Annotated Bibliography

Title: The Night of Las Posadas

Author:Tomie DePaola

Illustrator:Tomie DePaola

Genre: Fiction

Guided Reading Level:-

Summary:
The Night of Las Posadas narrates the tradition in which Mexican communities reenact the story
of when Mary and Joseph go from door to door seeking shelter at the inn on Christmas Eve.
This year Sister Angie, who is in charge of the celebration, has to stay home with the flu, and
Lupe and Roberto, who are to play Mary and Joseph, get caught in a snowstorm. But a man
and a woman no one knows arrive in time to take their place in the procession and then
mysteriously disappear at the end before they can be thanked. When Sister Angie goes to the
cathedral and kneels before the statue of Mary and Jospeh, wet footprints from the snow lead
up to the statue.

Title: The Bossy Gallito

Author: Retold by Lucia M. Gonzalez

Illustrator:Lulu Delacre

Genre:Folktale (Cuban)

Guided Reading Level: M

Summary:
The Bossy Gallito is the bilingual Cuban folktale story of a bossy
rooster on his way to a wedding. On his way he decides to eat two
corn kernels and dirties his beak. He asks many other animals along the way to clean it for him
and they all refuse. Finally he asks the sun to help and he agrees. Then, everyone who said no
apologizes to the rooster and his beak is cleaned and he goes to the wedding.
 Title: La Tortuga: A Mexican Folktale

Author:Rewritten by Elizabeth Lane

Illustrator: Jeff McKellar

Genre: Folktale

Guided Reading Level: Grades 1-3

Summary:
La Tortuga is about an old and wise turtle that lives under a tree in a village. The children trick
the turtle into coming out so they can make her into soup. But the wise turtle plays her flute and
dances for them, tricking them into letting her back outside and eventually under the tree, out of
reach.

Title: Angel of the Alamo: A True Story of Texas

Author: Lisa Waller Rogers

Illustrator: Gwen Thigpen

Genre: Fictionalized Biography

Guided Reading Level: -

Summary:
Provides a fictionalized account of Andrea Castanon Villanueva who nursed Jim Bowie during
the attack on the Alamo during the Texas War of Independence against Mexico. She was a
restaurant owner and philanthropist.

Title: Esperanza Rising

Author: Pam Munoz Ryan

Illustrator: Joe Cepeda

Genre: Historical Fiction

Guided Reading Level: V

Summary: A 2000 young adult novel written by Pam Muoz Ryan.

Set in California during the time of the Great Depression, it
examines the plight of the Mexican farm workers as they struggle to adapt and survive
in the United States.
 Title: The Dreamer

Author: Pam Munoz Ryan

Illustrator: Peter Ss

Genre: Historical Fiction/Prose

Guided Reading Level: V

Summary: The story is a fictionalized biography of the young life of the

renowned Chilean poet Pablor Neruda. The young boy is named Neftali
and the story follows his journey of self discovery. Neftali spends his time reading, writing, and
daydreaming but his authoritarian father ridicules him for his interests and lifestyle. Neftali finds
inspiration in the world around him and in his imagination expressing himself and his inner voice
in poetry.

*Winner 2011 Belpre Author Award

Title: Me, Frida

Author: Amy Novesky

Illustrator: David Diaz

Genre: Biography

Guided Reading Level: Grade level 3.6

Summary: About the life of reknown artist Frida Kahlo as she visits San Francisco with her
husband Diego Rivera. She explores the city on her own and discovers her own voice through
her painting.

*2011 Pura Belpre Illustrator Honor Book

 Title: The Monkeys Haircut

Author: John Bierhorst

Illustrator: Robert Parker

Genre: Folklore (includes creation myths, trickster tales, ghost

stories, ejemplo and cuerto)

Guided Reading Level: Grade 4-9

Summary: Twenty-two myths and folk-tales are included in this

diverse and powerful collection. A lengthy introduction
discusses Mayan culture, past and present, including its storytelling traditions. Trickster
tales, creation myths, Christ stories, and ghost stories; both ejemplo (tales which have a
moral) and cuerto (ordinary folk-tales or fairy tales); stories from the 16th-century Popol
Vuh (Council Book) and stories which have been collected since 1900; and borrowed
tales such as ""The Lost Children"" (a version of ""Hansel and Gretel""), ""The Miser's
Jar,"" ""Puma and Rabbit,"" and a variant of the ""Tar-baby"" story are included. There is
a bibliography of original sources. A readable collection and a fine piece of scholarship
which should find a wide audience among children and storytellers. (Kirkus Review,
1986)

Title: Estrellita de oro/ Little Gold Star. A Cinderella Cuento

Author: Joe Hayes

Illustrator: Gloria Osuna Perez/ Lucia Angela Perez

Genre: Fairytale

Guided Reading Level: -

Summary: Hayes, a veteran folklorist, offers an engaging telling of

Cinderella that is popular in the mountain communities of New Mexico. There are some
significant variations that add depth to the story, making it in many ways more interesting than
the original...The English text, which is made full-bodied by its many details, appears with a
Spanish translation.
 Title: Martin de Porres: the Rose in the Desert

