image from here
11 Comments on Book Love Road Trips!, last added: 3/21/2012
Display Comments
Add a Comment
new posts in all blogs
.jpeg?picon=3604)
By: Katie DeKoster,
on 3/19/2012
Blog: Book Love (Login to Add to MyJacketFlap)
JacketFlap tags: Life is Good, PoC, multicultural lit, en espanol, Add a tag
Guess what... Today is my first guest post ever! You can find me over at The OWL as a part of the March of Middle Grade. Hope you come say hi!
image from here
By: Katie DeKoster,
on 2/29/2012
Blog: Book Love (Login to Add to MyJacketFlap)
JacketFlap tags: poetry, New Orleans, India, American Girl, PoC, tough questions, multicultural lit, en espanol, en francais, Add a tag
29 days ago, I challenged myself to read only books written by or about people of color. This challenge was partly inspired by Black History Month, and partly due to a realization that since leaving my classroom in Baltimore, I had pretty much stopped looking for books that reflected the faces of "my" students.
I can almost guarantee that I would not have read most of these books without taking on this challenge, and boy-oh-boy would I have been missing out! In an effort to summarize this month of reading, here are a few awards and a few "similar interest groups" for quick reference.
Favorite YA Read of the Month: Tie between Mare's War by Tanita S. Davis and Mexican Whiteboy by Matt de la Pena (these two couldn't be more different, but I'll remember them both for a long, long time)
Favorite MG Read of the Month: The Whole Story of Half a Girl by Veera Hiranandani (love, love, love this book)
Favorite New-to-Me Author: Ashley Hope Perez - I thoroughly enjoyed What Can't Wait and am eagerly awaiting The Knife and the Butterfly. I can't help but feel a TFA bond with Ms. Perez and I'm so thankful that teachers like her exist!
Favorite Blast from the Past: American Girl - Cecile's New Orleans series
Favorite Illustrations: Heart and Soul - The Story of America and African Americans by Kadir Nelson (Abigail Halpin is pretty fabulous too, but Kadir Nelson's paintings were just breathtaking)
Favorite Book that Brad Pitt Should Turn into a Movie: Now is the Time for Running by Michael Williams
Novels in Verse:
- Planet Middle School by Nikki Grimes
- The Firefly Letters: A Suffragette's Journey to Cuba by Margarita Engle
- Under the Mesquite by Guadalupe Garcia McCall
Display Comments Add a Comment
By: Katie DeKoster,
on 2/17/2012
Blog: Book Love (Login to Add to MyJacketFlap)
JacketFlap tags: family, romance, teen pregnancy, PoC, multicultural lit, en espanol, TFA, Add a tag
Recap:
Marisa is the good daughter: cooking for her father and brother, babysitting whenever her sister asks, giving half of her paycheck to the family each month.
But Marisa dreams of going to the University of Texas to study engineering, and ber calculus teacher thinks that Marisa is actually smart enough to make it happen.
But her father has all but forbidden her to go to college.
Her mother doesn't want her to leave home.
Her sister needs her to be a full-time babysitter for her niece.
So college can wait. Family can't, right?
Review:
What Can't Wait really struck a chord with me. I saw so much of myself in Marisa's calculus teacher. Ms. Ford was constantly pushing Marisa, telling her not to make excuses, emphasizing that college was her "ticket out." But as the reader of Marisa's story, I knew that she was barely keeping it together - that she was bound by duty and loyalty to her family, and most especially to her niece. I actually found myself getting angry at Ms. Ford for not cutting her some slack. Why couldn't she try to understand what Marisa was going through? At the same time, I kept flashing back to conversations that I had with my own students. Pushing, pushing, and pushing them to do their best, to be the best - even when I had no idea what they were up against outside of the confines of our school. But then at the same time, wasn't Ms. Ford ultimately right? No matter how valid an excuse is, it's still an excuse. At some point, everyone has to decide for themselves "what can't wait," and then follow through and live with that decision.
Ashley Hope Perez has written a novel that is sometimes heartbreaking, sometimes uplifting, and always 100% realistic. She has given her readers a candid look at what it might mean to be a part of a Mexican family. She has infused the Spanish language into nearly every paragraph, making her readers feel like they are truly listening in to Marisa's world. She has forced me to reexamine my own though
By: Katie DeKoster,
on 2/16/2012
Blog: Book Love (Login to Add to MyJacketFlap)
JacketFlap tags: Boy Books, PoC, multicultural lit, en espanol, sports, Add a tag
Recap:
Danny is half Mexican, half white, and completely lost. His dad left him, and now he doesn't feel at home with his mom at his fancy private school in San Diego, or with his dad's family in National City. He used to feel at home on the pitching mound, but lately even that part of his life has been spinning out of control.
