THE LATINA BOOK CLUB

The Latina Book Club congratulates ALL the winners.  We look forward to seeing you at the movies! From Latino Literacy Now's press release:  The second edition of the Latino Books Into Movies Awards were held on April 21st at the University of Southern California as part of the Los Angeles Times Festival of Books. The awards were presented from the HOY Stage during the very active weekend of book related activities. The judges for these awards are film industry professionals: Producers, Directors, Screenwriters, and Film Financiers. The judges were Ruben Arvizu, Kevin Bender, Nora de Hoyos Comstock, Benjamin Esparza, Paul Espinosa, Evelina Fernandez, Jackie Gil, Marcos Gonzalez, Danny Haro, Bel Hernandez, Ruth Livier, Alma Martinez, Dave Mendez, Lymari Nadal, Luis Orozco, Gabriel Reyes, Baldemar Rodriguez, Carlina Rodriguez, Margarita de la Vega-Hurtado, and Richard Yñiguez. Kirk Whisler and Annie Perez oversaw the awards process. The Latino Books i...

SISTERS, STRANGERS, AND STARTING OVER A Quinceañera Club Novel By Belinda Acosta Grand Central Publishing In the U.S., the big thing for teenage girls is their Sweet 16. For a Latina teen, it’s her Quinceañero or Sweet 15. Since my cousin Betsy and I are 15 days apart (she’s older and I never let her forget it!), and since she lived in Puerto Rico and I lived in New York (we still do), she got the Quinceañero and I got the Sweet 16. They were both great gatherings full of family and friends, and we both made out well in the presents department. But even though the party is all about the girl turning into a woman, there already is a woman in the picture – the Mami, the Mother of the birthday girl. Mothers bring you into this world. The good ones nurture you, mentor you, nag you…I mean…encourage you. Of course, the mother-daughter relationship is a hazardous one full of live mines, but what happens when a girl doesn’t have a mother, when all she has is an aunt she’s hardly heard...