Margarita Engle

Fefa struggles with words. She has word blindness, or dyslexia, and the doctor says she will never read or write. Every time she tries, the letters jumble and spill off the page, leaping and hopping away like bullfrogs. How will she ever understand them? But her mother has an idea. She gives Fefa a blank book filled with clean white pages. "Think of it as a garden," she says. Soon Fefa starts to sprinkle words across the pages of her wild book. She...

A boy helps his father keep their very old car running as they make a trip to Havana for his newborn cousin's zero-year birthday. Includes author's note about cars in Cuba.

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.

Looks at the life and accomplishments of Teresa Carreäno, one of the world's most famous pianists who, by age nine, performed for President Abraham Lincoln at the White House.

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.

"A middle grade verse history of Latinos in the United States, told through the voices of many and varied individuals ranging from Juan Ponce de León to modern-day sixth graders"--

From Juana Briones and Juan Ponce de León to eighteenth-century slaves and modern-day sixth graders, the many and varied people depicted here speak to the experiences and contributions of Latinos throughout the history of the United States, from the earliest known stories up to the present day. A portrait of a great, enormously varied, and enduring heritage, this is a compelling treatment of an important topic. Some voices are composite characters,...

An essential, highly relatable collection of short fiction and poems around the topic of menstruation, written exclusively by authors who are Black, Indigenous, and/or people of color
For Angela, it came on the basketball court—while playing on the boys' team. For Penny, it came on a lakeside field trip, inspiring some cringeworthy moments of humor. And to Layla's disappointment, it came at the start of her first fasting Ramadan,

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