I love to read. It's that simple. I read all kinds of things - romance, fiction/literature, classics, mystery...you get the idea. When I landed my teaching position for Spanish, I wanted to find a way to incorporate reading into my curriculum. I had no idea how I was going to, but I wanted to know a few books so that I could teach them. I Googled 'spanish culture books'. Most of the books that came up were winners of the Pura Belpre award. So I chose to Before We Were Free by Julia Alvarez (Amazon). It was a fantastic book about a girl growing up in the Dominican Republic under Trujillo. I thought "This is the stuff my students need to be reading. It would teach them so much!", but of course how you inspire high schoolers to read for fun still somewhat eludes me.

This year, I have decided to start a book report project. I am going to hand it out probably right before Christmas break. The librarian at our school is fantastic. I gave her a list of books that the students are going to be allowed to pick from and she ordered them for me. Even set up an area just for them in the library! For the report, the students will have to choose from a list of books one that they are going to read for the project. After they read it, they are required to write a summary, give a short biography of the author, describe three traditions/habits that they read about and compare them to US traditions/habits, five words they learned (with page number and sentence), and research the country the main character is from. They are going to hate me, but I think it will do them good.

Here is the list of books if you are interested:

           The House of the Spirits                                    Isabel Allende

Before We Were Free                                        Julia Alvarez

How the Garcia Girls Lost Their Accents       Julia Alvarez

In the Time of the Butterflies                           Julia Alvarez

Return to Sender                                               Julia Alvarez

¡Yo!                                                                     Julia Alvarez

Leaving Glorytown                                           Eduardo F Calcines

The Tequila Worm                                             Viola Canales

The House on Mango Street                            Sandra Cisneros

Hurricane Dancers                                           Margarita Engle

Under the Mesquite                                          Guadalupe Garcia McCall

The Red Umbrella                                             Christina Gonzalez

The Book of Unknown Americans                  Cristina Henríquez

Breaking Through                                            Francisco Jiménez

The Circuit                                                        Francisco Jiménez

Parrot in the Oven: Mi Vida                             Victor Martinez

Gringolandia                                                     Lyn Miller-Lachmann

The Dreamer                                                      Pam Muñoz Ryan

Esperanza Rising                                              Pam Muños Ryan

An Island Like You                                           Judith Ortiz Cofer

Call Me María                                                    Judith Ortiz Cofer

The Meaning of Consuelo                                Judith Ortiz Cofer

Cuba 15                                                              Nancy Osa

Journey of Dreams                                           Marge Pellegrino

Queen of the Water                                           Laura Resau

Red Glass                                                           Laura Resau

What the Moon Saw                                          Laura Resau
       When I Was Puerto Rican                                 Esmeralda Santiago