Reviewed by Teaching for Change Review Source: Teaching for Change Book Author: The new children’s book Islandborn by Junot Díaz tells the story of a young girl, Lola, who learns from family and friends about the island where she was born. The island is not named in the book, but readers can deduce that the story is based […]
Before We Were Free
Reviewed by Cindy L. Rodrigeuz Review Source: Latinxs in Kid Lit Book Author: Anyone who has read Julia Alvarez’s adult novels will enjoy the connections made in Before We Were Free to How the Garcia Girls Lost Their Accents and In the Time of the Butterflies. In Before We Were Free, Alvarez explores the Trujillo […]
Marti’s Song for Freedom / Martí y sus versos por la libertad
Reviewed by Beverly Slapin Review Source: De Colores: The Raza Experience in Books for Children Book Author: Guantanamera, guajira guantanamera Guantanamera, guajira guantanamera Yo soy un hombre sincero De donde crece la palma, Yo soy un hombre sincero De donde crece la palma Y antes de morir, me quiero Echar mis versos del alma Guantanamera, guajira […]
American Street
Reviewed by CCBC Review Source: Cooperative Children’s Book Center Book Author: Fabiola Toussaint hopes to find the American dream when comes with her mother from Haiti to live with her Aunt Jo and her cousins, Chantal, Primadonna and Princess, on the corner of American Street and Joy Road in Detroit. But when her mother is […]
Drum Dream Girl
Review by Sujei Lugo Review Source: Latinx in Kid Lit Book Author: Girls cannot be drummers. Long ago on an island filled with music and rhythm, no one questioned that rule — until the drum dream girl. She longed to play tall congas and small bongós and silvery, moon-bright timbales. She had to practice in secret. […]
Hurricane Dancers: The First Caribbean Pirate Shipwreck
Reviewed by Deborah Menkart Book Author: Cuban American novelist Margarita Engle’s award-winning book of young adult historical fiction takes the form of poetry about the conquest and resistance. The main character is a young man whose mother is Taíno and father is Spanish. Pirates hold him captive and use him as a translator. After a […]
