Tag: Mexico

cover of picture book titled "Between Us and Abuela"
Posted in PB, So Many Good Books

Between Us and Abuela

Posted on by Susan Uhlig

Perfect Picture Book Friday

Between Us and Abuela: A Family Story from the Border (Farrar Straus Giroux, 2019) by Mitali Perkins and illustrated by Sara Palacios is a good story to introduce what’s it like to have family on opposite sides of the line between two countries. And it’s still a timely story.

Maria and her little brother Juan have not seen their grandmother for five years. Maria and her mother knit a scarf for Abuela and Juan makes a picture. But when they are at the fence of the border and get to see their grandmother nothing can be passed through. Juan is brokenhearted. Maria turns his picture into a kite and they fly it across the border.

Mitali has lived in six countries and knows what it is like to leave people behind. Read about her here and check out her books here. Plus, she’s one really nice lady–I got to meet her in February.

See Sara’s illustrations here. Read about her here and see her many books here.

Posted in So Many Good Books, YA Novels

Good Books from Harper Teen – The Heart is Not a Size & The Life of Glass

Posted on by Susan Uhlig

heart-sizeThe Heart is Not a Size (2010) by Beth Kephart
Georgia talks her friend Riley into going on a humanitarian trip to Juarez, Mexico to the squatter village of Anapra where they work on building a home. How is Georgia going to deal with her anxiety attacks in another country and culture?
This book was so good – really had the feel of what it is like visiting a 3rd world country.
Read about the author here at her publisher’s site and check out her blog where she recently talked about having to “kill her darlings.”

LifeofGlassThe Life of Glass (2010) by Jillian Cantor deals with grief, growing up changes, and changes and adjustments within a family.
Melissa’s father has died, her best friend Ryan is falling for the new girl, she’s jealous of her older sister’s beauty and boyfriend, and now Mom is beginning to date. Will looking at her father’s journal be enough to keep him “there” for her?
Read about Jillian on her website and listen to a reading of her book on the February 28th entry on her blog.