New Releases by Pat Mora

Combining poetic language and the traditions of magic realism to paint a vivid portrait of her family, Pat Mora’s House of Houses is an unconventional memoir that reads as if every member, death notwithstanding, is in one room talking, laughing, and crying. In a salute to the Day of the Dead, the story begins with a visit to the cemetery in which all of her deceased relatives come alive to share stories of the family, literally bringing the food to their own funerals. From there the book covers a year in the life of her clan, revealing the personalities and events that Mora herself so desperately yearns to know and understand.

Wine-sipping syllables, a communion of bones, impetuous pinches of chile, and parrot-sassy guacamole. With a mélange of aromas and tastes, colors and sounds, award-winning poet Pat Mora invites readers into her home in this new collection of forty-nine odes. Inspired by Pablo Neruda’s Odas Elemantales and reinvented with a Latina identity, Mora celebrates the ordinary in lyrics that are anything but. Her poetry is the poetry of space—house patterns and adobe constructions—and the human rhythms that happen inside. It is also the poetry of what she loves—chocolate, books, dandelions, church bells, hope, courage, and even rain. Thick with the microcultures of foodstuffs, family, places, regions, deities, spirits, and literary figures, Mora’s adobe universe is luscious and tactile, elemental and dynamic. From family gossip and beauty secrets, to women darning hand-me-downs, to reluctant hands carrying bodies across borders, Mora traverses the tangled threads of culture, community, family, gender, and injustice. Her vivid observations together with her deft handling of symmetry and meter make her poetry uniquely insightful, subtle, and elegant. Sprinkled with Spanish and plenty of spice, each ode is a sensory flurry of mind and body. Together they make a cauldron of flavorful, simmering language. They are meant to be savored as they slowly stir the soul.

"A collection of original poems that celebrate family, universal childhood experiences, and the pure pleasure a young girl feels as her mastery and understanding grow throughout the seasons of a year"--

Now in paperback: In a series of poetic verses in both English and Spanish, readers learn about the movement and moods of water around the world and the ways in which water affects different landscapes and cultures. Water rolls/El agua rueda onto the shore/hacia la orilla under the sun, under the moon./bajo el sol, bajo la luna. Here is an ode to the beauty of the natural world as expressed by the movement and moods of water. With every evocative verse, we visit one of fourteen different water landscapes and cultural areas around the world. Each is stunningly illustrated with a breathtaking view of the drama, joy, power, serenity, grandeur, or peacefulness of water. From the Grand Canal of Venice to Qutang Gorge in China, from the Sahara in Morocco to the Andes of Chile, we learn about the world through the lens of water, our most precious, life-giving resource.

My Singing Nana is a compassionate tribute to families dealing with Alzheimer''s Disease. This story celebrates the ideals of family, heritage, and happy memories, showing kids that no matter how their loved one might change they always have ways to maintain their special connection. “In a context perfect for the understanding of elementary-aged children, award-winning author and acclaimed literary critic Pat Mora sheds light on the everyday experiences of a family member living with dementia. In My Singing Nana Mora eloquently demonstrates that, despite the hefty toll this devastating disease can take, grandchildren and children alike can still enjoy meaningful and heartfelt relationships with those affected.” —San Francisco Book Review

"From a very young age, Juana Inés loved words. When she was three years old, she followed her sister to school and begged the teacher to let her stay so she could learn how to read. Juana enjoyed poring over books and was soon making up her own stories, songs, and poems. Juana wanted to become a scholar, but career options for women were limited at this time. She decided to become a nun--Sor Juana Inés de la Cruz--in order to spend her life in solitude reading and writing. Though she died in 1695, Sor Juana Inés is still considered one of the most brilliant writers in Mexico''s history: her poetry is recited by schoolchildren throughout Mexico and is studied at schools and universities around the world"--

Inspired by Edgar Lee Masters’s Spoon River Anthology and Thornton Wilder’s Our Town, Pat Mora brings us the poetic monologues of Encantado, an imagined southwestern town. Each poem forms a story that reveals the complex and emotional journeys we take through life. Mora meanders through the thoughts of Encantado’s residents—the mothers and sisters, brothers and fathers in whom we see slivers of ourselves and our loved ones—and paints a portrait of a community through its inhabitants’ own diverse voices. Even the river has a voice we understand. Inspired by both the real and imagined stories around her, Mora transports us to the heart of what it means to join in a chorus of voices. A community. A town. Encantado.

