New Bilingual Books from Piñata Books

I Kick the Ball / Pateo El Balon

Written by Gwendolyn Zepeda. Illustrated by Pablo Torrecilla.

      
        Reading level: Ages 4-8
        Hardcover: 32 pages
        (May 31, 2011)
        ISBN-10: 1558856889
        ISBN-13: 978-1558856882

Product Description

"I kick the ball. BAM! BOOM! POW!" Young Tonito dreams constantly about playing soccer. He imagines himself hitting the ball with his knee, his foot, his head.

In his mind's eye, Tonito can run as fast as a race car. He can leap into the air like a fish jumping out of the ocean. He sees his name on the back of his red jersey. He hears the roar of the crowd as he scores a goal. They chant his name: "Tonito! Tonito! Tonito!

But then his mother yells louder than the crowd in his head, and she reminds him about homework, dinner and family time. When he goes to bed, he knows that tomorrow he'll have to go to school and do his homework. But he also knows he ll play soccer again. "I'll dream what I do. I'll do what I dream. I'll kick the ball tomorrow. Bam! Boom! Pow!"

Crowd-pleasing author Gwendolyn Zepeda writes a dynamic story about a young soccer player that is sure to spark readers' enthusiasm for both reading and dreaming big. The lively text is complemented by Pablo Torrecilla's vibrant and spirited illustrations of Tonito buzzing around a field, hitting soccer balls with every part of his body. Children ages 4-8 will be inspired to go outside and play the world's most popular sport.

GWENDOLYN ZEPEDA is the author of two bilingual picture books for children: Growing Up with Tamales / Los tamales de Ana (Pinata Books, 2008), a 2009 Charlotte Zolotow Award Highly Commended Title, and Sunflowers / Girasoles (Pinata Books, 2009), winner of the Texas Institute of Letters' Austin Public Library Friends Foundation Award for Best Children's Book. She lives and works in Houston, Texas.

PABLO TORRECILLA, a native of Madrid, Spain, has illustrated numerous children's books, including Estrellita en la ciudad grande / Estrellita in the Big City (Pinata Books, 2008) and The Bakery Lady / La senora de la panaderia (Pinata Books, 2001). He lives in Italy.

The Land of Lost Things / El Pais De Las Cosas Perdidas 

Written and illustrated by Dina Bursztyn.

        Reading level: Ages 4-8
        Hardcover: 32 pages
        (May 31, 2011)
        ISBN-10: 1558856900
        ISBN-13: 978-1558856905

Product Description

"I was going to draw, but my blue pencil was missing. It was lost! Where do all the lost things go?" A young boy's search for his misplaced pencil leads him to wonder where all the lost things go.

When he looks inside his pencil box he sees a slim ray of light, and his imagination sends him through the opening and into an unknown world in search of his pencil. Soon he finds himself in the Land of Lost Things!

He enters through the Forest of Lost Blue Pencils, where the sun is setting. But it isn't the sun; it's a golden button he lost a long time ago. He finds lots of other things he has lost as he wanders, following the path to the Mountain of Lost Mittens, through the Garden of Lost Umbrellas and to the Island of Lost Stuffed Animals.

Argentine artist and arts educator Dina Bursztyn's inventive story is enlivened by her whimsical, colorful gouache, collage and pen-and-ink illustrations in this charming, magical book that explores the power of the imagination. Children ages 4-8 will delight in one boy's fanciful journey through a strange and mysterious land.

DINA BURSZTYN is an artist whose sculptures, drawings and public art have been celebrated worldwide. Her work has been represented extensively in galleries, museums and public spaces around the globe, including in the Dominican Republic, Germany, Japan, Mexico and the United States. This is her first book. She divides her time between New York City and Catskill, New York.

Pepita and the Bully / Pepita Y La Peleonera
Written by Ofelia Dumas Lachtman. Illustrated by Alex Pardo Delange.

        Reading level: Ages 4-8
        Paperback: 32 pages
        (May 31, 2011)
        ISBN-10: 1558856897
        ISBN-13: 978-1558856899

Product Description

Pepita is back! And though she likes her new school, she has decided that--after three days--she isn't going back. She's sorry too, because she likes her teacher, Miss Chu, who has black eyes and a sunny smile. She likes her bright, colorful classroom. And she especially likes the playground.

