Books published by publisher Arte Publico Press

Early in Canales' collection, the young narrator gives her beloved grandmother the perfect Christmas present; she gives her the gift of the world. Through her descriptions, we see that world as she sees it, through the eyes of a child that is slowly moving into adolescence. In this twilight world, the author offers a shimmering picture of a family confronted with the issues that divide lives and love. In this collection of coming of age stories, Canales introduces the reader to the cultural traditions and activities of a community: homage to the Virgin of Guadalupe, the celebration of the day of the Three Magi, a carousel of unique saints, and a flock of very special pink plastic flamingoes. And through it all, with the passage of time the narrator discovers changes within herself and the community around her.Canales' robust tales inhabit the mysterious and secret land that lies between the United States and Mexico, between child and adulthood, reality and the imagination, and between life and death. These haunting stories not only reveal, layer by layer, the fantastic in the ordinary, but, most importantly, the powerful and healing magic inside all of us. Long after the tales are finished, the reader will be left with the taste of orange candy slices.

Emilio is not just the new kid on the block. He’s new to the entire country. He and his family have just come from Central America to Houston, and everything is terribly different in the big American city. Unlike anything he had ever imagined.With her engaging and timely new novel for young adults, Emilio, critically-acclaimed author Julia Mercedes Castilla spins a compelling tale of the obstacles facing not only young immigrants but all teens facing life’s choices in the new millennium. Uncomfortable with his looks, his size, his unfamiliarity with everything, Emilio shrinks into the shadows in his classes. He does find friends among other immigrants and he tries to keep out of the way of the rough crowd. But only when his teacher introduces him to the world of numbers does he begin to find himself. Yet there is danger lurking even in the world of math studies. And, Emilio once again faces hardship and isolation. Emilio is a tale of overcoming fear of the unknown to adapt and prevail over circumstances through will and perseverance. As Emilio makes his own way in this new world, his trials, failures, and successes become a model for all young readers who would accept and embrace responsibility for their own lives.

At an assembly of liberals in Ponce, Puerto Rico, in 1887, Inocencia Martínez eagerly looks for Sotero Figueroa, a journalist and independence movement activist whose politics—and handsome visage—she finds extremely exciting. She is so intent on keeping him in her sights that, when he stops to speak to someone, she almost runs right into him!Inocencia, the daughter of a Spanish bureaucrat, was 18 when she first heard Figueroa speak about freedom from colonial repression and an independent Puerto Rico. Hearing the speakers at the assembly, some who advocate for total independence from Spain and others who favor a plan that would give Puerto Rico a voice in the Spanish government, fuels her dreams of becoming a leader in the movement.When Sotero requests permission to visit, Inocencia’s parents are initially horrified that a mulatto, someone of African descent, wants to court their daughter. Ultimately, just before the couple’s seditious activities force them into exile, her parents give approval for their marriage. While living in New York City, Inocencia starts her own women’s group to aid the revolutionaries.Ranging from Puerto Rico to Cuba and the United States, this engaging novel for teens follows historical figures that were instrumental in the fight for self-determination in Puerto Rico. Addressing issues that remain relevant today—racism, women’s rights and Puerto Rico’s status—The Season of Rebels and Roses also sheds light on women’s involvement in their nations’ liberation—and their own.VIRGINIA SÁNCHEZ-KORROL is Professor Emerita at Brooklyn College, City University of New York. She is the author of several works including From Colonia to Community: The History of Puerto Ricans in New York City and Feminist and Abolitionist: The Story of Emilia Casanova. Sánchez-Korrol advises on Puerto Rican and Latino/a history for museums and the media and writes a blog for the Huffington Post.

Dust-covered boxes, old and forgotten furniture, and discarded treasures intrigue a young boy exploring his grandfather’s garage. In the midst of this mine, he makes a discovery more fascinating than treasure: a guitar with a neck rising like a “black swan.” When Tata opens the guitar case that once belonged to his tata, a wealth of musical memories entrance the boy as the sound of the guitar strings transform “musty moths into beautiful butterflies.” Tata tells the boy about the posadas at Christmas, birthday melodies and he even shares his memory of a special moonlight serenade. As his fingers glide along the frets, Tata paints the boy a picture of a world long-past. And with his grandfather’s help, the boy will learn to create his own musical memories for generations to come. This bright bilingual picture book about the magic of musical tradition will delight readers of all ages.

Alamo Wars (Piñata Books, 2008), Dallas ISD educator/author Ray Villareal’s anticipated second novel, will challenge young readers to consider both sides of conflict. Villareal sets the stage for a series of modern-day conflicts with the sudden death of Josephine “Miss Mac” McKeever who had taught English and theatre arts at Rosemont Middle School for so long that her colleagues sometimes joked that she would die in the classroom. So when she does just that, students, teachers, and administrators are stunned. To commemorate her fifty-one years of service, it is quickly decided that the seventh-grade class will present her original play about the Alamo.But everyone soon learns that presenting a play isn’t as easy as Miss Mac had always made it seem, and soon the entire school community is in an uproar as conflicts related to the play emerge. Seventh-grader and Golden Gloves boxer Marco Díaz is, at first, excited to be chosen to play Jim Bowie, the brave Texan who defended the Alamo against Santa Anna’s Mexican Army. But his friend Raquel, an undocumented immigrant, calls him a sell-out because she believes the play makes heroes out of the people who stole her ancestors’ land. And Sandy Martínez, Miss Mac’s much younger replacement, finds the Mexican characters’ dialogue not only politically incorrect but downright offensive. Miss Mac’s friends, however, are adamantly opposed to making changes. Meanwhile, rehearsals only serve to increase the tension between Marco’s friend Izzy Peña and the school bully Billy Ray Cansler. And it’s only a matter of time before Billy Ray corners Izzy when Marco isn’t around to protect him. Weary from struggling with disruptive kids, teachers and students dropping out of the play, and parents with unreasonable expectations, everyone begins to wonder if the show should go on. Is it too much to expect everyone to bury the conflicts of the past and learn to work together to forge a new history?

