America Is Her Name

Set in the Pilsen barrio of Chicago, this children's picture book gives a heartwarming message of hope. The heroine, América, is a primary school student who is unhappy in school until a poet visits the class and inspires the students to express themselves creatively-in Spanish or English. América Is Her Name emphasizes the power of individual creativity in overcoming a difficult environment and establishing self-worth and identity through the young girl América's desire and determination to be a writer. This story deals realistically with the problems in urban neighborhoods and has an upbeat theme: you can succeed in spite of the odds against you. Carlos Vázquez's inspired four-color illustrations give a vivid sense of the barrio, as well as the beauty and strength of the young girl América.

A Mixteca Indian from Oaxaca, Amâerica Soliz, suffers from the poverty and hopelessness of her Chicago ghetto, made more endurable by a desire and determination to be a poet.

Set in the Pilsen barrio of Chicago, this children's picture book gives a heartwarming message of hope. The heroine, América, is a primary school student who is unhappy in school until a poet visits the class and inspires the students to express themselves creatively-in Spanish or English. América Is Her Name emphasizes the power of individual creativity in overcoming a difficult environment and establishing self-worth and identity through the young girl América's desire and determination to be a writer. This story deals realistically with the problems in urban neighborhoods and has an upbeat theme: you can succeed in spite of the odds against you. Carlos Vázquez's inspired four-color illustrations give a vivid sense of the barrio, as well as the beauty and strength of the young girl América.

Luis J. Rodríguez grew up in Watts and East L.A. His bestselling memoir about gang life, Always Running (now available in paperback in both English and Spanish from Touchstone Books), won the Carl Sandburg Award. His Poems Across the Pavement (Tía Chucha Press) won the Poetry Center Book Award from San Francisco State University, and his poetry collection, The Concrete River was awarded the 1991 PEN Oakland/Josephine Miles Award for Poetry. Mr. Rodríguez has worked extensively with gang members to guide them in positive directions, and he is frequently featured as a keynote speaker or guest poet at national conferences and cultural centers. Rodríguez explores the Chicano experience with an unrelenting, socially conscious eye that moved Larry Weintraub of the Chicago Sun-Times to call him a poet"we need to hear."

Illustrator Carlos Vázquez was born in Mexico, studied physics and art, and now teaches in adult education programs in New York City.

This book is also available in a Spanish language edition as La llaman América translated by Tino Villanueva. 1-880684-41-1

Publishers Weekly

In Rodrguez's ponderous, wordy story, a Mixteca Indian girl living in a Chicago barrio struggles to find her niche in a hostile society. The author eschews subtlety: the ironically named Amrica witnesses a sidewalk shooting while walking to school; the intolerant teacher of her ESL class dismisses her students as "difficult" and whispers to a colleague that Amrica is "an illegal"; the girl's uncle is a drunk, her father gets laid off and someone calls her mother a wetback. The imagery is equally heavy-handed, as in Amrica's description of the "desperate men without jobs": "They all seem trapped, like flowers in a vase, full of song and color, yet stuck in a gray world where they can't find a way out." Amrica escapes this bleakness by creating poetry ("A poet, Amrica knows, belongs everywhere"), but this flatly written tale doesn't serve its political agenda, nor does it transcend it. Vsquez's stylized art is also poorly targeted for the intended audience, who may be put off immediately to find that the young heroine looks considerably older than her nine years. La llaman Amrica, a Spanish-language edition, will also be released. Ages 6-10. (Apr.)

Award-winning author Luis J. Rodríguez was born in El Paso, Texas and grew up in Watts and East L.A. Later he lived in Chicago for some years, where he was active in political and cultural life and founded Tía Chucha Press. He has published 8 critically acclaimed books in various genres (poetry, memoir, fiction, essays, and children's literature).