The story of a young girl growing up in the Hispanic quarter of Chicago. Capturing her thoughts and emotions in poems and stories, she is able to rise above hopelessness and create a quiet space for herself in the midst of her oppressive surroundings.

Presents a brief history of the countries of Central and South America and Cuba, along with instructions for creating craft items related to Hispanic culture.

Publisher Annotation: Perfect Mexican daughters do not go away to college. And they do not move out of their parents' house after high school graduation. Perfect Mexican daughters never abandon their family. But Julia is not your perfect Mexican daughter. That was Olga's role. Then a tragic accident on the busiest street in Chicago leaves Olga dead and Julia left behind to reassemble the shattered pieces of her family. And no one seems to acknowledge...

In this monumental new book, award-winning author Mark Kurlansky has written his most ambitious work to date: a singular and ultimately definitive look at a pivotal moment in history. With 1968, Mark Kurlansky brings to teeming life the cultural and political history of that world-changing year of social upheaval. People think of it as the year of sex, drugs, and rock and roll. Yet it was also the year of the Martin Luther King Jr. and Bobby Kennedy...

A young girl living in an Hispanic neighborhood in Chicago ponders the advantages and disadvantages of her environment and evaluates her relationships with family and friends.

Twelve-year-old María Luisa O'Neill-Morales (who really prefers to be called Malú) reluctantly moves with her Mexican-American mother to Chicago and starts seventh grade with a bang--violating the dress code with her punk rock aesthetic and spurning the middle school's most popular girl in favor of starting a band with a group of like-minded weirdos.

Explains what Cinco de Mayo commemorates, describing France's reason for attacking Mexico, the battles at Vera Cruz and Puebla, and the ways Mexican-Americans celebrate the holiday.

Chronicles the life and career of twentieth-century American author Sandra Cisneros and describes her early childhood in Chicago, growing up between two cultures, languages, and customs, and her work as an activist for Mexican-American causes.

When her sister, considered the perfect Mexican daughter by her parents, dies, Julia tries to reassemble her shattered family despite her own grief and her mother's penchant for pointing out every possible way Julia has failed.