THE LATINA BOOK CLUB

The Latina Book Club is a proud reviewer for Multicultural Children’s Book Day , which celebrates its fifth anniversary this year.  Below is our review of Anne Broyles new bilingual children’s book. # ReadYourWorld Pelican Publishing Company Translated by Maru Cortes ARTURO AND THE BEINVENIDO FEAST by Anne Broyles is a delightful, heart-warming bilingual children’s book about family, love and bienvenida / welcome.  In this new book, Arturo and his grandmother, Abue Rosa, are preparing a feast to welcome his aunt’s fiancé to the family. However, when Abue Rosa doesn’t feel well and must lay down, Arturo doesn’t want to disturb her and so he takes over the menu with delicious results. As the author states: Food is one of the ways families share love.  Readers will love Arturo’s generous heart and innocent independence.  They’ll also appreciate the warm and colorful illustrations by KE Lewis, and the simple recipes that complete the story.  ...

HAPPY NEW YEAR! Reflecting on the words of Martin Luther King, Jr. Conclusion --- I too choose to stick with Love . Wishing you many blessings in 2018.  Stay positive. My focus word this year is Celebration . I am celebrating small and big things. Join me---mcf I have decided to stick with love. Hate is too great a burden to bear. ---Martin Luther King, Jr. Stick with Love Read Latino

    Stories can’t be featured unless they are available to read.   We all need to share our stories…. – Lisa Guerrero, Journalist, Latina, Leader. We can’t believe how quickly this year has gone by.  We were happy to discover new authors and new stories – stories that made us laugh, cry, cringe, scream and fall in love.  We’ve put together an easy reference list of our books of 2017 for readers everywhere. Remember that books make great gifts all year around, and the best way to support an author is by buying their books, reading their stories and telling your friends and their friends and so on. We wish you the very best for the New Year, and we look forward to discovering new stories and new authors.  Happy Reading. Happy 2018! --- mcf BOOKS OF THE YEAR 2017 A Tongue in the Mouth of the Dying by Laurie Ann Guerrero (University of Notre Dame Press) – poetry All that Glitters by Liza Treviño (Koehler Books) ...

    Tell your super-ego to fuck off, man.  The way you examine every single action, past and present, is twisted. The sin of pride. You’re not that important. You have to forgive yourself once and for all.   --- IN THE MIDST OF WINTER ATRIA BOOKS Isabel Allende starts a new book every January.  IN THE MIDST OF WINTER must have been started during a snow storm because this book takes place during a hard winter in Brooklyn. IN THE MIDST OF WINTER is a heartwarming, captivating, suspenseful, adventurous, gratifying novel.  It’s about love and loss, about justice and redemption, about survival and rebirth, about friendship and family. Allende tackles issues like gang violence, political atrocities, domestic abuse, illegal immigration and human rights se with truthfulness and integrity. Her characters are so realistic they could be your next door neighbors. This novel is fast-paced and with enough plot twists –I did not see that dead...

Algonquin Young Readers    “The goal is to get to the heart.”    “The desert has a way of erasing the things that make us each unique.”   “We do not kid ourselves in the desert: life is hard here, even in the best of circumstances.”          --ALL THE WIND IN THE WORLD Captivating. Mysterious. Nightmarish. Magical. Samantha Mabry’s new book, ALL THE WIND IN THE WORLD , is a stunning mixture of magical realism and romantic suspense. It was selected for the National Book Award longlist; a 2017 BookExpo YA Editors’ Buzz Book; a Fall 2017 Indie Next Pick; and now Latina Book Club’s Book of the Month. SUMMARY:  Set in the desert fields in Texas, ALL THE WIND IN THE WORLD is the story of two lovers in desperate straits, who will do anything and everything to protect their love and escape their meager existence.  Sarah Jac and James are transient jimadors/ farm workers in the maguey fields i...

    Our Book of the Month is one that will make you laugh, cry and scream.  And why shouldn't it? It's Halloween!!  Here's an excerpt.  Happy Reading!! “Gypsy Moon” WICKED REMNANTS By Manuel A. Meléndez Book cover by Carlos Aleman Illustrations by Henry Simon EXCERPT He rose from the black bushes like a solid shadow from death. His nightmarish yellow eyes stared at me with hatred. His enlarged pointed nostril flared as mucous dripped from its depth. His muscled hairy torso expanded to proportions of unbelievable massiveness. His arms were like tree trunks that ended into sharp huge claws. From behind me I heard Deanna scream and my own fears were increased for the safety of us. With foolishness or machismo bravado overcoming my anguish I clenched my hands into fist and prepared if not to save my life, to at least save Deanna’s. The wolf-like creature ripped through the shrubs, his almost human hoofs inching closer ...

   The Latina Book Club congratulates author Jon Marcantoni on his first Spanish-language novel, TRISTIANA.  We were happy to learn all about the novel and what is happening with La Casita Grande.     Darío: When you look at my body, what do you see? You see muscles, chest, arms and legs, my sex? Or do you see skin that is destined to decay? Bones destined to be picked apart by insects until what remains is grinded into dirt. Do you see a walking death that fights to stay within this body? You see my inevitable end, and the hole it will create in the lives of those who love me? What you see if a passing thing, like a memory. And I am alive, I live within your mind, because my destiny is to be buried, and in truth the ground is where this body desires to be above anywhere else. When I look at my children sleeping under the mosquitero, I see a piece of my Isabella and I, a piece which will suffer when we die. The time is coming. Even though in t...