2 comments about Bootstraps: From an American Academic of Color.

1. This is a true story of the prejudice that Mexicans and people of color face in school and and in life. Luckily, he found a teacher who understood him, and gave him hope. Today, Victor Villanueva is a leader of his field, but still many people who would accept him if he was white, will not accept him because of his Mexican heritage.



2. Of course, anyone who has actually read the book will know that Villanueva is from a Puerto Rican family, not a Mexican one.

   Not that it matters. This is an important book for anyone in English studies, not just rhetoric & composition. Read it now.

4 comments about Pride of Puerto Rico: The Life of Roberto Clemente.

1. He palyed for the Pittsburgh Pirates. He was the youngest in his family, just like me. His dad made alot of money compared to the others that lived around them. Roberto rode his bike to another town to try out for a softball team. It was only a couple of miles from his home. His school was trying to teach him to speak English, and he didn't do very good, but he tried.



2. It was so good that when I received it, I could not put it down till the end. That night I went to bed at 4:33AM. Mr.Robert Walker, 2 thumbs up to a well documented piece of art. Again THANK YOU for this biography.



3. My 12-yr old son read this book for a report.
   He didn't complain too much and finished pretty quickly so I guess he liked it.



4. I enjoyed this book so much. Coincidently I finished it just before seeing a ceremony in honor of Roberto Clemente with his widow Vera present at the 2006 MLB All-Star game. From reading this book I understand why the word "Pride" is always used when discussing Roberto Clemente. This book carres the theme of Roberto's pride from beginning to end. Pride not only in himself but in his family and country. Many may say this is not a book about baseball, but those who know the magic of baseball understand that you can't seperate the game from the players. It is the great person in the player that makes the game of baseball so wonderful. Roberto was a great baseball player and an even greater man. Puerto Rico should feel honored in having him as one of their native sons.

5 comments about Father Greg and the Homeboys: The Extraordinary Journey of Father Boyle and His Work with the Latino Gangs of East L.A..

1. I had the pleasure of hearing Father Greg Boyle speak in my religion class at Santa Clara University earlier this year. I enjoyed his talk so much, I went to a subsequent one and it was there I was first introduced to his book. A wonderful book to compliment a wonderful person. Father Greg is truly an angel in human form.



2. I teach criminal justice courses at Dodge City Community College. One of the topics most students are interested in is hispanic gangs. I found this book to be excellent, and a number of students have also said positive things about the book. It gives the reader a realistic view of gang life in LA, and Father Greg's work is very encouraging. I tell my students that 1 person can make a difference in life, but most don't believe me. The book not only depited gang members and their lives, it also demonstrated some programs that were effective. I highly recommend the book!



3. FIRST OFF I WANT TO THANK FATHER GREG FOR CHANGING ALOT OF PEOPLES POINT OF VIEW ON GANSTERS ALOT OF PEOPLE JUDGE THE BOOK BY THERE COVER WELL FATHER GREG SPOKE THE TRUTH ABOUT THE PROJECTS IN EAST LOS I SHOULD KNOW I LIVED THERE AND I KNOW HIM AND ALOT OF THE GANG MEMBERS THAT FATHER GREG TALKED ABOUT HS BOOK. FATHER GREG TALKS ABOUT HOW HE EARNED HIS RESPECT FROM US GANG MEMBERS AND THE COMMUNITY NOT ONLY DOES HE INSPIRE PEOPLE WITH HIS BOOK BUT ALSO HE GETS RESPECT FOR NOT GIVING UP ON US HELPING US IN EVERYWAY POSSIBLE AND LETTING PEOPLE KNOW ALOT MORE OF EAST LOS IN THE CITY OF ANGELS..



4. Fremon's account of Father Greg's early 1990's work in Boyle Heights, CA. is as moving and powerful a work as one is likely to read. The fact that this book is out of print (currently) is a crime!



