Culture 3: Hispanic/Latinx Literature

 

Culture 3: Hispanic/Latinx

A.    Bibliography

Mora, Pat. (2010). Dizzy in your eyes: poems about love. New York. Alfred A. Knopf Books for Young Readers. ISBN 9780375843754

B.     Plot Summary

This is a collection of poems about different kinds of love. It is a collection of different styles of poems. There are tales of different kind of love, like the love of family, first love, and the love of a pet.

C.     Critical Analysis Including Cultural Markers

Pat Mora’s “Dizzy in your eyes” displays many types of poetry; free verse, haiku, list making, and more. The poems are written in the voice of a younger person and reaches out to Mora’s target audience.

There is a mix of English and Spanish throughout the poems, but the reader can easily understand the meaning of the words through the rest of the text. She captures the angst of a student from a Spanish speaking country to America and was unable to speak Spanish. This shows the struggles of non-English speakers in America, especially those attending school.

D.    Review Excerpts

Horn Book Guide: “Although Mora lauds the "intensity of the teen years" in her author's note, the adolescent narrators of these poems about relationships lost, found, and longed for speak in voices that are sometimes too restrained or muted to be entirely convincing. Still, the collection--a mix of free verse and formal poetry; of English sprinkled with Spanish--has an inviting, tender feel.”                                                                                             

School Library Journal: “A collection of poems written in various forms, each narrated in a different teen voice. According to the author's note, Mora envisioned the flow of the poems as that of a symphony with four movements—an opening focus on love's initial rush, followed by a few bumps in the road, healing after loss of love, and finally the joy of finding new love. This cohesion is indeed delivered. Peppered with Spanish, the selections define the emotion in countless ways. The quiet lyricism of some lines will prompt many readers to roll them over and over on their tongues; this is a world in which a simple smile can make a boy feel as if he's "swallowed the sun" or one's worst fear might be a kiss "dull like oatmeal." 

E.     Connections

Fields, Terri. After the Death of Anna Gonzales. ISBN 9780805071276

Peppernell, Courtney. Watering the Soul. ISBN 9781524867515

 

A.    Bibliography

Sanchez, Erica L. (2017). I am not your perfect Mexican daughter. New York. Alfred A. Knopf Books for Young Readers. ISBN 9781524700485

B.     Plot Summary

Julia is a high school student in Chicago who lives with her immigrant parents and older sister. Julia’s older sister Olga has died, and Julia and her parents try to deal with their loss. Julia has an extra burden to bear because Olga was the perfect Mexican daughter. This is Julia’s journey of finding her true self, understanding her parents, and the truth about her sister.

C.     Critical Analysis Including Cultural Markers

“I am not your perfect Mexican daughter” starts with the death of Julia’s older sister Olga. We meet Julia and her parents dealing with one of the most traumatic events of their lives. Julia seems caught between her parents’ loss and utter heartbreak and her own ability to deal with her perfect sister’s death. Sanchez’s writing brings the reader directly into Julia’s racing thoughts, anxiety, and angst.

Julia’s Ama used many Spanish words and phrases to describe people and behaviors to Julia. Ama and Apa came to America from Los Ojos, Mexico by means of a coyote. Julia’s mom wants to throw Julia a quinceañera to celebrate her birthday, which has already passed. When Julia has tried to kill herself Ama sends her to Mexico to stay with Ama’s family. Julia lives with her grandmother, aunts, uncles, and cousins all the while remembering her childhood trips to Mexico and comfort she had staying there. In her last visit, Julia’s family in Mexico notices her attitudes and attributes the attitudes to her living in America. Ama, Apa, and the family in Mexico encourage Julia to find a nice indoor job with air conditioning and good pay so she will not have to struggle and overwhelm herself like the rest of her family. Food is an important staple in Julia’s home in Chicago with freshly made tortillas, beans, and other savory foods her mother stopped making after the death of her sister. While in Mexico Mama Jacinta has a splendid recipe for menudo and has fresh ingredients made directly from a cow. The story shows the traditional roles of women in Mexico; cooking, cleaning, and caring for family.

D.    Review Excerpts

Publishers Weekly: “As the book moves along, Julia's frustration with the many constraints she lives under—poverty, family expectations, and conditioning that she resents but can't quite ignore—reaches dangerous levels. Julia is a sympathetic character, but Sánchez's often expository writing keeps her and her struggles at arm's length.”

