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BLUE JAY GIRL

Because her friends’ parents think her dangerous, nine-year-old Blue Jay Girl tries to change her nature to that of a careful quail, but the tribal healer and her husband help her adopt careful ways without sacrificing her boldness. In a leisurely, storytelling fashion, the narrator describes Blue Jay Girl’s dawning recognition of her outsider status and the events that led up to it. Being bold, like a blue jay, she takes actions that solve her problem, visiting the tribal spiritual leader and then returning regularly to care for and learn from his aging wife, the medicine woman. Blue Jay Girl’s Yaudanchi language is sprinkled throughout. A pronunciation guide in the beginning omits the number words that head each chapter; the necessary glossary is at the end. Glossy illustrations reminiscent of Gauguin reflect the author-illustrator’s early experience as a painter for Disney. While the story is appropriate for middle-grade readers and listeners, the afterword, recounting this central Californian Native American culture’s sad history, is definitely for adults. An appealing window into a long-ago world. (Fiction. 8-11)

Pub Date: April 1, 2010

ISBN: 978-1-59714-127-7

Page Count: 40

Publisher: Heyday

Review Posted Online: Jan. 17, 2011

Kirkus Reviews Issue: March 15, 2010

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HOW TÍA LOLA CAME TO (VISIT) STAY

From the Tía Lola Stories series , Vol. 1

Simple, bella, un regalo permenente: simple and beautiful, a gift that will stay.

Renowned Latin American writer Alvarez has created another story about cultural identity, but this time the primary character is 11-year-old Miguel Guzmán. 

When Tía Lola arrives to help the family, Miguel and his hermana, Juanita, have just moved from New York City to Vermont with their recently divorced mother. The last thing Miguel wants, as he's trying to fit into a predominantly white community, is a flamboyant aunt who doesn't speak a word of English. Tía Lola, however, knows a language that defies words; she quickly charms and befriends all the neighbors. She can also cook exotic food, dance (anywhere, anytime), plan fun parties, and tell enchanting stories. Eventually, Tía Lola and the children swap English and Spanish ejercicios, but the true lesson is "mutual understanding." Peppered with Spanish words and phrases, Alvarez makes the reader as much a part of the "language" lessons as the characters. This story seamlessly weaves two culturaswhile letting each remain intact, just as Miguel is learning to do with his own life. Like all good stories, this one incorporates a lesson just subtle enough that readers will forget they're being taught, but in the end will understand themselves, and others, a little better, regardless of la lengua nativa—the mother tongue.

Simple, bella, un regalo permenente: simple and beautiful, a gift that will stay. (Fiction. 9-11)

Pub Date: March 1, 2001

ISBN: 0-375-80215-0

Page Count: 160

Publisher: Knopf

Review Posted Online: May 19, 2010

Kirkus Reviews Issue: Jan. 15, 2001

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DONAVAN'S WORD JAR

Donavan's friends collect buttons and marbles, but he collects words. ``NUTRITION,'' ``BALLYHOO,'' ``ABRACADABRA''—these and other words are safely stored on slips of paper in a jar. As it fills, Donavan sees a storage problem developing and, after soliciting advice from his teacher and family, solves it himself: Visiting his grandma at a senior citizens' apartment house, he settles a tenants' argument by pulling the word ``COMPROMISE'' from his jar and, feeling ``as if the sun had come out inside him,'' discovers the satisfaction of giving his words away. Appealingly detailed b&w illustrations depict Donavan and his grandma as African-Americans. This Baltimore librarian's first book is sure to whet readers' appetites for words, and may even start them on their own savory collections. (Fiction. 8-11)

Pub Date: June 30, 1994

ISBN: 0-06-020190-8

Page Count: 72

Publisher: HarperCollins

Review Posted Online: May 19, 2010

Kirkus Reviews Issue: June 15, 1994

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