Margarita Engle
Author
Accelerated Reader
IL: LG - BL: 4.2 - AR Pts: 1
Language
English
Appears on list
Description
Follows a girl in the 1920s as she strives to become a drummer, despite being continually reminded that only boys play the drums, and that there has never been a female drummer in Cuba. Includes note about Millo Castro Zaldarriaga, who inspired the story, and Anacaona, the all-girl dance band she formed with her sisters.
Author
Pub. Date
2023.
Accelerated Reader
IL: UG - BL: 7.1 - AR Pts: 2
Language
English
Appears on list
Formats
Description
When a hurricane exposes Soleida's family's secret sculpture garden, the Cuban government arrests her artist parents, forcing her to escape alone to Central America where she meets Dariel, a Cuban American boy, and together they work to protect the environment and bring attention to the imprisoned artists in Cuba.
Author
Pub. Date
2017.
Accelerated Reader
IL: MG - BL: 6.3 - AR Pts: 1
Language
English
Appears on list
Formats
Description
"Bold, graphic portraits and beautiful poems present famous and lesser-known Latinos from varied backgrounds who have faced life's challenges in creative ways."--Provided by publisher.
Author
Publisher
Atheneum Books for Young Readers
Pub. Date
2023
Language
Español
Formats
Description
"Los seres alados han de ser libres. Y también lo han de ser los artistas, pero el gobierno cubano ha criminalizado cualquier arte que no tenga su aprobación. Soleida y sus padres protestan contra esta injusticia con su jardín secreto de esculturas de aves encadenadas. Luego, un huracán derriba las paredes y deja al descubierto el arte ilegal, y sus padres son arrestados...Soleida huye sola a Centroamérica y se une a miles de refugiados cubanos...
Author
Publisher
Henry Holt and Company
Pub. Date
2015.
Accelerated Reader
IL: LG - BL: 4.1 - AR Pts: 1
Language
English
Description
All the orangutans are ready for a nap in the sleepy depths of the afternoon--all except one. Written in a series of linked poems in the tanka style, an ancient Japanese form of poetry.
10) A song of frutas
Author
Publisher
Atheneum Books for Young Readers
Pub. Date
[2021]
Accelerated Reader
IL: LG - BL: 4.1 - AR Pts: 1
Language
English
Description
While visiting her abuelo in Cuba, a young girl helps him sell frutas, singing the name of each fruit as they walk, and after she returns to the United States, they exchange letters made of abrazos--hugs. Includes historical and cultural notes.
11) Light for all
Author
Publisher
Simon & Schuster Books for Young Readers
Pub. Date
[2021]
Language
English
Description
Illustrations and easy-to-read text tell of travelers who have left their homelands to bring their talents, hopes, and determination to a land where Liberty's light shines for all.
12) The wild book
Author
Publisher
Harcourt Children's Books
Pub. Date
2012
Accelerated Reader
IL: MG - BL: 5.7 - AR Pts: 1
Language
English
Description
In early twentieth-century Cuba, bandits terrorize the countryside as a young farm girl struggles with dyslexia. Based on the life of the author's grandmother.
Author
Publisher
Harcourt, Houghton Mifflin Harcourt
Pub. Date
2013
Accelerated Reader
IL: MG+ - BL: 6.7 - AR Pts: 2
Language
English
Description
In free verse, evokes the voice of Gertrudis Gomez de Avellaneda, a book-loving writer, feminist, and abolitionist who courageously fought injustice in nineteenth-century Cuba. Includes historical notes, excerpts from her writings, biographical information, and source notes.
Author
Publisher
Henry Holt
Pub. Date
2013
Accelerated Reader
IL: LG - BL: 2.7 - AR Pts: 1
Language
English
Description
A dog that has just graduated from "sniffing school" advises readers what to do if they become lost in the woods, and assures them that his smart nose will lead him to where they are. Includes facts about dogs' noses.
Author
Publisher
Viking
Pub. Date
[2022]
Accelerated Reader
IL: MG - BL: 6.6 - AR Pts: 2
Language
English
Description
"Cuban-born eleven-year-old Oriol lives in Santa Barbara, California, where she struggles to belong. But most of the time that's okay, because she enjoys helping her parents care for the many injured animals at their veterinary clinic. Then Gabriela Mistral, the first Latin American winner of a Nobel Prize in Literature, moves to town, and aspiring writer Oriol finds herself opening up. As she begins to create a world of words for herself, Oriol learns...
Author
Publisher
Houghton Mifflin Harcourt
Pub. Date
2014.
Accelerated Reader
IL: MG+ - BL: 6.8 - AR Pts: 2
Language
English
Description
Fourteen-year-old Mateo and other Caribbean islanders face discrimination, segregation, and harsh working conditions when American recruiters lure them to the Panamanian rain forest in 1906 to build the great canal.
Author
Accelerated Reader
IL: MG - BL: 6.4 - AR Pts: 2
Language
English
Formats
Description
Poems that explore Cuba's fight for independence follow Rosa, a nurse who turns hidden caves into hospitals for those who know how to find her, and who does her best to help everyone, with no regard to race or nationality.
18) Mountain dog
Author
Publisher
Henry Holt and Company
Pub. Date
2013
Accelerated Reader
IL: MG - BL: 5.9 - AR Pts: 3
Language
English
Description
When his mother is sent to jail in Los Angeles, eleven-year-old Tony goes to live with his forest ranger great-uncle in the Sierra Nevada Mountains, where Tony experiences unconditional love for the first time through his friendship with a rescue dog.
Author
Publisher
Atheneum Books for Young Readers
Pub. Date
[2021]
Accelerated Reader
IL: MG+ - BL: 7.3 - AR Pts: 3
Language
English
Description
In Cuba's "special period in times of peace" of 1991, Liana and Amado find love after their severe hunger gives both courage to risk government retribution by skipping a summer of labor to seek food. Told in their two voices plus that of the stray dog that brought them together.
Author
Publisher
Atheneum Books for Young Readers
Pub. Date
[2021]
Accelerated Reader
IL: LG - BL: 6 - AR Pts: 1
Language
Español
Description
"Cuando visitamos a abuelo, lo ayudo a vender frutas, pregonando los nombres de cada una mientras caminamos: nuestros pasos repican como tambores, nuestras manos, cual maracas, agitan las brillantes siluetas de las frutas mientras cantamos...con ritmo 'Mango limón coco melón naranja toronja plátano piña' ...Vivo lejos de abuelo, pero podemos cantar rimas de ida y vuelta entre nuestros dos países, nuestros versos en papel vuelan como aves cantoras,...