Kids’ Book Focuses On Neighborhood

“El Barrio” by Debbi Chocolate, illustrated by David Diaz, 2009, Christy Ottaviano Books/Henry Holt & Company, $16.95/$18.95 Canada, 32 pages: What do you like best about your neighborhood?
Maybe you like the park that’s nearby or a pool you like to splash in on a hot summer day. Perhaps you like having your friends close by, or your abuelita (grandmother) or your tia (aunt). Or maybe you like the museums or the ice cream truck, the animals that live near your home or the playground you visit every day.
There are probably a lot of reasons why you like to live where you live. Can you name them all?
In the new book “El Barrio” by Debbi Chocolate, illustrated by David Diaz, you’ll read about the neighborhood that one boy calls home and the things he likes best about living there.
El barrio is a wonderful neighborhood with colorful walls, painted artwork, neon signs, beautiful graffiti, sparkly tenements, bodegas (grocery stores) to visit and elegant iglesias (churches).
People from many different places – Cuba, Mexico, Puerto Rico, Colombia – come to Spanish Harlem, Humboldt Park and other cities. They call el barrio “home.” El barrio is a very busy neighborhood!
There are parades in el barrio, including Cinco de Mayo parades, Nativity celebrations and parades for Dia de los Muertos. Everyone comes out to watch the parades as they go past. You may go to the tar beach (a flat rooftop) or play in the cold hydrant on a hot summer day.
There might be quinceañera parties, too, and if the partygoers are lucky, there will be a piñata filled with candy. The 15-year-old Quinceañera gives her baby dolls away. Then her papi puts a corona (crown) on her head, and he dances a waltz with her. She feels like a princess!
And what will you hear in el barrio?
The sounds of the city, of course, but you might hear a soft bolero along with a guitar or a slow ranchera that your parents might think sounds romantic. There may be trumpets and mariachis to play tejano and salsa music. Would you like to dance?
Would you like to visit el barrio?
Talk about your double-whammy. Author Chocolate was a winner of a Coretta Scott King Award. Illustrator Diaz is a Caldecott Medal winner. Put them together and you’ve got a book los niños will love.
“El Barrio” is a kid-friendly tour of a Latino neighborhood and its culture, as seen from the eyes of a young boy whose sister celebrates her quinceañera.
The book is written mostly in English but includes plenty of Spanish words (with a glossary in the back of the book for pronunciation and definition).
What will catch the attention of the youngest kids, though, are the colorful illustrations. Every page is covered with vibrant, bright, eye-popping artwork with a Mexican flavor, making it fun to look at and a definite kid magnet.
For 2-to-8 year olds who are curious about other cultures or for kids who are interested in becoming bilingual, “El Barrio” is a great place to start. Pick up this book y diviértete!

‘BOYS’ REVIEW
“The Secret Lives of Boys: Inside the Raw Emotional World of Male Teens” by Malina Saval, 2009, Basic Books, $25.95/$30 Canada, 257 pages, includes index: Once upon a time, your son was a cuddly little boy who loved bedtime stories.
He was bright-eyed then, always pulling up a chair to “help” you in the kitchen or the workshop. He brought you his problems and his dreams, and it was a joy to spend time with him. Now, he’s a teenager. You barely know him. He slinks around the house, speaking in one-syllable words. He no longer shares his life with you. You wonder where your little boy went.
According to author Malina Saval, that boy has a lot on his mind: love, life, the world, his future, you. In the new book “The Secret Lives of Boys,” what you can learn about your teenage son may surprise you. Over the past few years, much has been written about the emotional and social lives and empowerment of girls.
Perhaps because of female-slanted best-sellers, it’s a relatively common myth that boys are emotionless unknowns, in crisis, ADD-suffering on the verge of “apocalyptic self-destruction.”
The truth is, as Saval discovered, teenage boys are much different than their parents and pop-culture believe them to be. To write this book, Saval interviewed high school teachers, psychologists and other experts on adolescent males. More importantly, she spent time with 10 teenage boys, getting to know them, their lives and their concerns.
Boys are passionate about many things, Saval found. They are “politically interested,” if not politically active. They’re romantic – often more so than girls – but their idea of what is and isn’t “sex” may distress their parents.  Bullying is a bigger deal than most school officials realize, and even boys who have been raised to “be a man” can be frightened about it. Speaking of school, many teens Saval interviewed were overloaded with schoolwork, often to the point of having to pick and choose which assignments to complete.
The good news is, teens “lead the way” when it comes to tolerance. Teenage dads are increasingly stepping up to the plate and accepting responsibility for their children (even though they can’t stress enough that waiting for fatherhood would’ve been preferable). Boys do learn from positive influences that surround them. They have strong morals. They’re willing to talk, if we’re willing to listen.
“The Secret Lives of Boys” is one of those books that every adult should read, whether they have a teenage boy or not, because it busts the myths we tend to form after reading the news or hearing the latest teen-gone-bad story. For parents, author Saval offers hard data they can cling to, advice, and a mega-dose of hope: “These boys are emotional and expressive… affectionate and compassionate… They are lovely and messy, loving and lovable.”
Be aware that there are some hard things to read inside here, guaranteed to make grown-ups cringe.
Still, if you’re the parent of a male teen or a teen-to-be (or if you want to know more about the guy your daughter is dating), oh, boy, this is a good book to have.

TERRI SCHLICHENMEYER has been reading since she was 3 years old and never goes anywhere without a book. She lives on a hill in Wisconsin with two dogs and 11,000 books.