THE LATINA BOOK CLUB

        Congratulations and a big round of applause to my 9-year old niece, Joliz Maria, for reading One Million Words this summer. As a result, she and 19 of her fellow school mates won the Connecticut Governor’s Award of Excellence. It is a big honor and a huge accomplishment. Her parents, brothers, grandmother and I couldn’t be more proud. Joliz has always been a good reader. When she graduated from kindergarten, she was the narrator for the school graduation play and she was only 6! She reads half an hour every day. Something her parents and I endorse whole heartedly. Of course, I am adding English books by Latino authors to her growing reading pile. The first, THE DREAMER by Pam Munoz Ryan, an illustrated story about Pablo Neruda’s childhood. She loved it, and we had our own mini-book club discussion. I am looking for other age appropriate books by Latino authors. I welcome all suggestions. And to all other budding readers out there… Rea...

Adults will love this young adult book too. It’s a fictionalized account of Chilean poet Pablo Neruda’s childhood. Munoz Ryan has a beautiful, whimsical, lyrical style that enchants and entrances the reader immediately. And, the illustrations by Peter Sis are brilliant and magical and happily make Munoz Ryan’s words dance and spin off the page into reader’s hearts. A LITTLE BACKGROUND : Munoz Ryan went on vacation to Chile and happened to visit Pablo Neruda’s house. She was back in the states at a book signing when a fellow author told her a story about how Neruda always carried a little sheep, which was given to him by a secret friend across his backyard fence. Neruda had that sheep for a long time until he lost it in a fire, and thereafter, wherever he went, he would look in shops and toy stores for another little sheep just like it. That story so intrigued Munoz Ryan that she began researching Neruda’s childhood and soon the idea for THE DREAMER took hold. Observant readers...