Created in collaboration with the Smithsonian Institution's National
Museum of the American Latino, Nuestras Voces shares inspiring Latino
stories. In 1940, eleven-year-old Valentina lives in El Paso, Texas,
with her Mami, Papi, and two older brothers, Hugo and Kiki. Valentina
loves reading and learning, and she hopes to go to college and become a
teacher and writer someday. Her brother Hugo was in college, but with
World War II looming--and Kiki eager to join the military--Hugo decides
to join the National Guard with Kiki. Trying to help her family navigate
wartime changes, Valentina takes on a lot more at home. She writes to
her brothers, keeps her parents updated on news about the war, and helps
with the war effort on the home front--all for a country she's not so
sure accepts Mexican American families like her own. In diary format,
the Nuestras Voces series profiles inspiring characters and honors the
joys, challenges, and outcomes of Latino experiences.