Once Upon a Cuento - Softcover

Softcover

ISBN 10: 1880684993 ISBN 13: 9781880684993

Publisher: Curbstone Books, 2003

Synopsis

Once Upon a Cuento is an anthology of short stories by contemporary Latinx authors. The stories, written for young people, grade five and up, explore heritage and history, identity, language, and relationships from the perspective of Mexican-American, Cuban-American, Dominican-American, and Puerto Rican writers. In all, the collection features seventeen stories by well-known and emerging writers, most of which are original to this collection. Contributors include acclaimed Puerto Rican children's authors Nicholasa Mohr and Carmen T. Bernier-Grand; Cuban-American novelist, essayist, and poet Virgil Suárez; and Mexican-American short story writers and teachers Lorraine López and Sergio Troncoso.

The stories are grouped by theme—heritage, holidays, and contemporary culture; family life; friends and other relationships; and dealing with differences. Individual stories explore additional themes such as the challenge of making do with little money, the process of moving to a new country and learning English, and young people's relationships to animals and to the natural world. Each story contains an introduction that offers historical, cultural, and biographical information. A general introduction and list of works by the thirteen contributors offer further avenues for research and discussion.

About this title

About the Author

Lyn Miller-Lachmann is an American author, editor, and teacher. She was the editor-in-chief of MultiCultural Review for 16 years and is the author of the award-winning reference work Our Family, Our Friends, Our World: An Annotated Guide to Significant Books for Children and Teenagers. She currently divides her time between New York City and Lisbon, Portugal. 

 

Reviews

Grade 6-9-Fourteen Latino authors have contributed to this collection of 17 short stories. There is a range of quality here, just as there is great diversity in the voices. Some selections are from immigrants and speak to the difficulty of changing homes; others are by native-born writers and convey the difficulty of living in two cultures. Some of the stories, such as Virgil Suarez's "Initiation," lack a sense of completeness. Others, like Luna Calderon's "Armpits, Hair, and Other Marks of Beauty," are tight and satisfyingly whole. Each story in introduced with some comments from the editor to give students cultural information and some facts about the author to give the story context. Unfortunately, they often have a somewhat condescending tone and tell readers how to react to or interpret what follows. Despite this quibble, libraries looking for Latino voices to expand beyond Gary Soto and Francisco Jimenez (neither is included) will find leads here. This anthology is valuable for the great diversity of Latino voices from the Caribbean and Central, South, and North America.
Carol A. Edwards, Sonoma County Library, Santa Rosa, CA
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Edition details

• Publisher: Curbstone Books
• Publication date: 2003
• Language: English
• ISBN 10: 1880684993
• ISBN 13: 9781880684993
• Binding: Paperback
• Number of pages: 256
• Editor: Miller-Lachmann Lyn