Latino Books

One of the largest minority groups in the country and so little is known about them. Timely, well written, and needed. Highly recommend.

I would suggest this book to anyone interested in Mexicans, Mexican-Americans or immigration. Although it is geared for a younger group, it's useful and actually fun for everyone to read. I highly reccomend it!

I've only read the first two chapters but it seems like Martinez does an excellent job introducing critical theory into linguistic analysis. Very appropriate for undergrads as well as grad students with little or no background in linguistics or anthropological linguistics. The case study and the theory complement each other quite elegantly.

"The Dandy Dollhouse Stories: The Mexican Dollhouse" is one of the few books written about Mexican/Spanish style dollhouses. This story is inspired by the actual dollhouse that the author had built for her daughter while they were living in Mexico in the early 1950's. However, the story is more about accepting people from other cultures then about the dollhouse. Not surprisingly, the story is set in the mid-1950's, as Nancy has recently recovered from a chilhood bout of polio. Nancy's dollhouse and its dollhouse family, the Dandys, helped get her through a difficult time of recovery. In this third book in The Dandy Dollhouse series, the focus is on a new girl and the problems she must overcome.

The new girl at Nancy and Katie's school is from Mexico. Her name is "Rosalinda Chavez", she dresses in traditional Mexican clothes and is still learning English. Nancy knows what it is like to be teased because of her polio and the leg brace she had to wear, so she and her friend, Katie, offer their friendship to Rosalinda.In a world of prejudice and racial suspicion, the girls find that they have something in common with Rosalinda. She has a wonderful dollhouse! The reader learns something about Mexican families through the "living" dollhouse family in the Mexican dollhouse.

The most valuable lesson this book teaches, though, is the lesson of friendship. Friendship is not always easy, but that doesn't mean that one should not reach out to others who may be different. In this multi-cultural world, it may be less rare to see diversity, but reading this book may gently bring up the topic of prejudice and stereotypes. It offers a role model of three girls and their dollhouse families who do the right thing when it isn't the popular thing to do.

Mexicans In The Midwest 1900-1932 by Juan R. Garcia (Head of the Department of History, University of Arizona) is a scholarly examination of Mexican migration to the American Midwest, and the conditions under which the migrants lived, including (but not limited to) poor, overcrowded, or virtually nonexistent housing and racial discrimination. An extensive and meticulous academic study of everything from songs and poetry to (often brutal) labor conditions, citizenship issues, and so much more, Mexicans In The Midwest 1900-1932 is a confidently recommended and fact-filled contribution which has earned a welcome entry in to scholarly and academic library American Regional History and Chicano/American Cultural Studies reference collections.

My house is about the Rodriguez family and their home. I was excited to learn this family lives near my home. The pictures are wonderful. The author has taken much care when taking the photos.

I enjoyed the dual language format. It allowed me to practice my knowledge of Spanish.

I have long been a fan of Ana Castillo's work. Her venture into the world of young readers is powerful and haunting. A must addition to anyone's library and a wonderful gift to anyone with children regardless of their age!

Can't keep these books in our middle school library--they are constantly checked out by our Latino boys--super popular.

Argueta's poems deal with his life in El Salvador and after immigrating to the US, his life in San Francisco. The poems are very simple. Personally, I think some could be better. I did like some like the one about playing "yoyo" which has a nice play of words in Spanish. Another one that I connected to is "leaving El Salvador" I found myself in very similar circunstances when I came here too. The best part of the book are the illustrations by Elizabeth Gomez. I love her art! It is very colorful and realistic. It's a good book to get to know the culture of "los salvadoreños." We need more books on our country.

Not only is this a good bilingual book, but it's one of the very few "first words" books out there for city kids. There's a great selection of words that will be instantly recognizable to the city kid, with very pleasing graphics.