At the beginning of the summer I went to see a matinee performance of “Real Women Have Curves: The Musical.” A friend and I bought last minute tickets to a show the week before it was set to close due to “low sales.” I wasn’t prepared to be so moved by the story and the … Continue reading I Want To Be a Bird
Earlier this year I took an online class with Pollinators Partnership to get certified as a Pollinator Steward. The program has two components: lectures on pollinators across North America and a community engagement and garden building part. My curiosity in pollinators grew from doing research for my novel in progress about a family responsible for … Continue reading Transplants, Pollinators, and Gardens
A few weeks after Trump took office for his second presidential term I went to Mexico to visit the monarch butterflies. I’d visited their sanctuary in the mountains last year and this time around it felt like I was visiting old friends. I was excited to spend time with them but mostly I was anxious … Continue reading Fall in Love with Nature
3 Latine picturebooks about migration that center love and joy
**Originally published in Latinxs in Kid Lit** **Co-written with Ingrid Campos, LaGuardia Community College alum** Book cover for Federico and the Wolf Rebecca J. Gomez’s Federico and the Wolf is an illustrated book about a young boy named Federico who is sent to the market to pick up ingredients to make pico de gallo with his abuelo. … Continue reading Book Review: Federico and the Wolf by Rebecca J. Gomez, Illustrated by Elisa Chavarri
**Originally published in Latinxs in Kid Lit** **Co-written with Ingrid Campos** Ernesto Cisneros’ Efrén Divided (2020) centers Efrén Nava, a young Mexican-American boy who lives with his parents and two siblings in Highland, California. In the novel, Amá works as well as takes care of household responsibilities and Apá goes off to work. Efrén refers to Amá … Continue reading Book Review: Efrén Divided by Ernesto Cisneros
Reviewed by Sonia Alejandra Rodriguez, PhD & Ingrid Campos Originally posted on Latinxs in Kid Lit OUR TWO CENTS: In We Are Not from Here (2020) Jenny Torres Sanchez tells the story of three Guatemalan teenagers Pulga, Chico, and Pequeña who, despite their loving families, are surrounded by danger in their pueblo, Puerto Barrios. The narrative voice switches between … Continue reading Book Review: We Are Not From Here by Jenny Torres Sanchez
Review by Sonia Alejandra Rodríguez, PhD and Ingrid Campos Originally posted on Latinxs in Kid Lit OUR TWO CENTS: ¡Vamos! Let’s Go Eat by Raúl the Third with color by Elaine Bay centers Little Lobo, his dog Bernabé, and his rooster friend, Kooky Dooky. Little Lobo takes his delivery services to El Coliseo to meet Luchador star, El … Continue reading Book Review: ¡Vamos! Let’s Go Eat by Raúl the Third with color by Elaine Bay
Review by Sonia Alejandra Rodriguez, PhD & Ingrid Campos Originally posted on Latinx in Kid Lit DESCRIPTION OF THE BOOK: There is much Juana is going to miss as she moves from Mexico to New York, but nothing more than her abuelo. Through letters to her grandfather, Juana details her flight, he new apartment, and … Continue reading Review of Dear Abuelo by Grecia Huesca Dominguez, illus. by Teresa Martinez
“Every woman in this house had inherited it, the same way they had inherited the loss and the broken hearts written into their blood” —Anna-Marie McLemore, Wild Beauty Estrella Nomeolvides refers to her and/or her family as being poison ten times throughout the novel. The Nomeolvides women grow flowers by digging their hands into the earth … Continue reading Generational Trauma and Learning to Love in Anna-Marie McLemore’s Wild Beauty
Sonia Alejandra Rodríguez 