THE LATINA BOOK CLUB

  The Latina Book Club is honored to participate once again in  Multicultural Children's Book Day .  The book was a gift, but the review is our own.  ACCORDIONLY: Abuelo and Opa Make Music by Michael Genhart, PhD Illustrated by Priscilla Burris Magination Press “Watching Abuelo and Opa made my heart sing with happiness. With all my family together, in harmony.” Genhart has written a heart-warming tale about family, about straddling two cultures, and about bridging the gap. This story was inspired by his childhood, family gatherings and his father playing the accordion. The illustrations by Burris are colorful and lively. Her father also played the accordion so this story brought back loving memories. SUMMARY: Young Michael is worried over the silence between his grandfathers – one who is Mexican and the other is Swedish. Neither grandfather spoke the other’s language so family gatherings were very quiet, until Michael had an idea. He asked both grandfathers to bring their accordio

The Latina Book Club is honored to participate once again in  Multicultural Children’s Book Day January 29, 2021.  The book was a gift, but the review is our own.  We welcome author Vanessa Varela. ATTRIBUTES OF A HISPANIC GIRL: I CAN  Written and illustrated by Vanessa Varela, M.Ed., M.A. FLL.  (Bilingual Book)  The stick-figure drawings are powerful in their simplicity and femininity. The book is short, sweet, pink!, and to the point. The author has taken all the negative remarks about girls and Latinos, and turned them into positive attributes, like speaking two languages allows girls to bridge two cultures. And she does it all in English and Spanish.  All we can say is: Brava! INTERVIEW The Latina Book Club: This book started as an academic paper based on Gloria Anzaldua’s book BORDERLANDS & Jaques Lacan’s MIRROR STAGE. Share with us what you saw in their work that inspired you. Vanessa Varela: Literature is the window that has let me understand the concept “Latino” in the U

  by Maria Ferrer Welcome to a new feature on The Latina Book Club  Book Cover Fridays  Every Friday we will be discussing book covers, because YES, we do judge books by their cover. They are so much fun, and book covers often times give clues as to what the book is truly about.  Our book this week is Mark Oshiro’s EACH OF US A DESERT from Tor Teen. The cover is so vibrant with color, the female silhouette, the pyramid, the moon (or is it the sun?!), and the desert. The landscape is both vast and narrow. We love the pyramid, a symbol of femininity and female empowerment. The silhouette carved on the pyramid says solitary so a solo journey. And the moon rising over the pyramid (or sun!) says triumph. It’s like a crown for an Mayan Queen. Are we close? In EACH OF US A DESERT, our heroine Xochitl is destined to wander the desert alone, speaking her troubled village’s stories into its arid winds. Her only companions are the blessed stars above and enigmatic lines of poetry magically

Courage is the price that Life exacts for granting peace.—Amelia Earhart FLYING FREE is Inspiring. Empowering. Rewarding. Cecilia Rodriguez Aragon is the daughter of a Chilean father and a Filipina mother. She grew up a shy, timid child often bullied by her white classmates. The teachers ignored her intelligence and tried to steer her away from science. “Girls can’t do science.” Cecilia showed them. Cecilia may have been painfully shy but she stuck to her guns and earned her PhD in computer science. She worked with astronomers to solve some of the greatest mysteries of the universe; worked with Nobel Prize winners; taught astronauts to fly; worked with NASA designing software for Mars missions; and created musical simulations of the universe with rock stars. Today, she’s semi-retired from flying but holds her dream job – Professor in the College of Engineering at the University of Washington. It only took her six years to overcome her shyness. FLYING FREE recalls those years. It all

  We may have come on different ships, but we’re in the same boat now. --        Martin Luther King, Jr.  

    by Maria Ferrer Welcome to a new feature on The Latina Book Club ,  Book Cover Fridays    Every Friday we will be discussing book covers, because YES, we do judge books by their cover. They are so much fun, and book covers often times give clues as to what the book is truly about. In a 2018 survey, 82% of respondents said they check out the book covers and read the back cover copy before buying a book. We agree. We are visual people so let’s judge books by their covers. We want to start with Sylvia Moreno-Garcia ’s MEXICAN GOTHIC (Del Rey), last year’s runaway hit. The author’s first gothic novel and an Amazon Best Book of July 2020. What do you see on this book cover? Well the title alone tells us that it is going to be dark. Gothic conjures up images of dark pleasures and forbidden desires. The heroine is young, sexy, and look at that beautiful dress with lace bodice and tulle skirt. Gorgeous. Now, did you notice the brocade wallpaper behind her, the wilted flowers in he

The Latina Book Club wishes everyone a Happy & Healthy New Year.  We wanted to start 2021 with a powerful and inspirational book,  and are well pleased with our find.  I AM THESE TRUTHS by Sunny Hostin is a timely, poignant and moving memoir. From New York, to Washington, and back again, our heroine has overcome poverty, racism and sexism through hard work, education and tremendous perseverance. Sunny’s story is a triumph and an inspiration to women everywhere. I AM THESE TRUTHS A Memoir of Identity, Justice, and  Living Between Worlds by Sunny Hostin HarperOne What are you? A simple and difficult question for a Latina woman straddling two cultures. Sunny Hostin has lived between two worlds and has learned to “bridge them together to fight for what’s right.” Asunción Cummings Hostin aka Sunny Hostin grew up half Puerto Rican and half African-American raised by teenage parents in the South Bronx. Escaping poverty and the turbulence of her early life through hard work, a bi