2.++Literature+List

Jill Iracleanos __Literature List__

Title: // The Day of the Dead: A Mexican-American Celebration // Author: Diane Hoyt Goldsmith This book is a photo journal that switches back and forth between the story of twin Mexican boys and an informational text. Aztec beliefs and their influence on Catholic rituals are explained and descriptions of dancing, art, and prayer illustrate how the past influences present day rituals.

Title: // Piñatas and Smiling Skeletons: Celebrating Mexican Festivals // Author: Suzanne Williams The book // Piñatas and Smiling Skeletons // takes into account numerous traditions of Mexico including the festival of Guadalupe through La Navidad, Three Kings' Day, Carnaval, Corpus Christi, Independence Day, and the Day of the Dead. The book also has holiday recipes and lyrics to popular songs as well as history, legends, artwork, and food that form the foundation for the festivities of Mexico.

Title: // Making Magic Windows: Creating Cut Paper Art with Carmen Lomas Garza // Author: Carmen Lomas Garza Author Carmen Lomas Garza is famous for making popular the traditional Mexican craft of papel picado in the United States. The book explains how to create the beautiful designs and banners by cutting tissue paper. Children can learn how to craft eight different designs.

Title: // The Piñata Maker // Author: George Ancona This book takes children to a Mexican village to meet Tío Rico, an old man who makes beautiful piñatas, puppets, and masks for parties and festivals. Full-color photographs are included that bring the village, the people, and the craft of piñata-making to reality for students. The book is a narrative that follows Tío Rico as he buys the materials for his crafts, makes them, sells them, and finally, attends a party where the children break open a piñata.

Nicollette LeBel __Literature List__ Title: El Barrio Author: Debbi Chocolate This book is immensely bright and colorful. The pictures are made up of different textiles, fabrics, and colors that are used in the Mexican culture. The book is about El Barrio, the characters home, where parades, Cinco de Mayo, the Day of the Dead, and quinceanera’s take place. The houses are colorful, look like villages, maintain people from all different lands. The book also talks about the foods and traditions, such as churros and paletas, and visits to la Iglesia on Sunday to pray. It is a great book to teach about the traditions of the Mexican culture, the colors of the cities, and Spanish words that are common to the culture.

Title: Julio’s Magic Author: Arthur Dorros This book is a great story about the sense of community and art in the villages of Mexico. The story is about Julio who works with a master carver to create carvings for a contest. The book highlights animals, foods, plants, and traditions in the Mexican culture as the little boy and his teacher create carvings of such things. The pictures are actually collages of pictures of Mexican culture, geography, people, and elements.

Title: Clara and Senor Frog Author: Campbell Geeslin This book is a great way to introduce Mexican Art into the classroom. The story is about a young girl who watches magic each and every night but doesn’t find true magic until she sees a painting of a fly on a watermelon that looks as if it is moving. Her mother then marries a painter who shows her how true magic comes through in a person’s artwork. The book illustrates elements of Mexican artwork and the architecture of the landscape.

Title: Bravo, Tavo! Author: Brian Meunier This book is an awesome book for illustrating how important crops are to the Mexican culture. Many people rely on their crops in order to make a living and without water, a crop cannot grow and therefore a family cannot afford much. It is also a great story addressing the sense of community that the Mexican culture has. They have town meetings, many work together and rely on each other, and the whole town participates in events.

Title: Elena’s Serenade Author: Campbell Geeslin This book is great because it incorporates many elements of the Mexican culture. The book talks of the importance of artisanship as a craft and a job and the stereotypical idea that only men can be glassblowers. The little girl in the story, Elena, decides that this is untrue and decides to set off to achieve her goals. In the meantime she discovers the animals of Mexico and helps them by playing music through her blowing pipe. This helps her in the end because based on what song she plays is the glass object that comes out of her pipe. The book discovers the music and culture of Mexico and the importance of following your dreams.

​ ​ Annemarie Bazzo __Literature List__ Title: // Off We Go To Mexico! An Adventure in the Sun // Author: Laurie Krebs and Christopher Corr This book is fun for younger elementary-aged students. It has really bright and attractive illustrations and tells the story of a family as they travel to and around Mexico. Spanish phrases are also sown throughout the story to add a bit of cultural diversity to the book. A map, time line, and some facts are also included in the book

Title: // Look What Came From Mexico // Author: Miles Harvey This picture book shows kids all the things that are native to Mexico that we see and use today in the United States. It describes familiar foods, arts and crafts, music, sports, holidays, and more. An added twist at the end of the book is that the author shares something traditionally associated with that country which actually began in another country. (Great way to show how similar we all our and what we borrow from one another.)

