¡Mira Look!: Portraits of Hispanic American Heroes

Saludos todos! Our book for this week is Portraits of Hispanic American Heroes, written by Juan Felipe Herrera and illustrated by Raúl Colón (the same illustrator from last week’s book, Tomás and the Library Lady). Portraits of Hispanic American Heroes won the Pura Belpré Honor Book award for narrative in 2015, and perfectly embodies this month’s endeavor of honoring exceptional Latinos in children’s literature, as well as in society as a whole.

Each chapter of this wonderful compilation of portraits narrates the life and work of a Latinx hero, ranging from iconic activists such as Dolores Huerta and César Chávez, to trail-blazing intellectuals such as Sonia Sotomayor and Tomás Rivera, to some of my own personal idols, such as contemporary singer Joan Baez and 1920s author Julia de Burgos.

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¡Mira, Look!: Laughing Tomatoes and Other Spring Poems/Jitomates risuenos y otros poemas de primavera

Hey there readers! Now that it’s April, we will be celebrating National Poetry Month in conjunction with the fact that it’s finally springtime! This week I present a beautiful bilingual book that perfectly encapsulates these two themes: Laughing Tomatoes: And Other Spring Poems/Jitomates risuenos: y otros poemas de primavera written by Francisco Alarcón and illustrated by Maya Christina Gonzalez.

Here is a description from Goodreads:

Tomatoes laugh, chiles explode, and tortillas applaud the sun! With joy and tenderness, delight and sadness, Alcarcon’s poems honor the wonders of life and nature: welcoming the morning sun, remembering his grandmother’s songs, paying tribute to children working in the fields, and sharing his dream of a world filled with gardens. Artist Maya Christina Gonzalez invites us to experience the poems with her lively cast of characters including a spirited grandma, four vivacious children, and playful pets who tease and delight. Follow them from page to page as they bring each poem to colorful life. Laughing Tomatoes and Other Spring Poems is a verbal and visual treat, giving us twenty opportunities to see everything for the first time.

The book celebrates an appreciation of nature’s resources: a boy wakes up to the morning sun warming his bed, there is an ode to corn, and a prayer for a fallen tree. There is a poem about strawberries that recognizes children who work in the fields, followed by a poem that describes how the children planted an oak tree “more bountiful with time” that had “open arms for grown up’s and children” with the features and spirit of Cesar Chavez, planted on his birthday.

¡Mira Look!: Cesar Chavez and the Struggle for Justice

Hello faithful blog readers! I apologize for my lack of WWW post on Friday. Last week was especially busy getting ready for some distinguished and exciting talks. Today has proved much the same, but I’ve got a quick post with just a few more titles. Continuing our discussion from last week on the Latino struggle for civil rights, Katrina had some great suggestions for books to teach about famous Latino/a- Americans who have overcome adversity and championed a cause.