Alma Flor Ada - Yes! We Are Latinos: Poems and Prose About the Latino Experience

Index

Alicante,

Andaluca,

Arizona,

baseball,

Basque,

Batista, Fulgencio,

biodiversity,

Bolivia,

Brazil,

California,

Caribbean islands,

Castro, Fidel,

Cervantes, Miguel de,

Chvez, Csar,

China,

Civil Liberties Act,

civil rights,

Cold War,

Colombia,

Columbus, Christopher,

Costa Rica,

Cuba,

de la Vega, Garcilaso,

Dominican Republic,

Ecuador,

El Salvador,

England,

Fascism,

Florida,

France,

Franco, Francisco,

Galicia,

Garca Lorca, Federico,

Germany,

Guam,

Guatemala,

Guernica,

Guevara, Che,

Guilln, Nicols,

immigration,

Inquisition,

Italy,

Japan,

Jimenez, Juan Ramn,

Ladino,

Latinos

African ancestry and,

art of,

Asian ancestry and,

backgrounds of,

education and,

language and,

literature and,

music and,

religion and,

Maceo, Antonio,

Manifest Destiny,

Mariana Islands,

Mariel Boat Lift,

Mart, Jos,

mestizos,

Mexico,

Miami,

migrant workers,

Miracle Wall,

Mixtec,

Moors,

Native Americans,

New Mexico,

Nicaragua,

Panama,

Pantanal,

Paraguay,

Peru,

Philippines,

Picasso, Pablo,

Poma de Ayala, Huamn,

Ponce de Len, Juan,

Portugal,

poverty,

Puerto Rico,

quinceaera,

Saint Augustine, Florida,

Santa Fe, New Mexico,

Sephardic Jews,

slavery,

Spain,

Spanish-American War,

Spanish Civil War,

Taiwan,

Teresa of vila, Santa,

Texas,

Torquemada,

Trujillo, Rafael,

Unamuno,

United Farm Workers (UFW),

United States,

Venezuela,

Vigil, Frederico,

World War II,

Zapotec,

First paperback edition 2016
Text copyright 2013 by Alma Flor Ada and F. Isabel Campoy
Illustrations copyright 2013 by David Diaz
All rights reserved, including the right of reproduction in whole or in part in any form. Charlesbridge and colophon are registered trademarks of Charlesbridge Publishing, Inc.

Published by Charlesbridge
85 Main Street
Watertown, MA 02472
(617) 926-0329
www.charlesbridge.com

Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data
Ada, Alma Flor.

Yes! we are Latinos: Poems and Prose About the Latino Experience / Alma Flor Ada and F. Isabel Campoy; illustrated by David Diaz.

p. cm.

Text primarily in English; some words in Spanish.

Includes bibliographical references and index.

Summary: A collection of stories about young Latino immigrant experiences in the United States.

ISBN 978-1-58089-383-1 (reinforced for library use)

ISBN 978-1-58089-549-1 (softcover)

ISBN 978-1-60734-618-0 (ebook pdf)

1. Latin AmericansUnited StatesJuvenile fiction. 2. Latin AmericansCultural assimilationJuvenile fiction. 3. ImmigrantsUnited StatesJuvenile fiction.
4. Emigration and immigrationFiction. [1. Latin AmericansUnited StatesFiction.
2. ImmigrantsFiction. 3. Emigration and immigrationFiction. 4. Short stories.]

I. Campoy, F. Isabel. II. Diaz, David, ill. III. Title.
PZ7.A1857Yes 2013
[Fic]dc23 2012027214

Printed in China
(hc) 10 9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2
(sc) 10 9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 1

Illustrations hand-cut from Rubylith, color work executed in Adobe Photoshop
Display type and text type set in Peridico, designed by Eduardo Manso
Printed by Jade Productions in Shenzhen, Guangdong, China
Production supervision by Brian G. Walker
Designed by Susan Mallory Sherman

To all children
la esperanza del mundo
the hope of the world

And to the adults in their lives
who inspire them
to own their destiny

A. F. A. & F. I. C.

To Miguel Angel Calderon

D. D.

What Makes Someone Latino?

There are more than fifty million people in the United States who call themselves Latinos or Latinasa population larger than that of many countries. Have you ever asked yourself what makes someone a Latino?

Latinos and Latinas come from diverse backgrounds. Some are descendants of the first Europeans who settled in what is today the United States: Spaniards who created cities like Saint Augustine, Florida; Santa Fe, New Mexico; El Paso, Texas; and Los Angeles, California. Many descend from families that lived in Texas, Arizona, and Colorado when the United States took those territories from Mexico as a war prize. Others immigrated to the United States at different times from Spanish-speaking countries.

Did you know that Latinos and Latinas live in every state? They do, in both urban and rural areas. Some Latinos are highly educated professionals, doctors, scientists, and artists. Some are entrepreneurs, starting and running their own businesses. Others work in farms or factories, doing hard manual labor.

Most Latinos and Latinas have mixed origins: they are mestizos, whether by blood or by culture. Their heritage includes roots from Indigenous, African, and Spanish people, as well as the many others who have settled in Latin America over centuries.

This book offers only a sample of what Latinos and Latinas may look like. If you have Latino ancestry, it may raise questions about your own rich heritage. If you do not have Latino ancestry, we hope it will interest you to learn more about Latinas and Latinos. May you find wonderful friends among them!

Whatever your background, this book is an invitation to look inside yourself. What would your story tell us about you?

Get up, Juanitalevntate, mhija.
My mothers voice is impatient.
Come on, its getting late.
Ill miss my bus.
I dont want to upset her, so I get up.
I sit at the table,
where breakfast is already waiting.
My brothers devour steaming tortillas and
huevos rancheros
eggs cooked just as they like them.

We leave the apartment together.
Dios los bendiga, mhijos! May God bless you!
my mother calls out,
rushing to catch the bus that will take her to work.
Between the tall buildings
of the never-ending street,
I can see a thin strip of sky.
On the sidewalk my feet crush dead leaves
that announce
soon the days will be cold.
My brothers long legs
leave me behind.
Ramn and Ramiro will be at their middle school soon,
and I will still be crunching leaves
with my new sneakers.

I slow down even more, remembering how
different it was to go to school
at home, in Mexico,
walking on the narrow streets paved with stones,