New Releases by Pat Mora

Combining poetic language and the traditions of magic realism to paint a vivid portrait of her family, Pat MoraÕs House of Houses is an unconventional memoir that reads as if every member, death notwithstanding, is in one room talking, laughing, and crying. In a salute to the Day of the Dead, the story begins with a visit to the cemetery in which all of her deceased relatives come alive to share stories of the family, literally bringing the food to their own funerals. From there the book covers a year in the life of her clan, revealing the personalities and events that Mora herself so desperately yearns to know and understand. ÒPoet MoraÕs complex and dramatic family history comprises more than personal reminiscences: it also embraces resonant aspects of Mexican American history. Mora recounts her familyÕs traumatic exodus from Mexico to escape the violence of Pancho Villa and his forces and their struggles to begin new lives in another country. To anchor her psychologically rich, dramatic, sometimes funny, often touching multigenerational tale, Mora uses the image of a houseÑthe house of housesÑduring a single year, a fruitful metaphor that allows her to dwell on the bright beauty of flowers, birds, and trees, emblems of the loving legacy of her nurturing family.ÓÑBooklist ÒMora has created an ingenious structure for these recollections of her extended family, of their lives and the tales they share about the familyÕs history. Woven in with these memories are recipes, fragments of songs and poetry, folk remedies, and jokes, all of the small matters that most reveal a familyÕs identity. In a language deftly mingling the natural cadences of speech and precise, poetic imagery, Mora believably summons up both a group of tough, loving, idiosyncratic survivors and a vivid, detailed portrait of life in the Southwest in [the last] century.Ó ÑKirkus Reviews

Our new kitty likes to hide. A nuestra nueva gatita le gusta esconderse. She hides under the table, Se esconde debajo de la mesa, inside a flowerpot, dentro de una maceta and behind the curtains. y detrás de las cortinas. We call out to her, La llamamos, pero . . . but will she ever come close enough to pet? ¿se acercará lo suficiente como para acariciarla? Here, kitty, kitty! ¡Ven, gatita, ven! This third book in Pat Mora''s bilingual My Family/Mi familia series will delight children with its mischievous kitty, playful illustrations, and engaging story. Este tercer libro de la serie bilingüe My Family/Mi familia de Pat Mora entretendrá a los niños con una gatita traviesa, ilustraciones graciosas y una historia encantadora.

Who doesn''t love a good celebration? Whether you''re marching in a pet parade or planning a masquerade, enjoying good times is always fun, especially when you can strut and ballyhoo with friends. From singing canciones to planning a hoopla day, Join Hands! joyfully celebrates the many ways that children build communities with friends of all ages.

Shh, shh, close your eyes. Shh . . . shh . . . Cierra los ojitos. Outside, the rabbits are sleeping, Afuera, los conejitos están durmiendo and the birds, and the squirrels. junto con los pajaritos, y las ardillas. Inside, Grandma tucks us snugly into bed. Adentro, Abuelita nos da las buenas noches. The stars and moon are shining bright. Las estrellas y la luna brillan. Sweet dreams! ¡Dulces sueños! As warm and comforting as a grandmother''s voice, this endearing book in the My Family/Mi familia series makes bedtime a soothing family tradition. Este encantador libro de la serie My Family/Mi familia, tan cálido y reconfortante como la voz de una abuela, ayuda a convertir la hora de dormir en una armoniosa tradición familiar.

Mora''s insights on bilingualism, education, women, and family are sometimes barbed and always exact.

After the visitors have left the zoo and the animals have settled down for the night, a mischievous monkey starts a ting-tong rhythm on the marimba and slowly the animals awaken. Lions and llamas samba and cougars and coyotes conga as all the animals join in the fun to create a rollicking fiesta. Infused with Mexican American flavor, ?MARIMBA! is a unique alphabet book that also introduces the concept of cognates--words in different languages that are similar. Young Spanish speakers will be delighted to find they are already familiar with twenty-six words in English, and English speakers with find they already know some Spanish. Author''s note, pronunciation guide, rebus dictionary.

Forty-nine poetic works provide glimpses into the wonders of everyday life.

In this joyful and spirited collection, award-winning poet Pat Mora and fine artist Enrique 0. Sanchez celebrate the vivid landscape of the Southwest and the delightful rapport that children share with the natural world. Now in Spanish, Confeti is also an anthem to the power of a child''s imagination and pride.

With lilting verse and playful imagery, this award-winning author celebrates the tender relationship between the beloved saint and the animals whom he adored.

Doña Flor, a giant lady with a big heart, sets off to protect her neighbors from what they think is a dangerous animal, but soon discovers the tiny secret behind the huge noise.

Con la ayuda de sus amigos, Tio Sapo, el sapo, derrota al arrogante Tio Venado, el venado, en una carrera.

Stella loves her family and her Mexican heritage, but she doesn''t always like being different from the other kids at school. Now her class is going to dance around the Maypole at the school''s May parade, and Stella wants her tulip costume to be special, even if she won''t look like the other girls at school. Sometimes being different can be exciting. This touching story that celebrates diversity is based on author Pat Mora''s mother''s childhood and is brought to life by Elizabeth Sayles''s evocative paintings. Illustrated by Elizabeth Sayles.

A retelling of a Mayan myth that tells of the moon falling into the dark ocean and rising back again to take the little fishes to be the Milky Way.

Lorena shares beautiful memories with her grandfather as they look through a chest of things belonging to her dead grandmother.

With the help and interference of her cat Chica, Cecilia prepares a surprise gift for her great-aunt''s ninetieth birthday.

A biography of the seventeenth-century Mexican poet, learned in many subjects, who became a nun later in life.

Illustrated with wonderfully ingenuous paintings of scenes of Santa Fe in the early part of the twentieth century, this picture book''s story of a girl becoming an artist is based on childhood memories. Maria draws the world around her--chile vendors, the feast of San Isidro, preparing for the fiesta, flying kites, and picking herbs--to entertain herself and her mother. When her mother gives her a set of paints, it is the dawning of Maria''s creative self as she paints the hills around her beloved town.

A biography of the seventeenth-century Mexican poet, leaned in many subjects, who became a nun later in life.

With the help of his friends, Tio Sapo, the toad, defeats the overconfident Tio Venado, the deer, in a race.

Portrays a loving Mexican-American household

Monica, who wants to be a baker like her grandmother, finds the doll hidden in the bread on the feast for the Three Kings and thus gets to bake cookies for the next fiesta.

More than sixty poems, some with Spanish translations, include such titles as "The Young Sor Juana", "Graduation Morning", "Border Town 1938", "Legal Alien", "Abuelita Magic", and "In the Blood".

In this anthology, Mora has gathered the best of her poems with young-adult readers in mind, and has added to them several new poems published here for the first time ... Much like a blossoming young man or woman, My Own True Name has been fifteen years in the making. --Arte Público Press.

Like Sonia Sanchez and Sandra Cisneros, Pat Mora draws on oral and lyrical traditions; she reclaims the history and culture of her Mexican roots, especially real and imagined Mexican women of the past, from a tribute to Frida Kahlo to an interview with an Aztec goddess.