¡Leamos Amigos!
Prepared by the Children's Services Division of the Berkeley Public Library
Picture Books |
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| Author | Title |
| Best, Cari | Taxi! Taxi! |
| When Tina's Papi finally arrives in his taxi for their usual Sunday together, they leave the familiar city to visit a farm. | |
| Bunting, Eve | A Day's Work |
| Francisco helps his grandfather, who speaks only Spanish, find work but gets them in trouble by a well-intentioned fib. | |
| Cazet, Denys | Born in the Gravy |
| A Mexican-American girl tells her father about all the things she did on her first day in kindergarten. | |
| Cordova, Amy | Abuelita's Heart |
During a walk in the desert with her grandmother, a young city girl learns a lot about nature and her heritage as well. |
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| Dorros, Arthur | Abuela |
| A little Latina girl imagines herself and her grandmother flying all around New York City. | |
| Kleven, Elisa | Hooray! A Piñata |
| After Clara chooses a dog piñata for her birthday party, she pretends it is her pet and doesn't want it to get broken. | |
| Lopez, Loretta | The Birthday Swap |
| A family birthday celebration with relatives in Mexico for Lori's big sister turns out to be quite a surprise. | |
| Markun, Patricia | The Little Painter of Sabana Grande |
| After artistic Fernando learns to make paint in the traditional Panamanian way, he paints on the adobe wall of his house. | |
| Mora, Pat | Pablo's Tree |
| Each year on his birthday, grandfather decorates the tree he planted on the day Pablo was adopted. | |
| Soto, Gary | Chato's Kitchen |
| When a family of mice move next door to local gato Chato, he tries to trick them into being his dinner. | |
Fiction |
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| Author | Title |
| Ada, Alma Flor | My Name is Maria Isabel |
| When Maria Isabel starts third grade at a new school, she learns to stand up for herself even as she tries to fit in. | |
| Chambers, Veronica | Marisol and Magdalena |
| Two best friends in New York take different paths when Marisol is sent to live with family in Panama for a year. | |
| Jennings, Patrick | Faith and the Rocket Cat |
| Faith and her family move back from Mexico to San Francisco where their wild adventures continue. | |
| Jiménez, Francisco | The Circuit: Twelve Stories from the Life of a Migrant Child |
| These moving stories describe the migrant farmworker's life from a child's point of view. | |
| Jiménez, Francisco | La Mariposa |
| Artistic Francisco speaks only Spanish, so a caterpillar that he watches becomes his connection to the other children. | |
| Marzollo, Jean | Soccer Cousins |
| When David visits his cousin in Mexico, he celebrates the Day of the Dead and helps win a soccer tournament. | |
| Mora, Pat | Tomás and the Library Lady |
| While helping his family in their work as migrant laborers, Tomás finds a new world in the books at the public library. | |
| Nodar, Carmen | Abuelita's Paradise |
| After her grandmother dies, Marita sits in her rocking chair and remembers the stories she told of life in Puerto Rico. | |
| Ortiz Cofer, Judith | Island in the City |
| Twelve stories about young people caught between their Puerto Rican heritage and their barrio in New Jersey. | |
| Reeve, Kirk | Lolo and Red-legs |
| Lolo's summer of adventures with his friends in East Los Angeles start when he captures a tarantula. | |
| Rosa-Casanova, Sylvia | Mama Provi and the Pot of Rice |
| A simple pot of chicken with rice is transformed into a multi-cultural feast as Mama Provi carries it upstairs to Lucy. | |
| Soto, Gary | Boys at Work |
| When Rudy accidentally breaks an older boy's Discman, he and his friend devise ways to earn money to replace it. | |
| Spurr, Elizabeth | Mama's Birthday Surprise |
| Three children have heard their mother's stories of her rich uncle in Mexico, but find the truth surprising on meeting him. | |
| Temple, Frances | Grab Hands and Run |
| A Salvadorean refugee family's harrowing experiences reflect the political atmosphere in their country and ours. | |
