Angels Ride Bikes and Other Fall Poems

Children's Literature - Susan Hepler

This third collaboration of Alarcon's prize-wining poetry and Gonzalez's evocative images center now on the fall season in an urban Latino boy's life. Spanish free verse with English translations celebrate a visit to the market or sudden appearance of bicycles once the weather cools off or the arrival of the ice cream vendor. They also celebrate family--his grandmother and her stories, his dentist aunt, or his mother and her hard-working hands, and recall those who have passed on. Alarcon's language seldom soars, but instead presents special moments, and catalogues in a boy's voice his own reminiscences and observations which may evoke similar memories for readers.

Kirkus Reviews

Alarcón summons the Los Angeles of his youth in this fine collection of poems that are rendered in both English and Spanish, and complemented by Gonzalez's merry painted photographs. In unrhymed verse, Alarcón celebrates a city that provided opportunities for his large family. Riding high here is the love of a mother and father who toil like demons while offering encouragement, protection, and warmth; of a grandmother, a wise and emboldening soul, who steps in when his parents are at work; of the neighborhood, with its memorable characters; and of the markets and the playful images they offer. Bananas make him think that "each bunch is a natural wonder/a splendid baseball glove." Not all is fruity and bright in Alarcón's world, e.g., the work his parents do is hard and mean, it is not easy for him to make the adjustment to a new school, and the city's pollution: "from a window I look at the dirty gray air/I imagine trees crying in distress." A tribute to a city, and to abiding family love. (Picture book/poetry. 5-9)