Historical Fiction: Esperanza Rising

Esperanza's name means 'hope' in spanish, and that's the focus of this book. We meet Esperanza just before her 13th birthday, on her wealthy family's flourishing Mexican ranch. Her family is well off, and Esperanza's sheltered life is full of party dresses, servants and love.

All this is shattered when her father is killed by bandits, and her family's ranch burned to the ground. Suddenly, Esperanza and her Mama are fugitives, and then illegal immigrants in a California Mexican labour camp.

Despite her hardships, Esperanza struggles to retain her pride, values and culture in the midst of a hostile and unfamilar land. Her story is one of resilience, strength, and above all, the hope that can give you the courage to start all over again. A powerful book that provides deep insight into the struggles, hopes and dreams of immigrants and refugees.

Historical Fiction

Grades 5-9

Click here to check out the Port Moody public Library's catalogue!

Poetry: An Awesome Book

Once you get your hands on this book, I guarantee that you will want to buy it and read it to your kids all the time. Heck, forget about your kids; you'll want to read it yourself!

An Awesome Book is an exhortation to dream big. No, not just big, but HUGE! The dreams in the beginning are so wonderful that every person with even a little bit of childhood still in them will say "Oh my god, that's AWESOME!" We're talking candy cane machines, rocket powered unicorns, magical watermelon boats, tiny ant bands trained by raccoons, and a host of other silly and wonderful dreams. The message is, never laugh at your dreams, or question them, or try to make them conform or go away; they are what make us joyful and unique. A perfect and timely message for our stressed, over scheduled kids.

This book will make adults remember what it's like to be a kid, and hopefully it will encourage our kids to retain that sense of wonder and awe at our amazing world. In fact, read the whole thing online here.

Poetry

FOR EVERYONE!

Click here to check out the Port Moody Public Library's website!