Title: // Mexico! 40 Activities to Experience Mexico Past & Present // Author: Susan Milord This book has a vast amount of student-friendly information about Mexico, ranging from history to life today. The maps included in this book also show things like location of pre-Hispanic cultures as well as present-day Mexican states. There are a ton of activities to choose from such as making your own piñata, marzipan skulls for the Day of the Dead celebration, and recipes for making your own salsa and tortillas.

Title: // Scooby-Doo! And the Monster of Mexico // (DVD) This is a cute movie that could be shown in any elementary grades (older kids can appreciate Scooby-Doo too!). The story focuses around the kids of Mystery, Inc. as they travel to Mexico to discover the truth behind Mexico’s El Chupacabra. Scooby and Shaggy get into all the usual antics but while doing so they attend a Day of the Dead celebration, travel to some of the ancient temples, and discovery one of the most popular mysteries among the Mexican culture

Title: // Frommer’s Mexico 2010 // Author:David Baird Mostly everyone who has traveled once in their life is familiar with the travel books Frommer’s has to offer. I think utilizing something like this in the classroom could be really beneficial. On top of including the names of places to stay and eat, this books also shares maps and facts about Mexico. You could create a day (or if you use centers, possibly use this is a center) where children plan and map out their own Mexican vacation. You could require them to draw a map (enhancing map skills) while describing the places they are visiting and why they chose that place to visit.

Katherine Hill __Literature List__: Title: // Colors of Mexico // Author: Lynn Ainsworth Olawsky This book has the geography and history of Mexico. The book also includes 11 different colors and each color has something to do with Mexico. For example, the first color is white. The book then goes and states that white is the color of the skeletons that are hung up in houses and stores during The Day of the Dead. The book then continues with what The Day of the Dead is and its history. The book includes other colors like gold, orange, blue, purple, and more. The book also has great illustrations and includes each color name in English and Spanish. Title: // Made in Mexico // Author: Peter Laufer and Susan L. Roth This book is about Mexico and how it is famous for music and especially guitars. The books follows how the best guitars are made in Mexico in a little village in the Michoacan Mountains called Parache. The book discusses how all across Mexico there are mariachi bands with guitars, bass violins, and mandolins. The book shows the process of making guitars with fabulous illustrations. Finally, the book discusses how important music and the guitar are to Mexico. The book includes Spanish and English sentences and a translation guide is found in the back of the book.

Title: // The Mexican American // Author: Julie Catalano This book discusses the immigrant experiences of Mexicans in America. It is rich in history and culture. It includes the history of Modern Mexico, people important to Mexico, and the excellence of the Mexican people. It also includes real pictures and great illustrations to show the history and the struggle of Mexican Americans.

Title: // Off We Go to Mexico // Author: Laurie Krebs This book is a family journey through Mexico and lets you see all the great things Mexico offers. The book shows you the water, canyons, pyramids, butterflies, and the mariachi bands. The illustrations are amazing and each page pops. The book includes Spanish words and phrases to learn as well. The back of the book also includes a map.

 Angie Esparza __Literature List:

__ Title:On Romón's Farm:Five Tales of Mexico Author: Campbell Geeslin; Illustrator: Petra Mathers This book has 5 folktales of Mexico. It has words in Spanish with their pronunciation and definition in English. It has many colorful pictures as well. This would be great to read one tale a day during the week's long lesson plan. Each tale is a story about the Farm life, which is very common in Mexico. Adelita: A Mexican Cinderella Story Author: Tomie dePaola This book is the Mexican version of Cinderella. Their same story line except there is no glass slipper. This version is a bit more realistic. This would be a great Read-Aloud to engage students in the Mexican culture while connecting to a classic fairy tale. //Calavera Abecedario: A Day of the Dead Alphabet Book // Author: Jeanette Winter This is a great ESOL picture book. It can be done as a read aloud before talking about the Day of the Dead. The words are in Spanish but the pictures give helpful clues. Students can have activities on what they guess the words means. Title: Celebrate Cinco de Mayo: With Fiestas, Music and Dance Author: Carolyn Otto This book is by National Geographic with may real photographs and factual information about Cinco de Mayo, a Mexican Holiday. This book will be great to have the students silent read or with a partner. It would be great to integrate and talk about culture in present day Mexico. After there can be various of activities that follow to celebrate this day.