Author:Gary D. Schmidt

Illustrator: David Diaz

Genre:Biography

Guided Reading Level: -

Summary: As the illegitimate son of a Spanish nobleman and a

former slave, Martin de Porres was born into extreme poverty.
Even so, his mother begged the church fathers to allow him into
the priesthood. Instead, Martin was accepted as a servant boy. But soon, the young man was
performing miracles. Rumors began to fly around the city of a strange mulatto boy with healing
hands, who gave first to the people of the "barrios." Martin continued to serve in the church, until
he was finally received by the Dominican Order, no longer called the worthless son of a slave,
but rather a saint and the rose in the desert.

Title:Dona Flor: A Tall Tale About A Giant Woman with a Great Big
Heart

Author: Pat Mora

Illustrator: Raul Colon

Genre:Traditional Literature

Guided Reading Level: O

Summary: Dona Flor is a giant woman who lives in a puebla with

lots of families. She loves her neighbors-she lets the children use
her flowers for trumpets, and the families use her leftover tortillas for rafts. So when a huge
puma is terrifying the village, of course Flor is the one to investigate.

Title:Toms and the Library Lady

Author: Pat Mora

Illustrator: Ral Coln

Genre: Historical Fiction

Guided Reading Level: - Lexile 440L

Summary: It's not easy moving time and again, but Toms and his
family are migrant workers who travel from state to state, helping farmers harvest their crops.
When they arrive in Iowa for the summer, Toms finds an escape from the scorching heat at the
town library. And once inside, he also discovers a surprising world filled with dinosaurs, tigers,
and a great new friend. (Scholastic)

Title: Enchanted Air: Two Cultures, Two Wings: A Memoir

Author: Margarita Engle

Illustrator: Edel Rodriguez

Genre: Memoir

Guided Reading Level: -

Summary:
Margarita is a girl from two worlds. Her heart lies in Cuba, her mothers
tropical island country, a place so lush with vibrant life that it seems like a
fairy tale kingdom. But most of the time she lives in Los Angeles, lonely in the noisy city and
dreaming of the summers when she can take a plane through the enchanted air to her beloved
island. Words and images are her constant companions, friendly and comforting when the children
at school are not.

Then a revolution breaks out in Cuba. Margarita fears for her far-away family. When the hostility
between Cuba and the United States erupts at the Bay of Pigs Invasion, Margaritas worlds collide in
the worst way possible. How can the two countries she loves hate each other so much? And will she
ever get to visit her beautiful island again? (Amazon)

*Pura Belpre Award

______________________________________________________________________________

Title: Separate is Never Equal: Sylvia Mendez & Her Familys

Fight for Desegregation

Author: Duncan Tonatiuh

Illustrator: Duncan Tonatiuh

Genre: Informational

Guided Reading Level: -

Summary: Almost 10 years before Brown vs. Board of Education, Sylvia Mendez and her
parents helped end school segregation in California. An American citizen of Mexican and Puerto
Rican heritage who spoke and wrote perfect English, Mendez was denied enrollment to a
Whites only school. Her parents took action by organizing the Hispanic community and filing a
lawsuit in federal district court. Their success eventually brought an end to the era of segregated
education in California.

*Jane Addams Award

*Pura Belpre Award
*Robert F. Sibert Award
___________________________________________________________________________

Title: Bandits Moon

Author: Sid Fleischman

Illustrator: Jos A. Smith

Genre: Historical Fiction

Guided Reading Level: -

Summary: After a narrow escape from the clutches of nasty O. O. Mary,

Annyrose ventures forth to find her long-lost brother, Lank, in gold-
digging territory. But the journey is rough. Bandits and fiends wait for the
traveler around every bend. Soon Annyrose runs into Joaquin Murieta,
legendary bandit of the Gold Rush. (Scholastic)

____________________________________________________________________________

Title: The Captive

Author: Scott ODell

Illustrator: -

Genre: Historical Fiction

Guided Reading Level: -

Summary: Julian Escobar, a young Jesuit seminarian who travels to the

New World, is the only human survivor when a hurricane sinks a ship
laden with gold. He struggles ashore, where he meets a Mayan girl. She
teaches him about Kukulcan, the Feathered Serpent, a fair-skinned Mayan
god, who sailed away centuries before. When Julian blows up a Mayan
idol, he meets a Spanish dwarf who survived an earlier shipwreck. Cantu,
the dwarf, persuades Julian to impersonate Kukulcan. Accepted as the returned god, Julian
finds himself presiding over a human sacrifice.
(http://www.scottodell.com/Pages/TheCaptive.aspx)
 Title: How Tia Lola Ended Up Starting Over

Author: Julia Alvarez

Illustrator: Tatsuro Kiuchi

Genre: Realistic Fiction

Guided Reading Level: R

Summary: Welcome to Ta Lola's bed and breakfast! With the help of her
niece and nephew and the three Sword Sisters, Ta Lola is opening the
doors of Colonel Charlebois' grand old Vermont house to visitors from all
over. But Ta Lola and the children soon realize that running a B & B isn't as
easy they had initially thoughtespecially when it appears that someone is
out to sabotage them! Will Ta Lola and the kids discover who's behind the plot to make their B & B
fail? And will Ta Lola's family and friends be able to plan her a surprise birthday party in her own B &
B without her finding out?

