain their special connection. Book includes advice for families dealing with Alzheimer’s disease and a recipe for cherry empanadas.
“THE NIGHT THE MOON FELL”
by Pat Mora
Amazon Recommended Grade Level: 1 - 2
Publisher: Groundwood Books
ISBN-13: 978-0888993984
Awhoosh from her grandfather’s blowgun causes Luna, the moon, to tumble from the sky and fall to pieces in the ocean. Luna enlists the help of little fish to glue her back together. At last she rises and takes her new friends with her to create the Milky Way. Pat Mora takes the traditional Mopan Maya (Belize) myth – in which the moon is a young weaver and the Milky Way a fish – and transforms it to show a spunky moon who finds a way to save herself, journeying from her homeland to a strange new world and back again.
“MEXICAN COSTUMBRISMO: RACE, SOCIETY, AND IDENTITY IN NINETEENTH-CENTURY ART”
by Mey-Yen Moriuchi
Publisher: Penn State University Press
ISBN-13: 978-0271079073
The years that followed Mexican independence in 1821 were critical to the development of social, racial and national identities. The visual arts played a decisive role in this process of self-definition. ”MEXICAN COSTUMBRISMO” reorients current understanding of this key period in the history of Mexican art by focusing on a distinctive genre of painting that emerged between 1821 and 1890: costumbrismo. Mey-Yen Moriuchi argues that costumbrismo works engaged with notions of universality and difference, contributed to the documentation and reification of social and racial types, and transformed the way Mexicans saw themselves, as well as how other nations saw them.
“BEYOND NATIONAL IDENTITY: PICTORIAL INDIGENISM AS A MODERNIST STRATEGY IN ANDEAN ART, 1920–1960”
by Michele Greet
Publisher: Penn State University Press
ISBN-13: 978-0271034706
“BEYOND NATIONAL IDENTITY” traces changes in Andean artists’ vision of indigenous peoples, as well as the shifts in the critical discourse surrounding their work between 1920 and 1960. By challenging the notion of pictorial indigenism as a direct expression of national identity, Greet demonstrates the complexity of the indigenists’ critical engagement with European and pan-American cultural developments and presents the trend in its global context. Through case studies of works by three internationally renowned Ecuadoran artists, ”BEYOND NATIONAL IDENTITY” pushes the idea of modernism in new directions—both geographically and conceptually—to challenge the definitions and boundaries of modern art.
“CONTESTING LEGITIMACY IN CHILE: FAMILIAL IDEALS, CITIZENSHIP, AND POLITICAL STRUGGLE, 1970–1990”
by Gwynn Thomas
Publisher: Penn State University Press
ISBN-13: 978-0271048482
When supporters and critics of former Chilean dictator Augusto Pinochet squared off against each other following his death in 2006, most observers saw this conflict as another stage in the struggle between authoritarian and antiauthoritarian forces. Gwynn Thomas, however, looks below the surface of these events to reveal a set of cultural beliefs about the role of the family in Chilean life. Her analysis considers the language, symbols, metaphors, and images of political conflicts that surrounded the election and overthrow of Allende’s social democracy, the installation and maintenance of Pinochet’s military dictatorship, and finally the transition back to democratic rule.
“PERUVIAN REBEL: THE WORLD OF MAGDA PORTAL, WITH A SELECTION OF HER POEMS”
by Kathleen Weaver
Publisher: Penn State University Press
ISBN-13: 978-0271035499
As the Left reawakens in Latin America following widespread disillusionment with neoliberal efforts to apply “shock therapy” to local economies, this story of the exemplary life of a major Peruvian activist and literary figure of an earlier era is particularly timely. Magda Portal (1900–1989) played a historic role in the APRA. Often in exile abroad, in prison, or in hiding in Peru to escape arrest, Portal was the leading female organizer for the Apristas until her break with the increasingly Right-leaning party after World War II. As APRA’s national secretary for women’s affairs, Portal worked tirelessly for women’s rights.
