The Tequila Worm by Viola Canales

Title: The Tequila Worm

Author: Viola Canales

Publisher: Wendy Lamb Books

Published Date: 2005

Sofia is of Mexican American decent. She lives in a small barrio in southern Texas. Even though the family has lived in American for generations, they still hold their Mexican traditions. Sofia is an average teenager. Second guessing who she is, who she wants to be and who outsiders see her as. Growing up with a different culture than those around her is hard. She is always asking why she has to be different. It isn’t until she goes to a boarding school that she realizes that what she has is everything she could ever want.

Loved this story. There is so much Mexican culture detailed in this story that I would have never known about on my own. Yet, this story could have been my life. Every child feels like they are somehow different from everyone else. To be placed in an area where your family’s culture is different as well, makes growing up that much harder.

Found this graphic that I thought was awesome!

 

 

Happy Reading!

R

Hairs/Pelitos by Sandra Cisneros

      Title: Hairs/Pelitos

      Author: Sandra Cisneros

      Illustrator: Terry Ybanez

      Publisher: Alfred A. Knopf Inc.

                                                            Published Date: 1994

Hairs/Pelitos is about a young Mexican girl and her family. She compares the hair of all of her families members to different things, because each member has different hair. In the end she remembers her mother’s hair with great fondness. It smells like bread and reminds her of all the things her mother does for the family.

I really liked the dual language that the books has. Having both the English and Spanish is pretty awesome. Children that read this book will be able to see the translation and get an understanding of how Spanish is different from English. It will help both Spanish speaking and English speaking kids. If more childrens books were like this, children would be able to have more than one language growing up. I think this is important in growing up. It doesn’t have to be Spanish or English, but any other non-native language will help kids understand other cultures.

The illustrations are pretty basic, but do a great job of showing the audience what is going on with the storyline. I did have to reread a few parts to understand what some of the images were portraying. This isn’t bad, it was probably just me anyway. The colors are very bright and vibrant and remind me of the Mexican culture.

I had fun reading this. I hope more people will look into it. It is from The House on Mango Street novel in verse from Sandra Cisneros.

 

Happy Reading!

R