5. Father Greg Boyle has done miracles that not everyone can do in working with youth at-risk, especially Latino gang members of East Los Angeles (the "mother-island" of gangs). It ONLY takes a special and unique person to attract and aquire respect from the so-called "lost human-beings" that are involved in gangs. Not all adults see these latino youth as "human beings" whatsoever. Father Greg deserves MORE recognition for what he has done in the Pico/Aliso neighborhoods. Highly recommend this book. May GOD bless "G."

2 comments about Beloved Land: An Oral History of Mexican Americans in Southern Arizona.

1. You must check it out and then you'll know what I'm talking about.



2. Patricia Martin spent many hours interviewing Mexican Americans in Southern Arizona and their stories are unique to the area. Hard working, wonderful people survived in Southern Arizona. These types of individuals are gradually dying off and their stories needed to be told for future generations. The individual stories/chapters are delightful to read.

5 comments about Sin querer queriendo.

1. Lo recomiendo es su totalidad. Un libro que no debe dejar de leer si es Fan de Chespirito, o sea casi todo el mundo!. Cuenta su vida de una manera graciosa, inteligente, donde hay alegrías, tristezas, chispa, emoción y buen humor. Cuando empiezas a leer es difícil soltar el libro.



2. Es un libro muy entretenido, ameno y divertido, fácil de leer, ya que está logicamente estructurado. Lo recomiendo. Merece la pena conocer la vida de este genio, que nos tiene "mal" acostumbrados a esperar siempre lo mejor de él.



3. si duda un libro que todo aquel que lo lea hace que se sienta orgulloso de su cultura hispana, como siempre el titulo de grande se queda corto ante el virtuoso chespirito.



4. Sin querer queriendo es un libro ameno, gracioso por momentos e interesante por otros, que nos da a conocer detalles de la vida de este genio llamado Roberto Gomez Bolaños. Las fotografias incluidas ayudan a complementar la lectura. Recomendable a todos sus seguidores!



5. El mundo esta repleto de libros. Unos buenos. Otros malos.
   Este es uno de los buenos libros. Hay que leerlo. Su prosa es captivante, su historia es altamente imitable para nosotros los que pensamos tener pocas esperanzas. Sus puntos de vista son claros, sinceros, directos y sin compromisos hacia ninguna entidad o punto de vista.
   Me emociono haber leido este libro no solamente una vez si no muchas mas en su totalidad. Y con admiracion y respecto dedico estas lineas a ese genio de nuestra gente, Roberto Gomez Bolanos.

1 comments about The Latin Deli: Prose and Poetry.

1. This tasty book is full of the smells, textures, colors and lives of the Barrio. Lively, inspiring, heartfelt and sometimes heartbreaking, Ortiz fills this book with individuals whose lives are both representative of immigrated people and yet strikingly the stories of every woman and man. Mostly comprised of short-shorts the occasional poem is also brought in. Not all of the characters are named, and there is a sense that the reader is sometimes getting both the history and the future of the same characters. Marvelously woven, this book is a tapestry of personalities, lives, tastes and aromas. Check this book out for something unique! May I also recommend that a cup of Cuban coffee goes wonderfully!

5 comments about Two Badges: The Lives Of Mona Ruiz.

1. I am an English teacher at Santa Ana Valley High School, in Santa Ana, CA. Ms Ruiz spoke at Valley several years ago. Her presentation was as memorable as her book, "Two Badges." I bought three copies the day of her presentation, I have since bought ten more. My students love the book. Young men and young women, alike. They relate, and it is such a strong story with a postive, true life ending. Unfortunately, or fortunately (depending on your view) these books do not make it back to my room after being checked out. I am down to three copies. In a way I am happy, in that I know the books are in contiuous use, they are getting passed around to friends. Cool. It is just that I can not afford to buy a bunch more books for my kids this fall.



