I Am La Chiva!: The Colorful Bus of the Andes

This may be the most beautiful illustrated book of the year! The glorious imagery, filled with two-page-spreads of detailed jungle scenery through the mountains, along with the beautiful bus itself and its charming characters who are riding together to the lovely town’s outdoor market. The rhyming text is just as engaging, narrating an engaging narrative of the bus’ helpful journey each day. The book helps my young ones — who love to look at every corner of every gorgeous page — to learn that helping others is its own reward.

Angélica and la Güira

This musical story, filled with charming visuals, tells of a young girl who, before leaving the Dominican Republic, is given a traditional percussive instrument — a güira — which provides the rhythmic sizzle of merengue and other Latin music. She isn’t sure where her enthusiastic playing fits in, until she decides to simply start her own impromptu band on the streets where she lives — Little Dominican Republic in Washington Heights, NYC. When the neighbors gather to listen, play, and dance along, she knows she’s finally found her home away from home. We’ve all heard the güira before but may not have known what the instrument actually was, so it’s an informative and invigorating story. My children got a whisk and a cheese grater to try to make their own güira rhythms and play along with Angelica! Music has a power to make everywhere more like home.

Barrio Rising: The Protest that Built Chicano Park

THIS BOOK IS ABOUT THIS PLACE:

This exciting children’s book tells the history of historic Chicano Park in San Diego, California. A Hispanic neighborhood had been neglected for years, divided by a raised highway, and residents had pled for a park for years. When they learned that construction was actually building a police station, it was the last straw and residents occupied the area, halting construction, until the officials relented and allowed the under-highway expanse to be transformed into an art-filled park that remains today as a historical public square. The inspiring story, told from the perspective of a young girl, explains how she resolves to be “valiente” in the face of discrimination. There are many Spanish words used throughout the book, so while a glossary might have been helpful, the inspirational story is a strong history of this beautiful plaza of pride for so many.

La panza de mamá

This heart-warming book is told by a little boy who loves his mother’s belly, his first cradle, and is dedicated to the author’s own “panza pal, who has taught me how wonderful my soft mamá panza can be. And for all the mamás whose panzas are in full bloom.” This body-positive children’s book is for the mothers’ too, as it dwells on all the ways our children love our motherly bodies. As the mother explains to her little boy, “Our bodies are miracles for what they can do. This panza, this body, can bend this way in that, it can run up hills, it can lay in the sun and swim in the ocean. My panza kept you alive and keeps me alive as well. How could I not love it?” In response, the cuddling, sleepy boy concludes, “I love her panza too.” All mothers should be as happy with out bodies as our little children can be.