Kirkus: “Sánchez's prose is authentic, but it's difficult to root f or Julia, because she's so contemptuous, judgmental, and unpleasant: "I do dislike most people and most things"—from "nosy" aunts, "idiot" cousins, and tacky quinceañera parties to even her "wild and slutty" best friend, Lorena, at least sometimes. An abrupt plot development involving self-harm and mental illness feels forced, as does a magically life-changing trip to Mexico in the third act. This gritty contemporary novel about an unlikable first-generation Mexican-American teen fails to deliver as a coming-of-age journey.

E.     Connections

Acevado, Elizabeth. Clap when you land. ISBN 9780062882769

Henriquez, Cristina. The Book of Unknown Americans. ISBN 9780385350846 

 

A.    Bibliography

Bernier-Grand, Carmen T. (1995). Juan Bobo: four folktales from Puerto Rico. New York. HarperTrophy. ISBN 0761319107

B.     Plot Summary

“Juan Bobo: four folktales from Puerto Rico” tells four different stories of Juan Bobo and his mother. Juan Bobo’s mother puts him to work, but he has a way of having fun and unintentionally making mistakes.

C.     Critical Analysis Including Cultural Markers

Bernier-Grand’s stories of Juan Bobo is written for an easy read book for children. Large font, bright colorful pictures, and entertaining tales are all appropriate for young children. There are humorous parts of the tales, like when Juan Bobo used baskets to carry water and lost all the water in puddles.

Juan Bobo is a beloved character in Puerto Rico. The bright colorful pictures are representative of the bright colors and flora found in Puerto Rico. Each of the stories are retold in Spanish in the back of the book.

D.    Review Excerpts

Horn Book Guide: “Delacres illustrations brighten up this lively bilingual collection of folk songs, rhymes, riddle games, and stories. Bernier-Grand writes a brief note putting each piece of folklore in cultural context. The book includes music for the songs and instructions for the games. This will be a boon to librarians looking for ideas for bilingual story hours."

Booklist: “From the opening "Waking Up Song" to the final bedtime tune, "The Song of El Coqui," this collection features games, counting rhymes, and riddles as well as familiar children's songs from the author's native Puerto Rico. Taken from classrooms and playgrounds, each selection is accompanied by a brief footnote that explains cultural background or clarifies differences in Puerto Rican Spanish.”

 

E.     Connections

Montes, Marisa. Juan Bobo Goes to Work. ISBN 9780688162337

Pitre, Felix. Juan Bobo and the Pig. ISBN 9780525674290

 

A.    Bibliography

Alvarez, Julia. (2010). How the Garcia girls lost their accents. Chapel Hill, N.C. Algonquin Books of Chapel Hill. ISBN 9781565129757

B.     Plot Summary

“How the Garcia girls lost their accents” tells the story of the wealthy, well-known Garcia family in the Dominican Republic who must leave their home and belongings and move to New York. The four Garcia girls tell their own part of the story, which creates a larger story of the family.

C.     Critical Analysis Including Cultural Markers

Alvarez tells the story chronologically backwards. This allows the readers to look back on the girls in earlier times and helps the reader gain insight into the girls’ actions as adults. The uniqueness of each chapter is tied to the uniqueness of each sister’s experience. Each sister tells a part of her story in her own words and experiences.

The family is a wealthy, celebrated family in the Dominican Republic with maids, cooks, and all the advantages allotted to such a family. When the family moves to America, they must transition to being immigrants who do not have the same level of success as they once had in the Dominican Republic. The culture in the Dominican Republic honors men who are considered in charge and are honored, while women are subservient. This example is evident when Yolanda shows her genitals to her male cousin to trade for a human body doll and clay. She was aware of his ability to manipulate the situation. In America, the switch is to a society which is less male dominated.

D.    Review Excerpts

Library Journal: “This rollicking, highly original first novel tells the story (in reverse chronological order) of four sisters and their family, as they become Americanized after fleeing the Dominican Republic in the 1960s. A family of privilege in the police state they leave, the Garcias experience understandable readjustment problems in the United States, particularly old-world patriarch Papi. The sisters fare better but grow up conscious, like all immigrants, of living in two worlds.”

Publishers Weekly: “The chronicle of a family in exile that is forced to find a new identity in a new land, these 15 short tales, grouped into three sections, form a rich, novel-like mosaic. Alvarez, whose first fiction this is, has an ear for the dialogue of non-natives, and the strong flavors of Dominican syntax and cultural values permeate these pages. Many parallels may be drawn between these stories and Amy Tan's The Joy Luck Club. Central to both are young, first-generation American females in rebellion against their immigrant elders, and in both books the stories pile up with layers of multiple points of view and overlapping experiences, building to a sense of family myths in the making.”

E.     Connections

Garcia, Christina. Dreaming in Cuban. ISBN 9780345381439

Santiago, Esmerelda. When I was Puerto Rican. ISBN 9780679756767