2. This book was required when I took one of my college classes. After reading it I knew why. The book offers an inside look into the life of a young woman, hispanic and in a gang. She struggles with many obstacles and in the end pulls herself through. The book is not only inspirational but it is also a demonstration of triumph in spite of obstacles! I give it Five stars and hope that more people can get to reading this book. Maybe instead of requiring it as a college course they should offer it in Junior high's and High Schools. This is the kind of book that should be read.



3. This is a really good book to have a teenages read, I read it just because and I liked it so much that I gave it to my little sister to read who then passed it on to her friends.



4. i began to read this book finally. after years of disregarding it i decided to give it a glance. being related to many of the people in this book it gave me a bit of insight and took me back to the time that they all grew up. for that i am grateful. however at times the writer exhausts the dramatics. I don't know Mona personally, but if this book mirrors your life than my hat goes off to you. it is very inspirational and am glad to hear that it is being read in schools.



5. Mona Ruiz is an inspiration, someone both young men and women can relate to, who sees herself and the world she lives in as honestly as possible. This book, written with reporter Greg Boucher, is actually the best written and most fairminded I have read about the gang lifestyle and someone who overcame great obstacles to turn her life around, ultimately using her former life as a gang banger to her advantage as a fine policewoman. I admire her and am happy for her as she continues to try to make her old barrio a better place. As a middle/high school librarian in a school with a number of students who are fascinated by gangs, I am delighted to have found this book and will recommend it to ALL our students. Be safe, Mona.

5 comments about Las Mamis.

1. When I first saw this book in the bookstore, I could not believe that someone finally put together a book about Latin mothers. As a person with a Mexican mother, I was hopeful that my unique experiences would finally be told. I was wrong. The writing in this book is dishonest and pretentious. I kept getting the feeling that the writers were trying to impress the readers with their clever writing and big words. It certainly did not help that the editors chose to exhaustively list all of the awards and accolades ever bestowed upon the writers. What does this have to do with writing about your mother? Even though some of the stories were potentially touching, I did not shed one tear because I simply could not get over the "look at me" writing. If someone wants to read a beautifully written book about a mother that made me cry and think about my own mother, please read Growing Up by Russell Baker. Russell Baker's mother did not have to be Mexican for me to be touched by her son's honesty and the beauty of his writing.



2. One has to bear in mind that writing about people one knows is very subjective, and this is the author's right. People simply are not objective about those close to them. The writers of this book have accomplished a creation that has resulted in a beautiful specimen of literature, rich in description and sentiment, both amusing and tragic.

   How can one not laugh when Jaime Manrique quotes the only comment his mother makes after she sees her son's pictures in a magazine spread for the first time: " You look fat, You'd better lay off those pies" and how can one not cry when he writes "The most wonderful tribute I can pay to my mother is to say that whereas most children automatically love their mothers, I've grown to love Soledad." But these quotes don't mean much without reading all that precedes them.

   And then, who will ever forget, once read, Alba Ambert's haunting search for a mother she has never known and how she consciously forms a life for herself based on this lack of knowledge?

   If you are looking for straight storytelling, you will find it here, but you will also find great sentiment and poetry within these pages. That in itself is worth the read. One no longer cares as one reads along if it is true or not; it still touches the soul.




3. IT IS A TREAT TO READ ABOUT DIFFERENT STORIES ABOUT VARIOUS MOTHERS. THIS BOOK REMINDS US HOW IMPORTANT OUR MOMS ARE.
   WE SHOULD ALWAYS GIVE THEM CREDIT FOR THIER GUTS ON BEING MOMS.



4. I LOVED this book! It has some great short stories from a variety of authors. Very tasty! Each story has its own flavor, and this makes for a great literary soup. It reaches across cultural boundaries to touch hearts and souls of us all.
   
   Seriously great reading!
   
   Marta Lomeli, author
   Cuentos From the House on West Connecticut Avenue



5. What can I say? Excellent book! Very interesting. You most buy it if you want to know more about these Mamis - Mothers of different Latinamerican writters are the inspiration in a way or another in their lives. Touching stories about reality with different backgrounds with one purpose: to show us how our Mamis influence in our lives. Beautiful stories put together.