Title: Marisol McDonald Doesnt Match / Marisol McDonald no combina

Author: Monica Brown

Illustrator: Sara Palacios

Genre: Realist
ic Fiction

Guided Reading Level: Grades K-3

Summary: Marisol McDonald has flaming red hair and nut-brown skin. Polka dots and stripes are
her favorite combination. She prefers peanut butter and jelly burritos in her lunch box. And don t
even think of asking her to choose one or the other activity at recessshell just be a soccer playing
pirate princess, thank you very much. To Marisol McDonald, these seemingly mismatched things
make perfect sense together.

Unfortunately, they don t always make sense to everyone else. Other people wrinkle their nose in
confusion at Marisolcan t she just be one or the other? Try as she might, in a world where
everyone tries to put this biracial, Peruvian-Scottish-American girl into a box, Marisol McDonald
doesnt match. And thats just fine with her.
 Title: Going Home

Author: Eve Bunting

Illustrator: David Diaz

Genre: Realistic Fiction

Guided Reading Level: T

Summary: Christmas is coming and Carlos and his family are going home-driving south across the
border to Mexico. But Mexico doesn't seem like home to Carlos, even though he and his sisters were
born there. Can home be a place you don't really remember?

At first, La Perla doesn't seem very different from the other villages they pass through. But then
Carlos is swept into the festivities by Grandfather, Aunt Ana, and the whole village. Finally, Carlos
begins to understand Mama and Papa's love for the place they left behind, and realizes that home
can be anywhere, because it stays in the hearts of the people who love you.

Title: Yes! We Are Latinos

Author: Alma Flor Ada & F. Isabel Campoy

Illustrator: David Diaz

Genre: Poetry

Guided Reading Level: Grades 4-8

Summary: Thirteen young Latinos and Latinas living in

the United States are introduced in this book celebrating
the rich diversity of the Latino and Latina experience.
Free-verse fictional narratives from the perspective of
each youth provide specific stories and circumstances for
the reader to better understand the Latino peoples quest for identity. Each profile is
followed by nonfiction prose that further clarifies the characters background and history,
touching upon important events in the history of the Latino American people, such as
the Spanish Civil War, immigration to the US, and the internment of Latinos with
Japanese ancestry during World War II.
 Title: Round is a Tortilla

Author: Roseanne Greenfield Thong

Illustrator: John Parra

Genre: Narrative Nonfiction

Guided Reading Level: M

Summary: In this lively picture book, children discover shapes all

around them: rectangles are ice-cream carts and stone metates,
while triangles are slices of watermelon and quesadillas. Many of the featured objects are Latino in
origin, and all are universal in appeal. With rich illustrations, a fun-to-read rhyming text, and an
informative glossary, this playful concept book will reinforce the shapes found in every child's day!

Title: Parrots Over Puerto Rico

Author: Cindy Trumbore

Illustrator: Susan L. Roth

Genre: Expository Nonfiction

Guided Reading Level: V

Summary: Above the treetops of Puerto Rico flies a flock of

parrots as green as their island home. . . . These are Puerto Rican
parrots. They lived on this island for millions of years, and then
they nearly vanished from the earth forever. Puerto Rican parrots,
once abundant, came perilously close to extinction in the 1960s
due to centuries of foreign exploration and occupation, development, and habitat destruction. In this
compelling book, Roth and Trumbore recount the efforts of the scientists of the Puerto Rican Parrot
Recovery Program to save the parrots and ensure their future. Woven into the parrots story is a brief
history of Puerto Rico itself, from before the first human settlers to the present day. With striking
collage illustrations, a unique format, and engaging storytelling, Parrots Over Puerto Rico invites
readers to witness the amazing recovery efforts that have enabled Puerto Rican parrots to fly over
their island once again."

Additional Books & Authors:

Popiolo and the Roof Dogs Brian Meunier

Ladder to the Moon Maya Soetoro-Ng

Dear Primo: A Letter to My Cousin Duncan Tonatiuh

The Ugly One Leanne Statland Ellis

My Name is Gabriela: The Life of Gabriela Mistral Monica Brown

Celia Cruz, Queen of Salsa Veronica Chambers

Paco and the Giant Chile Plant Keith Polette

The Runaway Piggy James Luna

The Lady of Guadalupe Tomie dePaola

The Tequila Worm Viola Canales

The Race of the Toad and Deer Pat Mora

Discovering the Inca Ice Maiden: My Adventures on Ampato Johan Reinhard