Welcome to the family! It's just like yours: father, mother, sister, brother, abuelita, gato, even a great-great grandmother. Well, but there's something just a little bit different about this particular family. Maybe it's those clothes they wear . . . just a little bit fashion backward. And the colors! So vibrant and . . . lively. Maybe that's what it is. They are just so full of life while looking almost other worldly. Cynthia Weill's latest bilingual book for young readers teaches basic information about relationships, while also celebrating the colorful tradition of Mexico's Day of the Dead. Artist Jesus Canseco Zarate long-limbed sculptures are a playful twist on traditional Mexican iconography of the skeleton that stretches back through the country's art history to José Gualdalupe Posada's engravings and Aztec sculpture. Chosen as one of the Best Children's Books Of The Year by the Children's Book Committee and by the Cooperative Children's Book Center Cynthia Weill holds a doctorate in education from Teachers College Columbia University. She is on the board of the Friends of Oaxacan Folk Art which seeks to promote and preserve the artists and artisanal work of that Mexican state. La Familia is her fifth book featuring the folk art of Oaxaca. Jesus Canseco Zarate is a young Oaxacan folk artist whose medium of choice is paper mâché. In 2008 he won first prize in the Friends of Oaxacan Folk Art completion for young artists.

¡Bienvenido a la familia! Es igual que la suya : padre, madre, hermana, hermano, abuelita, gato. Bueno, pero, hay algo un poco diferente en esta familia. Tal vez sea esa ropa que llevan puesta ... sólo un poco anitcuada. Y los colores! Tan vibrantes y vivos ... Tal vez eso es. Ellos estan tan llenos de vida. Vida-familiar desde un perspectivo del Día de los muertos!

Welcome to la familia! Father, mother, abuelita. The fifties kitsch of Familia introduces readers to a family just like theirs.

For the teens at The Haven, the outside world, just beyond the towering stone wall that surrounds the premises, is a dangerous unknown. It has always been this way, ever since the hospital was established in the year 2020. But The Haven is more than just a hospital; it is their home. It is all they know. Everything is strictly monitored: education, exercise, food, and rest. The rules must be followed to keep the children healthy, to help control the Disease that has cast them as Terminals, the Disease that claims limbs and lungs—and memories. But Shiloh is different; she remembers everything. Gideon is different, too. He dreams of a cure, of rebellion against the status quo. What if everything they've been told is a lie? What if The Haven is not the safe place it claims to be? And what will happen if Shiloh starts asking dangerous questions? Powerful and emotional, The Haven takes us inside a treacherous world in which nothing is as it seems. "Imagine Anna Quindlen or Sue Miller turning her attention to writing a young adult novel, and you have an idea of what Carol Lynch Williams has done for early teen readers." (Audrey Couloumbis, author of the Newbery Honor Book Getting Near to Baby)

How to become an Undercover Pirate... 1)Have a pirate captain as your ancient ancestor 2)Find a message in a bottle and a magic gold doubloon 3)Get whisked back in time to join a pirate crew 4)When you get home DON'T TELL ANYONE. Remember - you're undercover! Sam Silver lives near the sea and enjoys beach-combing for pirate treasures. When he finds an ancient message in a bottle he thinks it will make a great new relic for his collection, but the bottle holds a very special secret... Inside is a gold doubloon which whisks Sam back in time to 1706. Suddenly he's on board a pirate ship - the Sea Wolf - surrounded by her fearsome captain and crew and sailing the Caribbean Sea. If Sam can't think of a very good reason why they should keep him alive, he'll be forced to walk the plank!

Unlike many other handicrafts in the Mexican state of Oaxaca, which have long cultural and historical trajectories, Oaxacan woodcarving began in the second half of the twentieth century and has always been done for the commercial market. In The Value of Aesthetics, Alanna Cant explores how one family’s workshop in the village of San Martín Tilcajete has become the most critically and economically successful, surpassing those of neighbors who use similar materials and techniques. The dominance of this family is tied to their ability to produce a new aesthetic that appeals to three key “economies of culture”: the tourist market for souvenirs, the national market for traditional Mexican artesanías, and the international market for indigenous art. Offering a new analytical model by which anthropologists can approach visual aesthetics and conceptualize the power of artworks as socially active objects, The Value of Aesthetics shows how aesthetic practices produce and redefine social and political relationships. By investigating the links between aesthetics and issues of production, authorship, ownership, and identity, Cant shows aesthetic change to be a process that ultimately repackages everyday life into commodified objects in Oaxaca.

