Books published by publisher Pinata Books

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, following in the footsteps of her mentor, Doña Lola Rodríguez Tió.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.

When farm worker and labor organizer Cesar Chavez burst upon America's national scene in 1965, U.S. readers and viewers were witnessing the emergence of a new Mexican American, or Chicano, movement. This biography of Chavez by Richard Griswold del Castillo and Richard A. Garcia is the first to approach Chavez's life -- his courageous acts, his turning points, his many received personas -- in the context of Chicano and American history.

"The beast had dark green skin and glowing red eyes that were the size of two baseballs," Abuelo tells his wide-eyed grandchildren. According to Abuelo, a creature called the Chupacabras lurks in the fields looking for fresh victims. Young Juan and his cousin Luz savor Abuelo's hair-raising stories. He tells the children of defeating terrifying fiends like the Chupacabras and La Llorona. The children cling to every word as he describes his brave stand-off with the Chupacabras, a terrifying beast with wings, claws and sharp fangs. But yet they wonder if there's more to his strange story than meets the eye. Plucky Luz hatches a plan to either disprove Abuelo's tale or hunt down the menacing monster and put an end to it once and for all. Armed with a bag of marbles dipped in holy water and a sling shot, the children venture into a cornfield one moonless night in search of the truth. Just like Chupacabras's thirst for blood and the children's appetite for Abuelo's stories, young readers aged 3-7 will devour the pages of this exciting picture book that transmits the storytelling traditions of the Mexican-American community from one generation to the next.

Young Lupe loves helping her mother with their salsa garden full of tomatoes, chile peppers, onions, garlic and cilantro. But one summer day, she sees that the biggest, juiciest tomatoes have disappeared! Who could have taken them?!?Two weeks later, she catches the culprit in the act! It s Antonio, the new boy at school. His family doesn t have much money and the tomatoes look so good. He offers his gold necklace from his grandmother in Mexico in exchange for the tomatoes, but Lupe has a better idea. Let s make a deal. You help me with the garden, and I ll give back your necklace and some tomatoes. They become friends over the summer as they weed, water and pick vegetables. When the growing season ends and they have composted the leaves and stems, Lupe happily returns Antonio s necklace.The following year, Lupe and Antonio invite their neighbors to help with the garden. Soon everyone is pitching in to grow fruit and vegetables for salsa and much more, from tomatoes to watermelon, and squash, beans and corn America s first crops.Including easy-to-make recipes, this bilingual picture book for children ages 4-8 will have them clamoring for a garden of their own to plant and harvest. Along the way, young readers and the adults in their lives too will learn that coming together as a community will enable them to harvest more than just vegetables.

When Toots Rodriguez approaches Mickey on the playground, he knows something is up. Toots, the prettiest girl in the fifth grade, never talks to Mickey, not even when they're assigned to work together on a class project. But Toots has come to Mickey because she's in trouble, and he's a detective. The real deal. He has a badge and a certificate after completing an online course two years ago. ''You have to believe me, Mickey. I didn't take that pen. I didn't.'' When Toots shines her big green eyes on him and insists repeatedly that she's innocent, Mickey's intuition tells him to run fast in the opposite direction. But he's a sucker for a pretty girl, so he takes on the case of the missing pen. Rumor has it that Toots stole Eddy's pen. It's not just any old pen; it's his dad's pen. It has the White House logo on it. Eddy's father, a senator from South Texas, got the pen from the President of the United States when he visited the White House last year. As Mickey begins his investigation, though, all the clues point to Toots and her newly ex-boyfriend as the primary suspects. The first book in The Mickey Rangel Mystery series for intermediate readers, author and educator Rene Saldana, Jr. has crafted another appealing book for kids, and his wise-cracking, smart protagonist will appeal to even the most reluctant readers.

