Reasons for Choosing Latino Literature

I am planning to move to an area where the Latino/Latina population is very high. Therefore, choosing this group was of interest to me. I was excited that I was able to find a good selection of texts to choose from. However, I was a little disappointed that many of them focused on Cesar Chavez which is wonderful however, there weren't as many pieces of Latino literature as I was hoping that focused on other Latinos besides Cesar Chavez. However, the books that I did find were terrific. I am looking forward to using these texts in the future in my classroom to use for a venue for my students. This is important for me because I am a firm believer that books are a great mirror for students to see themselves which will allow them to connect to literature. I thought that below I would post a list of all the literature that I found, and that I enjoyed so that if you would like any Latino/Latina literature you can look for these sources.

• Quinito's Neighborhood El Vecindario de Quinito by Ina Cumpiano
• Wachale! Poetry and Prose about Growing Up Latino in America edited by Ilan Stavans
• Learning About Justice From the Life of Cesar Chavez by Jeanne Strazzabosco
• Jaime Escalante: Inspiring Educator by Maritza Romero
• Cesar: Si, Se Puede! Yes, We Can! by Carmen T. Bernier-Grand
• My Colors, My World Mis Colores, Mi Mundo by Maya Christina Gonzalez
• Cesar Chavez by Consuelo Rodriguez
  

I would encourage everyone to begin to stock their own personal libraries for their classroom. TE 448 has given me the resources and the knowledge to begin to look for quality pieces of literature that highlight multiculturalism, and I can't wait to begin to purchase some of these texts.