An inspiring collection of Pat Mora''s own glorious poems celebrating a love of words and all the ways we use and interact with them: reading, speaking, writing, and singing.

"Hoy, jóvenes y viejitos bailan / a la luna y la estrella brillosa / celebrando su fiesta, / la pachanga deliciosa." El aclamado poeta Pat Mora se ha unido al artista Francisco X. Mora para crear un libro encantador y elegante cuyas rimas y dibujos harán las delicias de niños y adultos. "Tonight, young and old / dance to moon and starlight too, / join in the fiesta, / the delicious hullabaloo." Acclaimed poet Pat Mora has joined with artist Francisco X. Mora to create a charming and elegant book whose rhymes and drawings will delight children and adults.

Long, long, long ago, Bella and her grandmother Mamá Alma admired their vegetable garden. They liked gardening together. They grew sunflowers and lilies too, and chatted with lizards and hummingbirds. They walked around the flowers and vegetables holding hands, something they had done frequently since Bella was a baby. As her grandmother aged, Bella helped her to walk. "Every year, I need your help more and more," said Mamá Alma. Sitting on their favorite rock, they remembered how Mamá Alma carried Bella to show her the sun and everything that grew in its powerful rays: trees, cacti, corn and flowers. The oldest and wisest woman in the village, she taught her granddaughter to sing, tell stories and weave. Mamá Alma is pleased that Bella has become the best healer in the village, the one everyone comes to for help with a sick bird or a stomach ache. Mamá Alma tells her granddaughter to remember their happy times together and to plan an annual "remembering day," a special time to think about her when she is gone. In this special bilingual picture book for children, acclaimed author Pat Mora creates an origin myth in which she imagines how the Mexican custom of remembering deceased loved ones--El día de los muertos or the Day of the Dead--came to be. With tender illustrations by Robert Casilla that depict Bella and Mamá Alma''s loving relationship, this book will encourage children to honor loved ones, whether by writing stories and poems or creating their own remembering place.

Libby''s great aunt, Lobo, is from Mexico, but the United States has been her home for many years, and she wants to become a U.S. citizen. At the end of the week, Lobo will say the Pledge of Allegiance at a special ceremony. Libby is also learning the Pledge this week, at school—at the end of the week, she will stand up in front of everyone and lead the class in the Pledge. Libby and Lobo practice together—asking questions and sharing stories and memories—until they both stand tall and proud, with their hands over their hearts.

This evocative collection of poems combines Pat Mora¹s simple, yet shining words with Steve Jenkin¹s bright collage images. The landscapes, animals, and people come into sharp focus and the beauty and mystery of the American Southwest are captured.

In this sweetly funny picture book, a tiny mouse, Chico Canta, saves his entire family from the clever kitten, Little Gato-Gato, when he uses his quick wits and ability to speak another language. Mrs. Canta lives with her family in an old theatre, and she has her hands full trying to keep track of her twelve children—especially Chico Canta, the youngest, tiniest, and most mischievous of the mice. She is always telling them, “Hurry! Hurry! ¡Pronto! ¡Pronto!” She speaks many languages, and she encourages her children to learn more, too. “Bilingual, bravo!” One evening, after a wonderful performance of The Three Little Pigs, the mouse family narrowly escapes Little Gato-Gato. Undaunted and inspired by the production, they decide to mount their own version of the play. A frenzy of sewing costumes and building sets ensues under the direction of Mr. Canta, while Mrs. Canta oversees the cricket musicians, the spider stage crew, and the moths who will be the ushers. But on the night of the play itself, it is tiny Chico who is the star of the show when he spots Little Gato-Gato in the shadows, and uses his own special gift for languages to avert disaster. Amelia Lau Carling’s charming illustrations show the pleasures, fears, antics and glories of Chico Canta and his family, all against the backdrop of the elegant old theater. A note from author Pat Mora describes how she and her daughter Libby were inspired to write this story together after she read the kernel of this bilingual joke in a book of Mexican American folktales. Key Text Features author’s note Correlates to the Common Core State Standards in English Language Arts: CCSS.ELA-LITERACY.RL.2.2 Recount stories, including fables and folktales from diverse cultures, and determine their central message, lesson, or moral.

