Book picks similar to
Borders by Pat Mora
poetry
ya
library-ebook
za-o-lit-caribbean-latin-american-d
The Humble Administrator's Garden
Vikram Seth - 1985
The poet Donald Davie writes: 'Vikram Seth's poems should have an impact far beyond much noisier pieces; for when did we last see a volume in which the poet's eye is on what is objectively before him, rather than on the intricacies of his own sensibility?'
Woven in Moonlight
Isabel Ibañez - 2020
Her people lost everything when the usurper, Atoc, used an ancient relic to summon ghosts and drive the Illustrians from La Ciudad. Now Ximena’s motivated by her insatiable thirst for revenge, and her rare ability to spin thread from moonlight.When Atoc demands the real Condesa’s hand in marriage, it’s Ximena’s duty to go in her stead. She relishes the chance, as Illustrian spies have reported that Atoc’s no longer carrying his deadly relic. If Ximena can find it, she can return the true aristócrata to their rightful place.She hunts for the relic, using her weaving ability to hide messages in tapestries for the resistance. But when a masked vigilante, a warm-hearted princess, and a thoughtful healer challenge Ximena, her mission becomes more complicated. There could be a way to overthrow the usurper without starting another war, but only if Ximena turns her back on revenge—and her Condesa.
Mister Fluffy Bunny
Peter Cawdron - 2018
Dana was found wandering alone in the Mexican desert in the midst of a drug war. Sheriff Garcia takes her to the Silver Plains orphanage, having her declared a ward of the state temporarily so he can focus on searching for her parents. When the sheriff is killed, Dana has to face the prospect she's never getting out of Silver Plains. Dejected and downcast, her only hope lies in the comfort of a stuffed toy—Mister Fluffy Bunny.
Schooled
Anisha Lakhani - 2008
For Anna Taggert, an earnest Ivy League graduate, pursuing her passion as a teacher means engaging young hearts and minds. She longs to be in a place where she can be her best self, and give that best to her students. Turns out it isn't that easy. Landing a job at an elite private school in Manhattan, Anna finds her dreams of chalk boards and lesson plans replaced with board families, learning specialists, and benefit-planning mothers. Not to mention the grim realities of her small paycheck. And then comes the realization that the papers she grades are not the work of her students, but of their high-priced, college-educated tutors. After uncovering this underground economy where a teacher can make the same hourly rate as a Manhattan attorney, Anna herself is seduced by lucrative offers -- one after another. Teacher by day, tutor by night, she starts to sample the good life her students enjoy: binges at Barneys, dinners at the Waverly Inn, and a new address on Madison Avenue. Until, that is, the truth sets in.
Loose Sugar
Brenda Hillman - 1997
Either way, the primal materials of which this book is comprised -- love, sex, adolescence, space-time, depression, post-colonialism, and sugar -- are movingly and mysteriously transmuted: not into gold, but into a poet's philosopher's stone, in which language marries life.Structurally virtuosic, elaborate without being ornate, Loose Sugar is spun into series within series: each of the five sections has a dual heading (such as "space / time" or "time / work") in which the terms are neither in collision nor collusion, but in conversation. It's elemental sweet talk, and is Brenda Hillman's most experimental work to date, culminating in a meditation on the possibility of a native -- and feminine -- language.
The Fosters: Keep Your Frenemies Close
Stacy Kravetz - 2015
To complicate things, she's thrown together with Talya and the forced relationship between Callie and Talya takes a series of turns over the course of the book. The bright spot is a new guy, Austin, who is really into Callie--no, he's into Talya--no, he's into Callie. Callie and Talya reveal things to each other about their feelings for Austin, find common ground, find confidantes in each other, and bond over the work they're doing.Also, the relationships with the other kids on the weekend trip -- a new cast of characters which will be ongoing in the book series -- both create tension as well as draw Callie and Talya together. Ultimately, they see each other as something other than rivals and find they have more in common than they'd thought. But when they return to school, they're forced to decide whether they're really friends. And the first person they encounter is Austin, who has transferred to their school.
A Handful of Stars
Ruby Dhal - 2018
The book teaches that a person's softness is their biggest strength and that having a big heart is not always a bad thing and that a glimmer of light can be found in the darkest places.A Handful of Stars is raw and unapologetic, soft and kind, reflective and inspirational all at the same time. Some of Ruby's most loved poems are shared within the pages of this book, in hope that they will have the same effect on readers the second time as they did the first.
Twilight: Midnight Sunburn: A light parody of Midnight Sun
Anna Jones Buttimore - 2015
Midnight Sunburn is a light and reverent parody of that long-anticipated book. It gives a glimpse into what Midnight Sun might have been, with added gentle satire and wry humour. Midnight Sunburn shows the unfolding of Edward's fierce love for the mysteriously closed Bella Swan, explains how he overcomes his thirst for her blood, and reveals why he would rather watch her die than transform her into a vampire. It also divulges what Edward uses to paint on his abs, explains why he can’t use smartphones, and gives the reader a glimpse of Carlisle and Esme in Wal-Mart. Reviews for a previous version of Midnight Sunburn: “I just needed closure. This book provided it delightfully.” “This is exactly what I've been craving as a fan. It's just spectacular.” “Surprisingly good book. Really good job.” “Wow! I would highly recommend to everyone who enjoys the Twilight series to read this.” “Finally someone kind enough to give us loyal fans our due. This book was well worth my time. Truly enjoyed this treat and will tell others about it.” “I have waited so long for this book. I didn't even know it existed. I thankfully stumbled across it yesterday and bought it. This book is EVERYTHING I wanted and then some.”