"Direct and charming."—Publishers Weekly Cynthia Weill’s book of Mexican folk art teaches kids about opposites in Spanish and English! These whimsical little animals from Oaxaca, carved and painted by hand, make learning about opposites fun. Up and down, tall and short, left and right—all inside a beautiful book. En este libro de artesanía mexicana, Cynthia Weill le enseña a niños sobre opuestos en español e ingles! Estos animalitos fantasiosos de Oaxaca, tallados y pintados a mano, hacen aprender sobre opuestos divertido. Arriba y abajo, alto y pequeño, izquierda y derecha—todo adentro de un libro encantador. "This second work by one of the authors of ABeCedarios (2007) follows its predecessor's highly praised concept and design. Pages on the left side introduce children to a word in English and Spanish, as pages on the right side present its opposite: Asleep/Dormido (a spotted dog snoozes)/AwakeDespierto (the same dog, eyes wide open and tail sticking up). "Concepts are illustrated with photographs of unique hand-painted animal carvings created individually by Oaxacan artists Quirino and Martin Santiago. The contrast between the text colors and the bright background combines with the imaginary dialogue that children can establish with the vivacious folk-art figures to make this bilingual edition another outstanding entry in the First Concepts with Mexican Folk Art series. On some pages an external element-a sun or a moon, for instance-expands on such concepts as Day/Día and Night/Noche. "A great selection for bilingual storytimes at preschools, elementary schools and public libraries. As a work of art, its display will enhance art exhibits and cultural programs as part of Hispanic Heritage Month or Children's Day/Book Day celebrations." —Kirkus Reviews

This manual is a "one-stop shop" on how to present storytimes to suit different audiences including bilingual learners, special needs children, and those in a variety of settings such as Head Start, preschools, and day care situations. This beginner's guide to storytelling traces the developmental stages of very young children, illustrating how to present storytime for babies, toddlers, and preschoolers as well as in family settings to be most effective. Author Penny Peck will teach you the fundamentals of reading with the intent of capturing children's imaginations, showing you how to incorporate music, play, and hands-on activities into your routine. She offers expert advice on how to choose the best picture books and provides lists of books for addressing particular literacy needs. A perfect primer for those new to the task, this guide illustrates how to make this activity a favorite of children and provides tips for progressing in the role of storyteller, with ideas for engaging your audience and enhancing enjoyment. Beginning with the basics of performing a library storytime, each subsequent chapter builds on that knowledge, offering ways to infuse technology, special needs adaptations, and music into the story. The revised edition addresses such current topics as iPads, apps usage, online options, and dance programs.

Mexican and Mexican American women have written about Texas and their lives in the state since colonial times. Edited by fellow Tejanas Inés Hernández-Ávila and Norma Elia Cantú, Entre Guadalupe y Malinche gathers, for the first time, a representative body of work about the lives and experiences of women who identify as Tejanas in both the literary and visual arts. The writings of more than fifty authors and the artwork of eight artists manifest the nuanced complexity of what it means to be Tejana and how this identity offers alternative perspectives to contemporary notions of Chicana identity, community, and culture. Considering Texas-Mexican women and their identity formations, subjectivities, and location on the longest border between Mexico and any of the southwestern states acknowledges the profound influence that land and history have on a people and a community, and how Tejana creative traditions have been shaped by historical, geographical, cultural, linguistic, social, and political forces. This representation of Tejana arts and letters brings together the work of rising stars along with well-known figures such as writers Gloria Anzaldúa, Emma Pérez, Alicia Gaspar de Alba, Carmen Tafolla, and Pat Mora, and artists such as Carmen Lomas Garza, Kathy Vargas, Santa Barraza, and more. The collection attests to the rooted presence of the original indigenous peoples of the land now known as Tejas, as well as a strong Chicana/Mexicana feminism that has its precursors in Tejana history itself.