Young Rita gets all kinds of advice about salsa music from her family--how to play it, how to dance to it, even how to dress for it! Learning about salsa dance steps and musical instruments such as the güiro, piano, timbales, congas, and brass, Rita becomes so filled with enthusiasm that she dreams of someday becoming a salsa band director. With vibrant illustrations that capture the very essence, spirit and rhythm of salsa, this captivating picture book literally dances in the readers hands. Both children and adults will have trouble keeping their feet from tapping as they read this enchanting, bilingual tale.

It’s the Spring of Creation, and all of the animals are busy doing what they do best. There was no confusion. But suddenly, a strange, furless, shell-less creature appears in their midst and the animals are mystified by the strange being. The bear knew that this creature would not be as strong, the deer knew it would not be as fast, and even the grasshopper knew it was not going to hop and screech like him.What follows is a raucous debate about what to do with the helpless being. Eat the creature? Defend the creature? Leave it to fend for itself in the forest? The fate of humanity rests in the paws and wings of the animal community. Acclaimed author Victor Villaseñor returns, once again, to capture a traditional children’s tale for a new generation. In fresh, colloquial prose Villaseñor’s second children’s book echoes the oral tradition, as he recalls a story that his mother told him as a child. Brought to life by bold illustrations, this playful fable celebrates the relationship between humans and the animals in the natural world.

“My name / is Water / but everyone / calls me Little Water.” In this beautiful, poetic ode to the life-giving force of water, award-winning children’s book author Jorge Argueta describes—in English, Spanish and Nahuat—the life cycle of water from the perspective of one drop.From its birth deep in Mother Earth, Little Water climbs to the surface, passing through roots and rocks, light and darkness. Finally, the tiny bead of water makes it to the top and rests, “a sigh of morning dew,” hanging on “the tips of leaves / on spider webs / or on the petals / of flowers.” The droplet becomes a river, a lake, an ocean, ultimately climbing to the sky and turning into a cloud. Then, “drop by drop / I return singing / to our Mother Earth. I am Little Water. / I am life.”With stunningly beautiful illustrations by Felipe Ugalde Alcántara that depict the mountains, rocks, vegetation and animals of the natural world, this poem about the importance of water reflects Argueta’s indigenous roots and his appreciation for nature. Containing the English and Spanish text on each page, the entire poem appears at the end in Nahuat, the language of Argueta’s Pipil-Nahua ancestors. This book is an excellent choice to encourage children to write their own poems about the natural world and to begin conversations about the interconnected web of life.

Family gatherings often promise to be fruitful for grandkids, but they generally don’t offer much in the way of surprises. When the charming family at the center of Icy Watermelon / Sandía fría gathers to enjoy a watermelon and some family fun, they find that even something so simple can create a treat that the whole family enjoys.Hugo, María, and Sarita enjoy spending time with their abuelos. And they in turn enjoy teasing their grandchildren with adivinanzas, little riddles that make the children giggle and smile even while leading them to think about the world in new ways.So when Grandpa begins to reminisce about his own father, and about the watermelons they raised long ago, the three youngsters recognize yet another curious adivinanza in the telling: could their easygoing, jovial abuelo, with his grey hair and great big tummy, really have been a shy young man once? And what do those long-gone watermelons of many years back have to do with the family they are now?Together author Mary Sue Galindo and illustrator Pauline Rodriguez Howard present a delightfully sweet (even juicy!) tale for readers aged 3 to 7—a story that also carries the seeds of family tradition for them to plant and cultivate in some future summer.

Margarito is eleven years old now and he’s way past believing in Grandpa Ventura’s ghost stories, but he loves listening to them anyway. One evening on his way home from his grandfather’s, Margarito finds himself alone in the gathering dusk, crossing a narrow bridge. Suddenly, a woman in white floats towards him and calls, “Come to me, child … come to me!” He frantically hides in the shallow river, but soon sees a pair of yellow, glowing eyes swimming towards him. Before long, the Donkey Lady and La Llorona are circling each other, fighting to claim poor Margarito as their next victim!Popular storyteller Xavier Garza returns with another collection of eerie tales full of creepy creatures from Latin American lore. There are duendes, bald, green-skinned brutes with sharp teeth; thunderbirds, giant pterodactyl-like things that discharge electricity from their wings during thunderstorms; and blood-sucking beasts that drain every single drop of blood from their victims’ bodies! Set in contemporary times, Garza’s young protagonists deal with much more than just the supernatural: there are chupacabras and drug dealers, witches and bullies, a jealous cousin and the devil. Accompanied by the author’s dramatic black and white illustrations, the short, blood-curdling stories in this bilingual collection for ages 8 – 12 are sure to bewitch a whole new generation of young people.