Vamos a Leer!! Booklist for the 2015-2016 School Year

After lots of research and input from book group members we’ve decided on the books for this year’s Vamos a Leer Book Group! Thanks so much to all of you who contributed ideas and conversed with us about so many wonderful options. We’re trying something a little different this year.  We’re going to alternate young adult and adult titles.  After 3 and a half years of reading solely young adult literature we thought we’d mix it up this year.  All the titles still focus on Latin America, the Caribbean, or the Latino/a experience in the United States.

I’m really excited about this new format! We’ve tried to balance our selections to include a variety of reading levels (with the YA books), themes, male/female protagonists and countries. We can’t wait to get started in September. We look forward to hearing your thoughts! Happy reading!

We’ll see you the first Monday of the month (there are a few exceptions for holidays, including September, so check dates below) from 5:00-7:00 pm at Bookworks, Tractor Brewery, or St. Clair Winery.  As you can see we’re also changing up our locations a little this year as well.  We’ll continue to meet at Bookworks every other month. Feel free to drop in for any of our meetings.  This is definitely not an all or nothing book group.  Even if you haven’t had time to read the book, but are interested in the discussion, you’re always welcome to join us.

Local Event with Rethinking Schools! Rethinking the Lines Between Us: Multicultural Education and Social Justice

We are so excited for next week’s evening session with Rethinking Schools! Join the LAII for a participatory evening event in which Rethinking Schools editors Wayne Au, Bill Bigelow, and Linda Christensen will demonstrate ways that they engage students in critical, multicultural education for social justice. They will explore the implications of this kind of teaching in the era of the Common Core standards and tests. 

We Heart Bookworks

The title of this post says it all.  We heart Bookworks, one of the few remaining local, independent bookstores in Albuquerque, and we are proud to collaborate with them on our monthly Vamos a Leer meetings.

I want to give them a shout-out and thank them for all the outreach they do around our humble Vamos a Leer book group.  They tirelessly find ways to support their community!  We saw this illustrated when, on Monday night, we stopped in to discuss Caminar and were greeted with this lovely display (see left).

Not familiar with the store?  Here are a few quick facts about this local establishment:

Vamos a Leer!! Booklist for the 2014-2015 School Year

After lots of research and input from readers we’ve decided on the books for this year’s Vamos a Leer Book Group! Thanks so much to all of you who contributed ideas and conversed with us about so many wonderful options.  I have absolutely loved getting to read so many excellent books while we were making our final list. I’m really excited about this year’s books! We’ve tried to balance our selections to include a variety of reading levels, themes, male/female protagonists and countries. We can’t wait to get started in September. We look forward to hearing your thoughts! Happy reading!

We’ll see you the first Monday of the month (there are a few exceptions for holidays, including September, so check dates below) at Bookworks from 5:00-7:00 pm!  If you can’t find us at Bookworks, it’s because we’ve wandered next door to Flying Star for coffee.  Feel free to drop in for any of our meetings.

Don’t forget–we’ll be raffling a copy of the next month’s featured novel at each monthly book group, so there’s extra incentive to join us!!

Click here for a pdf version of the dates and titles below.  Feel free to share it with anyone who may be interested.

Be sure to check out our Educator’s Guide tab each month to access the curriculum materials for the featured book.

¡Mira Look!: Themed Book Lists: Immigration

To wrap up the end of the school year, Katrina, Adam and I will be compiling lists of books for you to check out for use in your classroom. These lists will be thematic and we’ll provide the links to Amazon. Because we are trying to give you a broad swath of the available literature, we won’t only be suggesting award winners, though we will denote which ones have won an award. This list is fairly short as our blog, through ¡Mira Look!, En la Clase, and Book Reviews, discusses numerous wonderful immigration/immigrant books (click on the links to be taken to our pages).  As always, we encourage your suggestions in the comments below.

Our Next Good Read. . .Under the Mesquite

It’s our last book group meeting of the semester! We hope you’ll join us May 6th at Bookworks from 5:00-7:00 pm to discuss our next book.  We are reading Under the Mesquite by Guadalupe García McCall.

It’s a novel-in-verse, so it could be a great follow up to April’s National Poetry Month. Here’s a sneak peek into the book:

As the oldest of eight siblings, Lupita is used to taking the lead—and staying busy behind the scenes to help keep everyone together. But when she discovers Mami has been diagnosed with cancer, Lupita is terrified by the possibility of losing her mother, the anchor of her close-knit Mexican American family. Suddenly Lupita must face a whole new set of challenges, with new roles to play, and no one is handing her the script.

Our Next Good Read. . .Journey of Dreams

Join us April 1st at Bookworks from 5:00-7:00 pm to discuss our next book.  We are reading Journey of Dreams by Marge Pellegrino.

Here’s a sneak peek into the book:

For the peaceful highlanders of Guatemala, life has become a nightmare. Helicopters slash like machetes through the once-quiet air. Soldiers patrol the streets, hunting down suspected guerillas. Villagers mysteriously disappear and children are recruited as soldiers.

Our Next Good Read. . .Leaving Glorytown: One Boy’s Struggle Under Castro

Join us March 4th at Bookworks from 5:00-7:00 pm to discuss our next book.  We are reading Leaving Glorytown: One Boy’s Struggle Under Castro by Eduardo F. Calcines.

Here’s a sneak peek into the book:
Eduardo F. Calcines was a child of Fidel Castro’s Cuba; he was just three years old when Castro came to power in January 1959. After that, everything changed for his family and his country. When he was ten, his family applied for an exit visa to emigrate to America and he was ridiculed by his schoolmates and even his teachers for being a traitor to his country. But even worse, his father was sent to an agricultural reform camp to do hard labor as punishment for daring to want to leave Cuba.

Book Giveaway!! Leaving Glorytown: One Boy’s Struggle Under Castro

It looks like we’re going back to Cuba in March (at least figuratively speaking)!! We’re giving away 5 copies of Leaving Glorytown: One Boy’s Struggle Under Castro written by Eduardo F. Calcinas–our featured novel for March’s book group meeting!!  It looks like another interesting read. It’s appropriate for ages 12 and up. To be entered in the giveaway, just comment on any post on the blog by February 14th.  Everyone who comments between January 18th and February 14th will be entered in the drawing.  It’s a great way to add to your personal teaching library! If your name is chosen, we’ll email you ASAP about mailing the book to you.

Good luck!

Local Event!! Pat Mora reads The Beautiful Lady

We’ve highlighted a number of Pat Mora’s books on Vamos a Leer, so we’re very excited to find out that she will be in Albuquerque reading from her latest book, The Beautiful Lady: Our Lady of Guadalupe!!

Every December, Grandma Lupita tells Rose the story of Our Lady of Guadalupe. As they make paper flowers to put around her statue, Grandma begins: Long ago, on a cold December morning near what is now Mexico City, a man named Juan Diego put on his cloak and started down the road to church. On his way, Juan Diego sees a beautiful Lady at the top of a hill. She tells Juan Diego to go to the Bishop and ask him to build a special church for her. But the Bishop doesn’t believe that Juan Diego has seen the Lady; he asks for a sign. Again the Lady sends Juan Diego, and again the Bishop asks for a sign. Until finally, she provides one: her shining image on Juan Diego’s cloak for everyone to see.

Mora will be at one of our favorite bookstores, Bookworks, on Saturday January 26th at 10:30 am.  Come out and join us!! Listen to The Beautiful Lady, eat biscochitos and make paper flowers with Bookworks’ Contessa Connie!! Click here for more information.

Hope to see you there!!

–Katrina