Multicultural Book Review: Latino

Genre:  Poetry

Culture:  Latino

Book:  Carlson, L. M. (Ed.).  (1994). Cool Salsa: Bilingual Poems on Growing Up Latino in the United States.  New York:  Fawcett Juniper.

Level/Age:  YA (ages 12-20)

Synopsis:  This is a collection of thirty-six poems covering all aspects of growing up Latino in America.  Some poems convey the first-generation immigrant’s frustration at not being able to speak English, others the universal desire of adolescents to belong, and still others depict the simple joys in life—a memory or a moment.  They are written by a plethora of poets, from the famous to the lesser-known, including Ana Castillo, Sandra Cisneros, and Gary Soto.  Each poem is presented in both English and Spanish, with only a couple of exceptions, where the poem was originally written in both languages, and/or the full translation of it would lose something.  They are divided into sections, under the titles:  School Days, Home and Homeland, Memories, Hard Times, Time to Party, and A Promising Future.  The reader is left with a feeling for the hardships encountered and endured by immigrants and subsequent generations, but also with a feeling for the hopefulness, pride, and diversity of the Latino culture.

Comparisons/Contrasts with traditional American/Western Culture:  This collection touches upon a variety of areas, including the prejudice and stereotypes faced by Latinos.  In “A Puerto Rican Girl’s Sentimental Education,” author Johanna Vega depicts a young girl as she struggles not only with acquisition of a new language, but with dyslexia as well, writing lines such as:  “systematic, elementary school oppression” and “A low-income prodigy child caught in the American cross fire between SATs and insular-community vocabulary.”  Immigrants must struggle with acculturation, while trying to maintain their own traditions and pass their language and culture down to new generations.  This is conveyed vividly in the poems in the “Memories” section.  For example, in “There’s an Orange Tree Out There,” author Alfonso Quijada Urias tells of an orange tree that’s out there—at the family’s old house, in their old country, old life.  “An Unexpected Conversion” by Carolina Hospital, tells of immigrant parents who fully embraced acculturation, rejecting their native culture—only to retire thirty years later and go back, wholeheartedly re-embracing their original culture, and leaving their children perplexed.

Response:  I gained a new appreciation for the Latino culture from this collection of poems.  They helped me understand that Latinos are a heterogeneous people, and their diversity should be respected.  I also now see their common struggles, from language acquisition to prejudice and acculturation.  Lastly, I see their common strengths of cultural pride, perseverance, and hard work.

Suggested Extension Activities:  This collection could be used in a Social Studies class in a unit on Latino cultures, a Language Arts class in a cultural poetry unit, or in a Civics class in a unit on diversity and cultural oppression.  I will feature it in my library media center during Hispanic Heritage Month and during National Poetry Month (April).  It would also make a good book study for anti-bullying campaigns, especially the poems in the “Hard Times” section, such as “Race Politics” by Luis J. Rodriguez.