5 comments about G-Dog and the Homeboys: Father Greg Boyle and the Gangs of East Los Angeles.

1. Although I have not read this book, I did watch a lecture by Father Boyle given at Regis University. It is amazing what he has accomplished in LA with these gang members. It is a true testament to what God can do if given the chance!



2. A wonderful read that can be shared with reluctant readers to bring them face to face with their place in modern literature. A book that should be shared with more teenagers. A look at gang life/ prisons in our urban world through the eyes of someone on a shared journey. I shared this book and another series that Celeste wrote in LA Weekly (2005) with my students as a combination class: experience of life literature and morality. Father Boyle is a master at understanding humanity and our call to larger social responsibility. We are not permitted to dismiss the world around us after reading this book that tugs at the corners of your heart. Greg gives hope where it is needed the most - to everyone. If the opportunity to hear Father Greg Boyle speak presents itself, do yourself a favor and go.



3. This book is quite unlike any other that I have read on crime or gangs, both in style and in substance.
   
   The style is very simple. Fremon makes no attempt to be objective. She makes no effort to put the story into any larger context. She does not come across like a professional writer of any kind. Her ego is absent from the work. Instead, she tells a story, a simple, moving story.
   
   The subject of her story is extraordinary. John Paul II liked to say that there are many more saints around us then we recognize. This story is another example of that. Father Greg Boyle is a normal suburban white guy who became a priest, and was sent to East LA. He found himself surrounded by gang violence. Nothing unusual in the story so far.
   
   But his reaction was extraordinary. He responded to the situation in a radically Christian manner. He did not get into any of the usual left wing politics or posturing. Instead, he offered the gang members uncondititional love, just as the Gospel teaches. He spent time with them. He visited them in jail. He visited them in the hospital. Whenever the guns went off, he was there trying to bring peace. In one extraordinary incident, he put himself between two gangs who were starting a fire fight, and told them that if they wanted to kill each other, they would have to kill him. He was risking his life doing this, and the gang members knew it. They did not shoot; his Christian witness brought them back from their madness.
   
   It took time, but the gang members responded to Father Greg's ministry with tremendous enthusiasm and love. It is an incredibly inspiring story. It reminds us of why we are Christians. It shows us the transforming power of Christian love.
   
   I would like to be able to draw some political conclusions from all of this. I would like to somehow replace our current approach to gangs with Father Greg's approach. I do not know how to do that. I can not see how to make his saintly approach work in ordinary political or police work. But I do know that we are all better people with someone like him among us. If we had more like him, the world would be healed.



4. "G-Dog and the Homeboys" shows how Father Greg Boyle and a select few adults, including the author, completely changed the lives of teens in East LA. Greg opened the homies' and his followers' eyes to the world outside of their lives in their little neighborhood. Many kids would not think past selling drugs to earn a little extra cash, or firing off a couple of rounds of bullets in order to simply stay alive. Boyle changed all of this.
   In actuality, the homies were not violent, cruel, or evil kids at heart. Many had rotten home lives and joined gangs to find love. Others joined for protection. Gangs offered support if they were ever in serious danger.
   Father Greg understood and felt for these teens. Greg lent them helping hand in any way he could. He gave them money for school, jobs, even a roof over their heads. However, the best gift he gave the homies was his love and caring for them.
   As one follows the stories of numerous homies, one realizes how much of an impact one man, Father Greg, had on their lives. This story is touching, at times frightening, and over all, enlightening. It is highly recommended that you read "G-Dog and the Homeboys". Your eyes, too, will be opened to the world around you.



5. My husband and I recently heard a taped interview with Father Boyle that aired on NPR. We were very interested in learning more about his unique outreach efforts with LA Gang members. This book is excellent.

No comments about Soñando: Thoughts of a Young Latino.