Author : Gloria Anzaldua, Illustrator : Consuelo Mendez
Preschool - 2nd Grade
Amigos del otro lado - Friends from the Other Side
Amigos del otro lado - Friends from the Other Side, Softcover, Bilingual, Book, Gloria Anzaldua, Consuelo Mendez, Preschool - 2nd Grade, 9780892391301, $7.95
$415.76 for the Bilingual Collection Red Books Set , Including 20%-Off, Free Shipping, and No Sales Tax : 17 Hardcover Bilingual Books and 29 Softcover Bilingual Books
"Did
you come from the other side? You know, from Mexico?" So begins the
friendship between Prietita and Joaquín, the young boy who, with his mother,
has crossed the Rio Grande to Texas in search of a new life.
Prietita, a brave young Mexican American girl, defends Joaquín from the
neighborhood kids who taunt him with shouts of mojado or
"wetback." But what can she do to protect Joaquín and his mother from
the Border Patrol as the van cruises slowly up the street toward their hiding
place?
Writer Gloria Anzaldúa is a major Mexican American literary voice. Illustrator
Consuelo Méndez is a noted Latin American artist. Both grew up in south Texas.
In this, their first collaboration, they have captured not only the hardship of
daily life on the border but also the beauty of the landscape and the dignity
and generosity of spirit that Mexican Americans and Mexican immigrants share.
Listen to Vienna Rose read Friends from the Other Side to you. A marvelous example of the magical encounter between a child and books that we wish for all children.
Kirkus : A
straightforward bilingual depiction of the variety of responses to Mexican ``illegals''
by Chicanos already living in Texas. Though her friends' first reaction on
seeing Joaqu¡n is hostility toward the young mojadito (wetback), Prietita warns
them off and befriends him, planning to take him to the herb woman for treatment
for the sores he hides under long sleeves. A visit from the Border Patrol
hastens the event; the herb woman hides Joaqu¡n and his mother until the danger
is past, then shows Prietita how to help her new friend. What's special about
this simple story is the realism with which the circumstances are presented. The
migra represent the law, and there's nothing negative in their depiction
(``even'' the Chicano migra laughs when someone makes a joke), but Prietita's
kindness is clearly what is valued here. In M‚ndez's powerful mixed-media
illustrations, freely drawn graphite lines define the strong, planar faces and
the poverty of the surroundings; appropriately, pervasive bleak gray is only
somewhat tempered by the hot, bright colors of Latino clothing and the desert.
An authentic portrayal; an excellent basis for discussion of an important issue.
(Picture book. 4-10)
"Friends from the Other Side offers powerful images for children to think
about and important issues for parents to discuss with them."
—San Francisco Chronicle
"Here is a lesson of friendship and respect."
—Parent & Child
"This story is a wonderfully written tale of friendship … a must for any
store with a children's section."
—Feminist Bookstore News
"This is an important book for libraries … as it touches on a timely and
sensitive issue."
—School Library Journal
"A sensitive look at a life to which children are not usually exposed in
picture books."
—Phoenix Gazette
Bilingual
Collection Red Books :