Non-Fiction |
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| Call Number | Author | Title |
| 305.8 H76m | Hoobler, Dorothy & Thomas | The Mexican American Family Album |
| A history of Mexican Americans told in their own words and photos, through diaries, letters, and personal memorabilia. | ||
| 305.868 At51v | Atkin, S. Beth | Voices from the Fields: Children of Farmworkers Tell Their Stories |
| Poems, photos and interviews with nine children reveal the hardships and hopes of Mexican American farm workers and their families. | ||
| 394.26 H | Hoyt Goldsmith, Diane | Day of the Dead: A Mexican-American Celebration |
| A photo essay showing how a Mexican-American community in California celebrates the traditional holiday. | ||
| 394.26 | Ancona, George | Fiesta Fireworks |
| Sparkling photos accompany this description of a festival in Tultepec, Mexico, famous for its master pyrotechnists. | ||
| 398.2 Aa72b3 | Aardema, Verna | Borreguita and the Coyote |
| The little lamb tricks coyote out of eating her three times in this tale from Jalisco, Mexico. | ||
| 398.2 Ad11r | Ada, Alma Flor | The Rooster Who Went to His Uncle's Wedding |
| In this cumulative folk tale, a rooster sets off a chain of events when he dirties his beak on the way to a wedding. | ||
| 398.2 B8385b | Brusca, María Cristina | The Blacksmith and the Devils |
| In this humorous Argentine tale, a blacksmith makes a deal with the devil to extend his youth and good fortune. | ||
| 398.2 G324p | Gerson, Mary-Joan | The People of Corn: A Mayan Story |
| In this creation tale, the Mayan gods finally succeed in making a people who will thank and praise their creators. | ||
| 398.2 G582u | Gollub, Matthew | Uncle Snake |
| When his face is changed into that of a snake after visiting a forbidden cave, a young boy wears a mask for twenty years. | ||
| 398.2 G589s | Gonzalez, Lucía M. | Señor Cat's Romance and other Favorite Stories from Latin America |
| Six stories from various Latin American countries are accompanied by lively illustrations. | ||
| 398.2 J18g | Jaffe, Nina | The Golden Flower: A Taino Myth from Puerto Rico |
| This myth explains the origin of the sea, the forest and the island now called Puerto Rico. | ||
| 398.2 J 173 | Jade and Iron: Latin American Tales from Two Cultures | |
| Fourteen stories reflect both the Native and European traditions alive throughout Latin America. | ||
| 398.2 M143m2 | McDermott, Gerald | Musicians of the Sun |
In this Aztec tale, the musicians held prisoner by the Sun are freed so that they can bring joy and color to the world. |
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| 759.97 R524b | Braun, Barbara | A Weekend with Diego Rivera |
| The great Mexican muralist narrates his own biography. | ||
| 784 Or6d2 | Orozco, Jose Luis. Diez Deditos: Ten Little Fingers | |
| "Play Rhymes and Action Songs from Latin America" in both English and Spanish, with music and directions. | ||
| 791.8 R338c | Cooper, Martha | Anthony Reynoso: Born to Rope |
| Nine year old Anthony is following in the footsteps of his father by being a charro in Mexican Rodeo in Arizona. | ||
| 811 AL12L | Alarcon, Francisco X. | Laughing Tomatoes and Other Spring Poems |
| Delightful poems by a California writer, in both Spanish and English, evoking spring. | ||
| 811 H433L | Herrera, Juan Felipe | Laughing Out Loud, I Fly: Poems in English and Spanish |
| Poems celebrating the author's childhood are illustrated by a local artist. | ||
| 811 So78f | Soto, Gary | A Fire in My Hands |
| Twenty-three poems celebrating everyday things by the well known California writer. | ||
| 920 Ad11au | Ada, Alma Flor | Under the Royal Palms: A Childhood in Cuba |
| The author, a local educator and writer, recalls her life growing up in Cuba. | ||
| 920 M521b | Brill, Marlene | Journey for Peace: The Story of Rigoberta Menchú |
| A biography of the Mayan woman from Guatemala who won the Nobel Peace Prize in 1992. | ||
Want to get your hands on one of these books? Check the Berkeley Public Library catalog to see where you can get a copy!