Such a wonderful set of picture-books of poems for all ages.

This one focuses on growing up in Los Angeles a few decades ago, when the smog got so bad they finally took drastic measures to clean it up, and had success. The same theme corresponds to the drastic measure of emigrating, working in fields and canneries, and ultimately raising one's children to be successful. The author's siblings, the note says, include an engineer, a dentist, a doctor, etc.

So, the poems are about hope, about dreams, about finding & sharing joy, about courage. But don't think they're all serious & Literary.

This one is about as intense & contemplative as they get:

_*Thanksgiving*_

for
the ancient ones

the first ones
in this land

every day was
for giving thanks

More typical are fun poems, like:

_*Earthquake*_

from time to time
in southern
California

palm trees
begin to swing
all by themselves

here the Earth
likes to dance
cha-cha-cha

Whether you're an English speaker learning Spanish, or a Spanish speaker learning English, or just someone who likes joyful poetry about families, cities, celebrations, and life, I recommend that you pick up these four books.

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I would pair this book with "America, My New Home," for a mini-text set, allowing students to compare and contrast the differences of the experiences. How is America viewed by these different poets? What are the circumstances surrounding the poems?

A good activity would be similar to the one I had with "America, My New Home" but instead of travel, have the students write and describe their current home and the parts that they remember or cherish about it.

This is a fall poetry book. This book is also bilingual so it is always a good addition to the classroom. The pictures are rather fascinating. Good for second grade and up

Following the bilingual theme of his other books, Alarcon takes readers on a journey to LA through his poems. This book is filled with vivid imaginary and metaphors and personification, and follows the theme of fall. I would recommend this book to children in the 3rd-5th grade. ESL students might also like this book because of the English version and then the Spanish version right next to it. ( )

The book use a long poetry show the history and culture of Hispanic in the California, it is very interesting.