The Endarkenment
Jeffrey McDaniel - 2008
It will convert you and install a skylight in your brain. Alive and kicking in these pages is the voice of a brilliantly comic consciousness. McDaniel is a candid, frisky survivor: hyperalert, conversant with drugs and sobriety, obscene phone call addicts, 'boner etiquette, ' fatherhood, the special hell of family, being an 'emotional warrior' and so much more. He's an urban wordsmith of the first order. You hold in your hands his anguished autobiography, a smorgasbord of famished compassion, tenderness, luminous surprises, and armor-piercing humor. - Amy Gerstler It was an energetic moment when I encountered Jeffrey McDaniel for the first time. Even after a few lines it became obvious that he was someone who produced not only a very vivid but also innovative poetry. A fusion of pain and goodness, comic reliefs, and explosive moments on the crunchy surface of daily horrors/shocks
The Dreamer
Pam Muñoz Ryan - 2010
He loves to collect treasures, daydream, and write--pastimes his authoritarian father thinks are for fools. Against all odds, Neftali prevails against his father's cruelty and his own crippling shyness to become one of the most widely read poets in the world, Pablo Neruda. This moving story about the birth of an artist is also a celebration of childhood, imagination, & the strength of the creative spirit. Sure to inspire young writers & artists.
Slanky: Poems
Mike Doughty - 2002
Doughty’s poems are at once absurdist and matter-of-fact; the images he conjures are thrown into high relief through cutting wordplay. In a series of prose poems about showbiz, he reimagines Cookie Monster as a burned-out suicide, and cheesy talk-show host Joe Franklin as a cross-dressing witness to the apocalypse. And in “For Charlotte, Unlisted,” he wrenchingly tracks the elusive memory of a faded romance.
Caminar
Skila Brown - 2014
Carlos knows that when the soldiers arrive with warnings about the Communist rebels, it is time to be a man and defend the village, keep everyone safe. But Mama tells him not yet — he’s still her quiet moonfaced boy. The soldiers laugh at the villagers, and before they move on, a neighbor is found dangling from a tree, a sign on his neck: Communist. Mama tells Carlos to run and hide, then try to find her. . . . Numb and alone, he must join a band of guerillas as they trek to the top of the mountain where Carlos’s abuela lives. Will he be in time, and brave enough, to warn them about the soldiers? What will he do then? A novel in verse inspired by actual events during Guatemala’s civil war, Caminar is the moving story of a boy who loses nearly everything before discovering who he really is.
Beasts of Prey
Ayana Gray - 2021
Indentured to the notorious Night Zoo, she cares for its fearsome and magical creatures to pay off her family's debts and secure their eventual freedom. But the night her loved ones' own safety is threatened by the Zoo's cruel master, Koffi unleashes a power she doesn't fully understand--and the consequences are dire.As the second son of a decorated hero, Ekon is all but destined to become a Son of the Six--an elite warrior--and uphold a family legacy. But on the night of his final rite of passage, a fire upends his plans. In its midst, Ekon not only encounters the Shetani--a vicious monster that has plagued the city and his nightmares for nearly a century--but a curious girl who seems to have the power to ward off the beast. Koffi's power ultimately saves Ekon's life, but his choice to let her flee dooms his hopes of becoming a warrior.Desperate to redeem himself, Ekon vows to hunt the Shetani down and end its reign of terror, but he can't do it alone. Meanwhile, Koffi believes finding the Shetani and selling it for a profit could be the key to solving her own problems. Koffi and Ekon--each keeping their true motives secret from the other--form a tentative alliance and enter into the unknowns of the Greater Jungle, a world steeped in wild magic and untold dangers. The hunt begins. But it quickly becomes unclear whether they are the hunters or the hunted.In this much-anticipated series opener, fate binds two Black teenagers together as they strike a dangerous alliance to hunt down the ancient creature menacing their home--and discover much more than they bargained for.
Driving in Cars with Homeless Men: Stories
Kate Wisel - 2019
Serena, Frankie, Raffa, and Nat collide and break apart like pool balls to come back together in an imagined post-divorce future. Through the gritty, unraveling truths of their lives, they find themselves in the bed of an overdosed lover, through the panting tongue of a rescue dog who is equally as dislanguaged as his owner, in the studio apartment of a compulsive liar, sitting backward but going forward in the galley of an airplane, in relationships that are at once playgrounds and cages. Homeless Men is the collective story of women whose lives careen back into the past, to the places where pain lurks and haunts. With riotous energy and rage, they run towards the future in the hopes of untangling themselves from failure to succeed and fail again.