Now Danny is in National City for the summer, staying with his dad's brothers and his prima Sofia. He figures that if he can just make himself more Mexican, if he can just learn to speak some Spanish, if he can just get his pitching back under control, then maybe he'll finally make his dad proud. And then maybe his dad will come home.
Review:
I have found my new favorite author. So many authors can spin a great story, but it's rare to find a writer whose voice hums like a heartbeat through every page. Matt de la Pena is one of those writers.
I feel like Danny and Sofia and Uno are actual people - alive and walking around southern California. I can vividly picture Uno laughing under his breath, wearing his Steelers jersey. I can see Danny's faded Vanns toeing the dirt on a pitcher's mound. I can hear Sofia busting on them both while she types out a text to one of her girlfriends. Seriously - Matt de la Pena wrote each character so clearly that I wouldn't be surprised if Mexican Whiteboy turned out to be nonfiction.
Through Danny, a wildly talented but also deeply depressed teenage boy, de la Pena describes what it can be like to come from a mixed background, and never truly feel like you belong. Danny's longing was so intense in some passages that my heart literally ached for him.
But Mexican Whiteboy isn't a sad story. It is a brightly painted picture of what life is like for a group of teenagers one summer: the sad and the joyful, the painful and the laugh out loud hilarious. De la Pena writes about young love, but romance really isn't the heart of this story. It's about finding one's family, coming to terms with one's heritage, and developing true friendships. And it is one phenomenal read.
4 Comments on Mexican Whiteboy, last added: 2/17/2012
Display Comments
Add a Comment
Viewing: Blog Posts Tagged with: en espanol, Most Recent at Top [Help]
Results 1 - 4 of 4
By: Katie DeKoster,
on 3/19/2012
Blog: Book Love (Login to Add to MyJacketFlap)
JacketFlap tags: Life is Good, PoC, multicultural lit, en espanol, Add a tag
image from here
By: Katie DeKoster,
on 2/29/2012
Blog: Book Love (Login to Add to MyJacketFlap)
JacketFlap tags: poetry, New Orleans, India, American Girl, PoC, tough questions, multicultural lit, en espanol, en francais, Add a tag
I can almost guarantee that I would not have read most of these books without taking on this challenge, and boy-oh-boy would I have been missing out! In an effort to summarize this month of reading, here are a few awards and a few "similar interest groups" for quick reference.
Favorite YA Read of the Month: Tie between Mare's War by Tanita S. Davis and Mexican Whiteboy by Matt de la Pena (these two couldn't be more different, but I'll remember them both for a long, long time)
Favorite MG Read of the Month: The Whole Story of Half a Girl by Veera Hiranandani (love, love, love this book)
Favorite New-to-Me Author: Ashley Hope Perez - I thoroughly enjoyed What Can't Wait and am eagerly awaiting The Knife and the Butterfly. I can't help but feel a TFA bond with Ms. Perez and I'm so thankful that teachers like her exist!
Favorite Blast from the Past: American Girl - Cecile's New Orleans series
Favorite Book that Brad Pitt Should Turn into a Movie: Now is the Time for Running by Michael Williams
Novels in Verse:
- Planet Middle School by Nikki Grimes
- The Firefly Letters: A Suffragette's Journey to Cuba by Margarita Engle
- Under the Mesquite by Guadalupe Garcia McCall
Display Comments Add a Comment
By: Katie DeKoster,
on 2/17/2012
Blog: Book Love (Login to Add to MyJacketFlap)
JacketFlap tags: family, romance, teen pregnancy, PoC, multicultural lit, en espanol, TFA, Add a tag
What Can't Wait by Ashley Hope Perez, Carolrhoda Books, 2011, 234 pp, ISBN: 0761361553
Marisa is the good daughter: cooking for her father and brother, babysitting whenever her sister asks, giving half of her paycheck to the family each month.
But Marisa dreams of going to the University of Texas to study engineering, and ber calculus teacher thinks that Marisa is actually smart enough to make it happen.
But her father has all but forbidden her to go to college.
Her mother doesn't want her to leave home.
