Always Running... "traces Rodriguez's life as an active gang member, relates his battles with police, the justice system, and teachers, and describes his escape from devastation through writing. His poetry has won several awards and he conducts poetry workshops in shelters for the homeless in Chicago. His presentation of life in the barrio is brutal, blunt, anguished, and lyrical."
All levels
J. Boskin; Boston University. Choice Review, American Library Association
All levels
J. Boskin; Boston University. Choice Review, American Library Association
"For the teenagers whose hearts and minds are unmasked in this powerful collection of short stories from Latina author Judith Ortiz Cofer, El
Barrio is their home and their culture, steeped in the Puerto Rican traditions of their parents and grandparents, flavored with the promise and bitterness of urban American life."
Ages 12-16
CCBC (Cooperative Children's Book Center Choices, 1995)
Barrio is their home and their culture, steeped in the Puerto Rican traditions of their parents and grandparents, flavored with the promise and bitterness of urban American life."
Ages 12-16
CCBC (Cooperative Children's Book Center Choices, 1995)
"It's the beginning of a long, hot summer in El Paso in 1987, and fifteen-year-old Ari is restless and bored when a boy named Dante offers to teach him to swim. Dante's open demeanor is attractive to Ari, who's never really had a good friend before, and the two boys soon become inseparable despite their differences. Dante is bookish and sweet, while Ari likes to brood, specifically about his older brother whom his family never mentions because he's in prison." - Karen Coats (The Bulletin of the Center for Children's Books, March 2012 (Vol. 65, No. 7))
"What is it like for a 12-year-old girl living under a ruthless dictatorship in the Dominican Republic in 1960? Alvarez draws on her own cousins' and friends' experiences to tell the political story through the eyes of Anita, whose father is involved in a plot to assassinate the dictator and bring democracy to the island." - Hazel Rochman (Booklist, Aug. 1, 2002 (Vol. 98, No. 22))
"The title comes from Lala's fascination with her friend Candelaria's skin color, which is caramelo in Spanish, or caramel in English; Lala notices the various family branches of her relatives have various skin tones, depending on their heritage. Anyone who has ever gone on vacation to visit a family matriarch can relate to the Reyes family trips from Chicago to Mexico City to visit the "Awful Grandmother." And anyone who lives among multiple cultures will also relate to Lala's experience as a member of at least two very distinct cultures: Mexican and American."
Ages young adult
Melissa Noeth (The ALAN Review, Fall 2003 (Vol. 31, No. 1))
Ages young adult
Melissa Noeth (The ALAN Review, Fall 2003 (Vol. 31, No. 1))
"Acclaimed author Allende's first YA novel, part thrilling survival adventure, part coming-of-age journey, blends magical realism with grim history and contemporary politics in a way that shakes up all the usual definitions of savagery and civilization. Alex, 15, has been wrenched from the safe boundaries of his California home to accompany his journalist grandmother, Kate, on an International Geographic Expedition deep into the heart of the Amazon jungle. They are searching for a legendary beast, a gigantic, possibly humanoid creature that has been glimpsed in the area. The setting is more than background here: it's the heart of the story." - Hazel Rochman (Booklist, Nov. 15, 2002 (Vol. 99, No. 6))
"2003 Pulitzer Prize–winning author Nazario’s critically acclaimed book Enrique’s Journey, a heart-wrenching account of one young man’s journey to migrate illegally from Honduras to the United States to find the mother who left when he was 5, has been newly adapted for young people... . The book will likely inspire reflection, discussion and debate about illegal immigration among its intended audience. ... Provides a human face, both beautiful and scarred, for the undocumented—a must-read." - Kirkus Review
"After a fire destroys their home and belongings, Esperanza (Hope) and her mother must flee their native Mexico to the United States with the help of their housekeeper and her family. The formerly wealthy Ortega women are now 'peasants' and must work to survive."
