
Celebrate the perspectives and writing of great Latino authors with your students during the month of May using the following resources:
Americo Paredes collected “corridos,” songs that narrate the struggles of Mexican heroes against Anglo oppression, and wrote the novel, George Washington Gomez, about a Chicano growing up in the borderlands. Gloria Anzaldúa’s stories challenge traditional racial, cultural, and gender boundaries. Both writers are featured in American Passages, unit 2, “Exploring Borderlands.”
Julia Alvarez’s essay “I Want to Be Miss America,” from Something to Declare, describes her Dominican family’s reaction to the pageant and the cultural and racial issues the pageant raised for them. See Teaching Multicultural Literature: A Workshop for Middle Grades, workshop 1, “Engagement and Dialogue.” In the video, watch teacher Carol O’Donnell’s students discuss the work, then share their own writing about a family cultural practice. See summary #7.
Students read and discuss Graciela Limón’s novel Erased Faces about the Zapatista uprising in Mexico. See this cultural studies approach to interpreting a text in The Expanding Canon, session 5, “Cultural Studies: Ishmael Reed and Graciela Limón.”
“I was a different person in Puerto Rico from the one I became in the United States. Not better, not worse – different,” said writer Esmeralda Santiago. She was born May 17, 1948 in San Juan, Puerto Rico and moved the United States when she was 13 years old. Her memoir When I was Puerto Rican has started a discussion of cultural identity and the immigrant experience among her readers. The Expanding Canon: Teaching Multicultural Literature in High School, session 4, “Inquiry,” suggests using various approaches to reading the text with students. Find the full lesson plan here.
In A Biography of America, program 26, “The Redemptive Imagination,” Esmeralda Santiago is a voice in the discussion about the power of storytelling in the context of history.
For a short video clip of Santiago discussing her passion for writing and the influence of reading on her life, see the Learner Express: English Language Arts module for Esmeralda Santiago.
More resources for Latino Books Month
Invitation to World Literature, program 11, “One Hundred Years of Solitude” by Gabriel García Márquez
American Passages, unit 12, “Migrant Struggle,” includes authors Rudolfo A. Anaya, Alberto Ríos, Tomas Rivera, and Helena María Viramontes.
American Passages, unit 16, “Search for Identity,” includes authors Sandra Cisneros and Judith Ortiz Cofer.
Teaching Multicultural Literature: A Workshop for Middle Grades, workshop 7, “Social Justice and Action,” includes authors Alma Flor Ada and Pam Muñoz Ryan.
The Expanding Canon: Teaching Multicultural Literature in High School, session 1, “Reader Response,” My Own True Name by Pat Mora and session 3, “Inquiry,” Bless Me, Ultima by Rudolfo Anaya