"I love pan de muerto," Joaquín says as he and his mother sit down to eat the special Mexican sweet bread prepared especially for the Day of the Dead. But someone knocks at the door just as they are about to take the first bite of the pastry.Standing at the door is a hungry skeleton dressed in a mariachi suit who offers to sing Joaquín and his mother a song in exchange for just one itsy bitsy little bite of the sweet bread. It seems like a fair exchange, so they agree to share. But before the skeleton can begin singing, two more knock at the door and offer to play their accordions for just one bite of the bread. And then, three show up and want to play their guitars, four want to play their maracas and five want to dance all for just one itsy bitsy little bite of the Mexican sweet bread! Award-winning children's book author Xavier Garza collaborates with illustrator Flor de Vita to create an engaging introduction to numbers and the Mexican cultural traditions of the Day of the Dead, mariachi music and sweet bread. Children ages 4-8 will want to pair this entertaining book with their favorite pan dulce!

Cousins Maya and Vincent are thrilled to be ring side at a lucha libre match. Kid Cyclone, the wrestling world's favorite hero who also happens to be the kids' beloved uncle, is facing off against a devil-masked opponent, El Diablo. "No masked devil can beat my uncle. Not even the real devil himself," declares Maya. But the real devil doesn't take kindly to such disrespect, and soon Kid Cyclone finds himself fighting the most hellish challenger of all!Popular kids' book author Xavier Garza returns with another collection of stories featuring spooky characters from Mexican-American folklore. There's a witch that takes the shape of a snake in order to poison and punish those who disregard her warnings; green-skinned, red-eyed creatures called chupacabras that suck the blood from wild pigs, but would just as soon suck the blood from a human who has lost his way in the night; a young girl disfigured in a fire set by a scorned lover who gets her revenge as the Donkey Lady; and the Elmendorf Beast, said to have the head of a wolf with skin so thick it's impervious to shotgun blasts. Accompanied by the author's striking illustrations of the creepy creatures, the hair-raising stories in this bilingual collection for kids ages 8 - 12 are sure to lure even the most reluctant readers into its pages.

"Papá, I don't want to go to sleep. I'm scared." Everyone knows that the trick to putting children to bed is creating a bedtime routine, and in this new children's story from Victor Villaseñor, he recreates his own family's bedtime tradition. Papá tells his son that every night when he was a boy, his mother would sing him to sleep with the turtledove song. "Coo-coo-roo-coo-coooo," he sings, and tells the little boy about his very own Guardian Angel who will take him through the night sky to be reunited with God, or Papito Dios. "Then in the morning, you'll come back refreshed, rested, and powerful as the wind." As Papá sings the turtledove song to his son, he reminds the child that Mamá loves him, the dog and the cat love him, and his brothers and sisters love him too. Even the trees and grass and the flowers that dance in the wind love him. Gradually, the boy drifts off to sleep, feeling safe and warm in God's love and dreaming of the day when he will sing the turtledove song to his own children.

Fiction. In this debut novel, Maria Collen Cruz creates the vibrant voice of a girl just on the brink of understanding. With her journal at her side, this thoughtful and creative character tackles complicated issues of identity and self-empowerment The things Ceci Alvarez does not know about her father's family send her riding rails from Los Angeles to Tijuana, Mexico in order to piece together the mysteries behind a set of her Nana's photographs. Tony, a lively young teen Ceci meets on the train, leads her from one country to the next, and challenges her to see Mexico as "green and brown. It's little villages with big farms, and lots of grass, and towns where electricity is something not everyone has. It's spicy chiles, juicy tomatoes, and light tortillas. It's music, and laughter, and pride."

The title story of this delightful new collection is a tale of nature in conflict with modern surroundings. City children love the excitement of barnyard animals as much as they do any wild thing. But, a loudly crowing rooster makes for unhappy parents and neighbors. Must we give up the magic of wildness to live in the cities and suburbs? In the story "Tia Luisa", the relevant question is: Must we also give up the magic of our old ways of life, for all new ways? All of De Anda's tales, in fact, are parables of pain and joy, disappointment and celebration.