THE LATINA BOOK CLUB

   The Latina Book Club welcomes poet, children’s author and illustrator Franchesca Guzman .   She didn’t see the book she wanted on her beloved Puerto Rico on any bookshelves so she wrote her own and drew the pictures! Within my writing, I leave all of me. Welcome to my anthology . – Franchesca Noemi Guzman Q:    What is a Boricua doing in Dallas? Tell us how you got there and why would you go somewhere with no beaches!  And tell us about the wonderfully different spelling of your name.  It's lovely. A:   I will be completely honest and say that I did not move to Texas by choice. I was seven years old when my father’s job relocated to Dallas and I’ve been here since. That being said, I do go back home to Cayey, Puerto Rico, at least once a year. When asked where my hometown is, I never say Dallas, I always say Cayey because that is what I feel in my heart. The spelling of my name is thanks to my parents. I was named after both of my grandmothers – Francisca on m

   “Through the writing of this memoir, I have released the heavy chains that held me prisoner.   I have learned to once again love the country I come from, but most importantly, I have learned to forgive and to appreciate second chances in life.   My greatest inspiration is living life to the fullest with love and hope for a better world.”   --- Ileana Araguti       SHATTERED PARADISE is powerful, compelling, emotional, and, at the end, liberating.   Be prepared to cry and gasp at some of the passages in this book.   Araguti does a great job of bringing the Nicaragua of her memory to life with its legendary rainforest, colorful characters, vivid and graphic narrative and a love of a country that pours forth from her pen in splendor and darkness both.   And, it is through the eyes of the child that we see the innocence, the beauty of what once was.   And now, through her memoir “that” Nicaragua lives again.      SUMMARY:     Ileana’s life began in Nicaragua, “the lan