But she does not like Babette, a mean-spirited girl who makes fun of Pepita's name, her braids, and even her dog, Lobo. And so she has decided that she doesn't want to go back to school. That night at supper, Pepita tells her family about her decision and Babette's bullying. Her parents encourage her to try again, and advise her to be kind. Her brother tells her not to fight, because bullies like to fight. So against her will, Pepita goes back to school.

Babette immediately starts to attack Pepita with unkind comments. In spite of her best intentions, Pepita simply can't be nice to someone as nasty as Babette. To Pepita's surprise, it turns out that Babette knows how to dish out hurtful comments, but she doesn't like to be on the receiving end!

Ofelia Dumas Lachtman once again pairs with illustrator Alex Pardo DeLange to introduce children ages 4 8 to an important subject through the antics of plucky little Pepita. Kids will learn--along with Pepita--how to deal with overbearing kids.

OFELIA DUMAS LACHTMAN was born in Los Angeles of Mexican-immigrant parents. She is the author of several bilingual picture books, including Big Enough / Bastante grande (Pinata Books, 1998), and six other books in the Pepita series: Pepita on Pepper Street / Pepita en la calle Pepper (Pinata Books, 2008); Pepita Packs Up / Pepita empaca (Pinata Books, 2005); Pepita Finds Out / Lo que Pepita descubre (Pinata Books, 2002); Pepita Takes Time / Pepita, siempre tarde (Pinata Books, 2000); Pepita Thinks Pink / Pepita y el color rosado (Pinata Books, 1998); and Pepita Talks Twice / Pepita habla dos veces (Pinata Books, 1995).

Born in Caracas, Venezuela, ALEX PARDO DELANGE was raised there and in Buenos Aires, Argentina, before coming to the United States, where she graduated from the University of Miami with a Bachelor of Fine Arts Degree. She now lives in Jupiter, Florida, with her husband and three children. Pardo DeLange is also the illustrator of The Empanadas that Abuela Made / Las empanadas que hací­a la abuela (Pinata Books, 2003); Tina and the Scarecrow Skins / Tina y las pieles de espantapajaros (Pinata Books, 2002); and Sip, Slurp, Soup, Soup / Caldo, caldo, caldo (Pinata Books, 2002).

Poetry in Denver!

Poet Martín Espada at the University of Denver

The DU Center for Community Engagement and Scholarship (DULCCES) presents award-winning Latino poet Martín Espada for a reading and discussion of his recent poetic work to take place on the DU campus on April 8, 2010.

The event, which is free and open to the public, will be held at 7:00pm in the Craig Hall Community Room, 2148 South High Street in Denver.

The reading is part of the DULCCES cultural events agenda for the academic year, as it highlights the Center’s mission to promote the intellectual, creative and political empowerment of Latino communities.

Espada will read a selection of his recent poetry and will answer questions from the audience.

Flexible Bones by Poet María Meléndez

Recently published by the University of Arizona Press, Flexible Bones is getting lots of critical attention and well-deserved praise as witty, insightful and unapologetic in its political stance. This is what Alicia Ostriker says about it:

Flexible Bones is a wicked book, flexibly manipulating languages with a satiric tingle, touching the way we live (and are killing ourselves with contaminants) now. And as to race: How does it feel to be a problem? Melendez bites down hard on that one. And on the savage need to protect what she loves.

And read a recent review by Rigoberto González: "¡Wáchale!: Bilingual poet takes on war itself in fierce new collection."

Poet Maria Melendez has published two collections of poetry: the chapbook Base Pairs (Swan Scythe Press, 2001) and How Long She'll Last in This World (University of Arizona Press, 2006), which received Honorable Mention at the 2007 International Latino Book Awards and was named a finalist for the 2007 PEN Center USA Literary Awards. Flexible Bones, her third collection of poetry, is forthcoming from the University of Arizona Press in 2010. Her essays and features appear in Altar, Orion Afield, and Isotope, and several of her essays on arts and activism have been broadcast as part of NPR's American Democracy Project.

She will be in Denver for AWP and will read at Between Water and Song: New Poets for the Twenty-First Century to take place at Wyncoop Brewery, 1634 18th St. Denver, CO: Book release party / reading for White Pine Press anthology with Sherwin Bitsui, Kevin Goodan, Ilya Kaminsky, Maria Melendez, Malena Mörling, and Joshua Poteat.

Visual Poetry at Museo de las Américas

April 2, 2010 from 5-9 pm

Featuring a handmade alfombra,
a traditional Latin American sawdust carpet
made to celebrate Semana Santa.

Come see Museo's contemporary take on this folk art piece!