Still Dreaming / Seguimos Soñando

 

Written by Claudia Guadalupe Martínez

Illustrated by Magdalena Mora

 

 

Publisher: ‎Lee & Low Books; Bilingual edition (October 9, 2022)

Language: ‎English, Spanish

Hardcover: ‎40 pages

ISBN-10: ‎089239434X

ISBN-13: 978-0892394340

 

 

 

In the first children's book to describe the long-forgotten chapter of US history known as Mexican Repatriation, a boy and his family leave their beloved home to avoid being separated by the government.

 

Faced with the prospect of being separated from each other, a young boy and his family make the difficult decision to leave their home and begin a journey filled with uncertainty. On the road, they meet other people like them. Families with deep roots tied to the land. Others that helped build the railroads. Some were shop owners and factory workers. Each with similar hopes and dreams.

 

Historians estimate that between 1930 and 1940, two million people living in the United States were forcibly removed and sent to live in Mexico. Telling this story from a child's perspective, award-winning author Claudia Guadalupe Martínez lyrically recounts this often-overlooked period of United States history--Mexican Repatriation. Emotive illustrations by Magdalena Mora convey this poignant tale of longing for home and permanence, which reflects many of the dreams and hopes of people today.

*****

En el primer libro infantil que describe el capítulo olvidado de la historia de los Estados Unidos conocido como la Repatriación Mexicana, un niño y su familia dejan su amado hogar para evitar ser separados por el gobierno.

 

Ante la perspectiva de ser separados, un niño y su familia toman la difícil decisión de dejar su hogar y emprender un viaje lleno de incertidumbre. En el camino, se encuentran con otras personas como ellos. Familias con raíces profundas atadas a la tierra. Otros que ayudaron a construir los ferrocarriles. Algunos eran dueños de tiendas y trabajadores de fábricas. Cada uno con esperanzas y sueños similares.

 

Los historiadores estiman que entre 1930 y 1940, dos millones de personas que vivían en los Estados Unidos fueron sacadas a la fuerza y enviadas a vivir aMéxico. Contando esta historia desde la perspectiva de un niño, la galardonada autora Claudia Guadalupe Martínez relata líricamente este período de la historia de los Estados Unidos a menudo pasado por alto: La Repatriación Mexicana. Las emotivas ilustraciones de Magdalena Mora transmiten esta conmovedora historia de añoranza por el hogar y la permanencia, que refleja muchos de los sueños y esperanzas de la gente de hoy.

 

 

Claudia Guadalupe Martínez has called Mexico and the US home. Her core childhood memories are set in El Paso, Texas. This dynamic of growing up between borders inspires her writing. She is the recipient of two Texas Institute of Letters Best Young Adult Book Awards, a Paterson Prize for Books for Young People, an Américas Award Commendation, a Junior Library Guild Award, and multiple starred reviews. She lives with her family in Illinois. You can find her online at claudiaguadalupemartinez.com.

 

Magdalena Mora is an illustrator and graphic designer with a special interest in children's books and visual storytelling. She illustrated Equality's Call and I Wish You Knew. When not drawing, she spends her free time reading, people-gawking, and trying to find the best tacos in the Twin Cities--mostly the latter. She lives in Minneapolis. You can see more of her work at magdalenamora.com.

Two Cinco Puntos Press Titles in New Editions

Olor a perfume de viejita

By Claudia Guadalupe Martinez

Translated by Luis Humberto Crosthwaite

Edited by Sylvia Zeleny

The classic Latinx growing up story, The Smell of Old Lady Perfume, now by popular demand in SPANISH!

Claudia Martinez’ novel for middle-grade readers is a bittersweet story about family, death and the resilient emotional strength of the human heart. Chela Gonzalez, the book’s narrator, is a nerd and a soccer player who can barely contain her excitement about starting the sixth grade. To Chela, her family is like a solar system, with her father the sun, and her mother, brothers and sister like planets rotating all around him. It’s the only world she fits in. But that universe is threatened when her strong father has a stroke. Chela’s grandmother moves in to help the family. The smell of her old lady perfume invades the house. That smell is worse than Sundays. Sundays were sad, but death is a whole other thing. In her grief and worry, Chela begins to discover herself and find her own strength.

Watch Out for Clever Women  

¡Cuidado con las mujeres astutas!

By legendary storyteller Joe Hayes

Illustrations by Vickie Trego Hill

A Bilingual Classic—Texas Bluebonnet Master List and Winner of the Southwest Book Award—with FIVE NEW STORIES. The book includes Joe’s signature story The Day It Snowed Tortillas.

According to an old saying, Una mujer piensa más en un solo minuto que un hombre en un mes entero—A woman thinks more in a minute than a man does in a whole month. For me, the saying refers to the rich inner life many women developed in Western cultures when so much of the external, active life was denied them. This collection of eleven Hispanic stories celebrates the strength of women that comes from this thinking.

My hope is that readers will find these stories spicy enough that they’ll begin to tell them themselves. And if they do, I invite them to add something from their own imaginations to make the stories even richer. —Joe Hayes

Pig Park

By Claudia Guadalupe Martinez

Publisher: Cinco Puntos Press (October 14, 2014)

Language: English

ISBN-10: 1935955764

ISBN-13: 978-1935955764

From the Publisher

It's crazy! Fifteen-year-old Masi Burciaga's neighborhood is becoming more and more of a ghost town since the lard company moved away. Her school closed down. Her family's bakery and the other surviving businesses may soon follow. As a last resort, the neighborhood grown-ups enlist all the remaining able-bodied boys and girls to haul bricks to help build a giant pyramid in the park in hopes of luring visitors. Maybe their neighbors will come back too. But something's not right about the entrepreneur behind it all. Then there's the new boy who came to help, the one with the softest of lips.

Claudia talks about racial identity and the real-life Chicago neighborhood that inspired the setting for Pig Park in her essay for Latin@s in Kid Lit: I wrote Pig Park recognizing that the world my children will be a part of isn’t exactly one thing, and that this is the type of world many kids are increasingly growing up in. Read more here.

Reviews

"The story of a community working together is uplifting … Martinez uses nicely specific physical details to relate Masi’s experiences, and the moments in the bakery seem particularly authentic and are suffused with love."—Kirkus Reviews

"Martinez uses diversity to her advantage, showcasing Masi, her family, and all of the people living in this town… Overall, this is a quick read that touches on family issues, young love, and the strength that comes when times get tough."—VOYA Magazine, *starred review*

"Between those yummy covers is an equally delicious book... The novel tackles that age-old question of how far, how much, what exactly would you do for something that matters to you?"—All Brown All Around

"Filled with a first crush, an absent parent, fear of losing home and friends, and community engagement … readers will appreciate its strong characters and identify with the protagonist’s teen angst."—School Library Journal

"Martinez creates an emotional dilemma for Masi, caught between a romantic crush and her family’s struggles, yet... suggests a fairy-tale undercurrent within the novel.”—Publishers Weekly

Claudia Guadalupe Martinez grew up in El Paso, Texas. She learned that letters form words from reading the subtitles of old westerns for her father who always misplaced his glasses. At age six, she already knew she wanted to create stories. Her father encouraged her to dream big and write a book or two one day. Although he passed away when Claudia was eleven, her mother, family and many others continued to encourage her writing.