From U.S. Poet Laureate Juan Felipe Herrera, one of the most prominent
Chicano poets writing today, here are poems like sweet music
Awarded the Pura Belpré Honor for this book, Herrera writes in both
Spanish and English about the joy and laughter and sometimes the
confusion of growing up in an upside-down, jumbled-up world--between two
cultures, two homes.
With a crazy maraca beat, Herrera creates poetry as rich and vibrant as
mole de olé and pineapple tamales...an aroma of papaya...a clear soup
with strong garlic, so you will grow, not disappear. Herrera's words
show us what it means to laugh out loud until it feels like flying.
Juan Felipe Herrera's vibrant poems dance across these pages in a
dazzling explosion of two languages, English and Spanish. Skillfully
crafted, beautiful, joyful, fun, the poems are paired with whimsical
black-and-white drawings by Karen Barbour. The resulting collage fills
the soul and celebrates a life lived between two cultures.
Laughing out loud, I fly, toward the good things, to catch Mamá Lucha on
the sidewalk, afterschool, waiting for the green-striped bus, on the
side of the neighborhood store, next to almonds, José's tiny wooden
mule, the wise boy from San Diego, teeth split apart, like mine in the
coppery afternoon . . .