Her sister needs her to be a full-time babysitter for her niece.
So college can wait. Family can't, right?
Review:
What Can't Wait really struck a chord with me. I saw so much of myself in Marisa's calculus teacher. Ms. Ford was constantly pushing Marisa, telling her not to make excuses, emphasizing that college was her "ticket out." But as the reader of Marisa's story, I knew that she was barely keeping it together - that she was bound by duty and loyalty to her family, and most especially to her niece. I actually found myself getting angry at Ms. Ford for not cutting her some slack. Why couldn't she try to understand what Marisa was going through? At the same time, I kept flashing back to conversations that I had with my own students. Pushing, pushing, and pushing them to do their best, to be the best - even when I had no idea what they were up against outside of the confines of our school. But then at the same time, wasn't Ms. Ford ultimately right? No matter how valid an excuse is, it's still an excuse. At some point, everyone has to decide for themselves "what can't wait," and then follow through and live with that decision.
Ashley Hope Perez has written a novel that is sometimes heartbreaking, sometimes uplifting, and always 100% realistic. She has given her readers a candid look at what it might mean to be a part of a Mexican family. She has infused the Spanish language into nearly every paragraph, making her readers feel like they are truly listening in to Marisa's world. She has forced me to reexamine my own though
4 Comments on What Can't Wait, last added: 2/18/2012
Display Comments
Add a Comment
By: Katie DeKoster,
on 2/16/2012
Blog: Book Love (Login to Add to MyJacketFlap)
JacketFlap tags: Boy Books, PoC, multicultural lit, en espanol, sports, Add a tag
Mexican Whiteboy by Matt de la Pena, Delacorte Books for Young Readers, 2008, 256 pp, ISBN: 0385733100
Danny is half Mexican, half white, and completely lost. His dad left him, and now he doesn't feel at home with his mom at his fancy private school in San Diego, or with his dad's family in National City. He used to feel at home on the pitching mound, but lately even that part of his life has been spinning out of control.
Now Danny is in National City for the summer, staying with his dad's brothers and his prima Sofia. He figures that if he can just make himself more Mexican, if he can just learn to speak some Spanish, if he can just get his pitching back under control, then maybe he'll finally make his dad proud. And then maybe his dad will come home.
Review:
I have found my new favorite author. So many authors can spin a great story, but it's rare to find a writer whose voice hums like a heartbeat through every page. Matt de la Pena is one of those writers.
I feel like Danny and Sofia and Uno are actual people - alive and walking around southern California. I can vividly picture Uno laughing under his breath, wearing his Steelers jersey. I can see Danny's faded Vanns toeing the dirt on a pitcher's mound. I can hear Sofia busting on them both while she types out a text to one of her girlfriends. Seriously - Matt de la Pena wrote each character so clearly that I wouldn't be surprised if Mexican Whiteboy turned out to be nonfiction.
Through Danny, a wildly talented but also deeply depressed teenage boy, de la Pena describes what it can be like to come from a mixed background, and never truly feel like you belong. Danny's longing was so intense in some passages that my heart literally ached for him.
But Mexican Whiteboy isn't a sad story. It is a brightly painted picture of what life is like for a group of teenagers one summer: the sad and the joyful, the painful and the laugh out loud hilarious. De la Pena writes about young love, but romance really isn't the heart of this story. It's about finding one's family, coming to terms with one's heritage, and developing true friendships. And it is one phenomenal read.
4 Comments on Mexican Whiteboy, last added: 2/17/2012
Headed over there right now! :)
Hi Katie, I just followed you over here from The O.W.L. :)
Awesome! SO on my way :)
Welcome Linda! I hope you find something you like on Book Love :)
Yay! Thanks :)
It's a great post!! I'm glad to see increasing focus on books featuring people of color.
Thanks, Juju :)
Thank you, Sarah!! Lately I've started following several blogs that focus on more books with characters of color, and it has really opened my eyes. I think I had been a little blind to just how whitewashed YA lit really is.
On my way (and congratulations, that's so cool!)
Ha - thanks :) Really, she put out a request for guest posters for March, and I just asked if I could do one! It was fun planning something for a different blog :)
Hey, I just got a novel in verse called The Good Braider from NetGalley (do you use that? You should!) It's about a Sudanese girl and it sounds like it would be a good one for your Feb 2013 POC Challenge...if you are the type to stockpile reviews (I am totally participating next year)!