Broad general YA appeal; Ages 11 to 18
Sherry York (VOYA, December 2000 (Vol. 23, No. 5))
Broad general YA appeal; Ages 11 to 18
Sherry York (VOYA, December 2000 (Vol. 23, No. 5))
"The story of the four Garcia sisters unravels as... they depart hurriedly for the U.S.; each sister is allowed to take one toy to her new
country. Their subsequent coming-of-age in an alien environment is the meat of this funny and thought-provoking story of culture shock and adaptation. We come full circle with the arrival 30 years later of the most disturbed sister, hoping to find a place for herself in her former homeland."
Ages 15 to adult
Penelope Power (KLIATT Review, November 1992 (Vol. 26, No. 7))
country. Their subsequent coming-of-age in an alien environment is the meat of this funny and thought-provoking story of culture shock and adaptation. We come full circle with the arrival 30 years later of the most disturbed sister, hoping to find a place for herself in her former homeland."
Ages 15 to adult
Penelope Power (KLIATT Review, November 1992 (Vol. 26, No. 7))
"During the last days of the Trujillo dictatorship in the Dominican Republic, three young women, members of a conservative, pious Catholic family, who had become committed to the revolutionary overthrow of the regime, were ambushed and assassinated as they drove back from visiting their jailed husbands. Thus martyred, the Mirabal sisters have become mythical figures in their country, where they are known as las mariposas (the butterflies), from their underground code names." - Publisher's Weekly, CLCD
"No one in the village of Agua Bendita, N.M., remembers Randy Lopez when he returns -- not even his own godparents. Did he stay away too long, seeking wisdom among the gringos? Has he lost his identity? Is Sofia, his true love, still waiting for him? These questions, and a swarm of others, trouble the protagonist of Randy Lopez Goes Home... ."
Adults and young adults
Chérie Newman High Country News
Adults and young adults
Chérie Newman High Country News
"Gutierrez grew up the son of two working-class Puerto Rican immigrants who came to the United States to escape poverty… It took getting fed up with Chicago “machine” politics to set him on the political path that would take him from city alderman and right-hand man of reformist mayor Harold Washington to congressional representative. Rather than try to “get along with people” and play the Washington power game, Gutierrez immediately made himself unpopular by calling for congressional pay freezes. He also began working on immigration reform, a cause for which he was cheerfully willing to get himself arrested. Unlike so many other political memoirists, however, he resists the temptation to use his book to memorialize his ego. Funny, feisty and heartfelt." - Kirkus Review
"The rueful, fate-wracked tale of 26 men who tried to cross into the US from Mexico but chose the wrong time, place, and guide. More than half would die, turned to cinder in the sun-blasted desert of southern Arizona. American Book Award–winner Urrea (Wandering Time, 1999, etc.) tells this grim story wonderfully; like the Border Patrol’s trackers, he cuts back and forth, looking for signs, following tracks wherever they might lead." - Kirkus Review
"With issues of ethnic identity, class conflict, body image, and domestic violence, this could have been an overstuffed problem novel; instead, it transcends with heartfelt, truthful writing that treats the complicated roots of bullying with respect."
Grades 8-11
Krista Hutley (Booklist, Apr. 15, 2013 (Vol. 109, No. 16))
Grades 8-11
Krista Hutley (Booklist, Apr. 15, 2013 (Vol. 109, No. 16))
"Anyone who enjoyed Alvarez's How the Garcia Girls Lost Their Accents will surely want to read this follow-up novel. This time
Alvarez features one of the sisters, Yolanda, and does so entirely through the eyes and words of other people. ... In the end the reader knows Yo very well and has many laughs along the way."
Ages 16 to adult
Doris Hiatt (KLIATT Review, May 1998 (Vol. 32, No. 3))
Alvarez features one of the sisters, Yolanda, and does so entirely through the eyes and words of other people. ... In the end the reader knows Yo very well and has many laughs along the way."
Ages 16 to adult
Doris Hiatt (KLIATT Review, May 1998 (Vol. 32, No. 3))