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To close out our month long celebration of Hispanic Heritage Month, we're focusing on the guys. Here are four title from two prolific reviewers, Doret from Happy Nappy Bookseller and Ari from Reading in Color. Comment and recommend.

Ari:
Marcelo In The Real World by Francisco X. Stork. There’s so much you can say about this amazing, wonderful, beautiful, tremendous, stupendous novel, but at the same time I don’t feel that I can adequately express how much impact this novel had on me. It blew me away. It’s so powerful. It’s ultimately about the loss of innocence and how we can fight injustice. It also made me think about why God allows suffering? Read full review here.






Gringolandia by Lyn Miller-Lachmann.
One of the things that drew me to this story (besides the fact that I wanted to learn more about Pinochet and Chile) was what life is like after torture. Many fictional books about activists, skip the details of the torture or their characters miraculously escape that fate. Gringolandia offers a very detailed, no-holds barred look not just at what happens to a person after they've been tortured but the effect on family members. Daniel's father (Marcelo) has been imprisoned for six years (arrested in 1980 and released in 1986). See full review here.

Doret:

Mexican White Boy by Matt De la Pena
Baseball is a small part of this book. Its more so about Danny coming to terms with who he is and who is dad was. In Danny's actions and few chosen words, I could see how much he missed having his dad around. Throughout the book Danny writes his dad letters about what's going on in this life in hopes that maybe one will make him come back. Everything Danny writes is a colorful untruth, instead of running a summer hustle with Uno, Danny's an ace for a traveling team. It isn't until the end that Danny learns the truth and there is no way his dad can come back. See review here.

Return to Sender by Julia Alvarez.
When 11yr old Tyler Paquette returns home to the family farm, he discovers his parents have hired Mexican workers. Before Tyler went to visit family in Boston, is father had a farming accident. Tyler's parents crunched the numbers, the only way they could afford to keep the farm was to hire undocumented Mexican workers. They hired three brothers. See review here.

Whatcha think? What would you like to see next?

Last week some of you asked for reading suggestions on bullying. Here's a short list of what we recommend. Tell us about your experience with bullies or how you've talked to students and your children about bullying. Please add your recommendations.


Doret:
Standing Against the Wind by Traci L. Jones. Patrice Williams is the new girl at her Chicago middle school. Patrice is teased by everyone at school because she has a lot of hair. Everyone calls her Puffy. I think many girls will be able to relate to this opening passage:

"Just two more blocks," she whispered to herself as she stood waiting for the light. During the bitterly cold days of winter, the thirteen-year-old had gotten into the habit of counting the blocks until she was safe at home- safe from the freezing cold, wind safe from the nasty comments made by girls who had cut school and were always hanging out in front of the local drugstore, safe from the gang of boys who had all but quit school and who hung out in the broken down playground in front of her building.They all seemed to have something mean to say about her.

Reading this, I could almost feel Patrice's self-esteem slipping away. Having to race home with your head down is an awful feeling. The author focuses more on how the boys mistreat Patrice. Girls everywhere, who are still growing into their bodies must deal with boys who think it's their right to call the girls out of their name. Yet there aren't many YA books that deal with this topic. There is much to be discussed, learned and enjoyed from Standing Against the Wind. Traci L. Smith was awarded the John Steptoe Award for new talent for this book.

Susan:
Jumped by Rita Williams Garcia. I'm a Williams fan so I was very pleased when I got my hands on her latest work. After reading this, I was compelled to write a review. Warning, I was also long-winded in my examination about this work about girl on girl violence.
Rita Williams-Garcia’s latest book, Jumped is raw. I suppose I could be eloquent but the truth is, for me, raw best describes the tension and the fear I clung to the entire read. I wrote earlier on my blog that the story of three teens linked through a single event possesses all of the intensity of a “24” episode without cars and building exploding and Jack’s questionable tactics. A better analogy might be the movie “Cloverfield,” the intensity is ratcheted up because Jumped plays out like a movie shot with a single lens camera carried by an anonymous cameraman who records the events as they happen, unscripted and unedited. No commercials. No romantic scenes. No happy endings. See my review here.

Other titles we recommend:

Dark Dude by Oscar Hijuelos. Rico is a light-skinned Cuban who is bullied by Blacks and Latinos. Hijuelos won the Pulitzer Prize for Mambo Kings. This is his first Young adult novel.

The Absolute Diary of A Part-time Indian by Sherman Alexie. See Ari's review at Reading In Color.

The Skin I'm In by Sharon G. Flake. This title is available for loan. Ms. Flake is hugely popular in our library. I love the cover and many readers identify with the MC. I really enjoy Ms. Flakes' style. I've read her before and this novel delivers an authentic voice and realistic scenarios. Meelaka Madison is a social outcast (she's very dark-skinned) who is desperate to fit in at her middle school. Read more here.

If A Tree Falls at Lunch Period by Gennifer Choldenko.(Susan) This was my surprise read for the year. The focus is not bullying but the author does a fantastic job showing how kids will tolerate bullying just to fit in.








What books would you recommend to teachers and students on the topic of bullying and violence in schools? Does this list help? Have you read any of these?

What topics or themes would you like us to address next week?

Until next time, happy reading.

The Other Side of Paradise
Staceyann Chin
Scribner Books
2009

Publisher's Comments
No one knew Staceyann's mother was pregnant until a dangerously small baby was born on the floor of her grandmother's house in Lottery, Jamaica, on Christmas Day. Staceyann's mother did not want her, and her father was not present. No one, except her grandmother, thought Staceyann would survive.


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