"A series of verses, in English and Spanish, about the movement and moods of water around the world and the ways in which water affects a variety of landscapes and cultures."--Provided by publisher.

From blueberries to vanilla, indigenous foods of the Americas are celebrated in this bilingual collection of haiku, which also includes information about each food''s origins.

Every December, Grandma Lupita tells Rose the story of Our Lady of Guadalupe. As they make paper flowers to put around her statue, Grandma begins: Long ago, on a cold December morning near what is now Mexico City, a man named Juan Diego put on his cloak and started down the road to church. On his way, Juan Diego sees a beautiful Lady at the top of a hill. She tells Juan Diego to go to the Bishop and ask him to build a special church for her. But the Bishop doesn''t believe that Juan Diego has seen the Lady; he asks for a sign. Again the Lady sends Juan Diego, and again the Bishop asks for a sign. Until finally, she provides one: her shining image on Juan Diego''s cloak for everyone to see.

Grandma Lupita tells her granddaughter Rose and Rose''s friend Terry the story of Our Lady of Guadalupe, a miracle that occurred near Mexico City in 1531. Includes facts about the event and its influence.

Doña Flor is a giant lady who lives in a tiny village in the American Southwest. Popular with her neighbors, she lets the children use her flowers as trumpets and her leftover tortillas as rafts. Flor loves to read, too, and she can often be found reading aloud to the children. One day, all the villagers hear a terrifying noise: it sounds like a huge animal bellowing just outside their village. Everyone is afraid, but not Flor. She wants to protect her beloved neighbors, so with the help of her animal friends, she sets off for the highest mesa to find the creature. Soon enough, though, the joke is on Flor and her friends, who come to rescue her, as she discovers the small secret behind that great big noise. The creators of Tomás and the Library Lady, Pat Mora and Raul Colón, have once again joined together. This time they present a heartwarming and humorous original tall tale—peppered with Spanish words and phrases—about a giant lady with a great big heart.

In this poem in English and Spanish, lizards, armadillos, and other creatures of the night make merry beneath the desert moon, enjoying the strains of a mariachi band and gobbling lots of delicious food.

When a gust from her grandfather''s blowgun causes Luna to tumble from the sky and fall into the ocean, the little fishes help her rise once again, in an updated retelling of a traditional Mopan Maya myth from Belize. Reprint.

When a gust from her grandfather''s blowgun causes Luna to tumble from the sky and fall into the ocean, the little fishes help her rise once again, in an updated retelling of a traditional Mopan Maya myth from Belize. Reprint.

Una ráfaga de la cerbatana del abuelo hace que Luna se caiga del cielo y se parta en pedazos sobre el fondo del mar. Esta leyenda Maya cuenta como la luna debe rescatarse a sí misma, con la ayuda de los pececitos quienes la pegan de nuevo. Cuando al fin la levantan, hermosa y redonda otra vez, invita a sus amigos a vivir en el cielo y a formar la Vía Láctea.

Take a ride in a long submarine or fly away in a hot air balloon. Whatever you do, just be sure to bring your favorite book! Rafael López''s colorful illustrations perfectly complement Pat Mora''s lilting text in this delightful celebration of El día de los niños/El día de los libros; Children''s Day/Book Day. Toon! Toon! Includes a letter from the author and suggestions for celebrating El día de los niños/El día de los libros; Children''s Day/Book Day. Pasea por el mar en un largo submarino o viaja lejos en un globo aerostático. No importa lo que hagas, ¡no olvides traer tu libro preferido! Las coloridas ilustraciones de Rafael López complementan perfectamente el texto rítmico de Pat Mora en esta encantadora celebración de El día de los niños/El día de los libros. ¡Tun! ¡Tun! Incluye una carta de la autora y sugerencias para celebrar El día de los niños/El día de los libros. The author will donate a portion of the proceeds from this book to literacy initiatives related to Children''s Day/Book Day. La autora donará una porción de las ganancias de este libro a programas para fomentar la alfabetización relacionados con El día de los niños/El día de los libros.

In this adaptation of the folk song " The Twelve Day of Christmas," friends exchange such gifts as a pinata and "cuatro luminarias.".

Una colección de haikus sobre la comida de las Américas. Incluye información sobre esas comidas.

"Lively photographs celebrate both individuality and community"--Amazon.com.

A poetic depiction of the desert as the provider of comfort, food, spirit, and life.