Exploration into Latin America

Explorers have traveled the world and have been helped throughout the centuries by the inhabitants of the lands they visited. People have offered outsiders lodging, carried their belongings, paddled their canoes, showed them amazing animals, and often housed, clothed, fed, rescued, and cured them. This series tells you about these people and the explorers with whom they interacted.

Children's Books

Machado, Ana María

Geography & Cultures

New Discovery

Green, Robina

Oliver, Jeremy

Nina Bonita

Animals

Demco Media

From Another World

Literature & Fiction

Contemporary

Describes the cultures and civilizations of Latin America, both before and after contact with Europeans, and looks at the Mayas, Aztecs, and Incas.

Science & Math

Earth Sciences

Chelsea House Pub

When ten-year-old Bel finds a photograph of her greatgrandmother Beatrice, or Bisa Bea, she convinces her mother to let her borrow it. When the picture inexplicably vanishes, Bisa Bea's voice suddenly emerges inside Bel, telling stories of the old days and counseling her on proper behavior by young girls. Then another voice emerges that tells her to be strong; this one belongs to her future granddaughter, and the key to how these voices came to live inside her lies in the lost photo of her greatgrandmother. This whimsical, witty novel shows how knowledge of the past can strengthen the wisdom of future generations. Author Ana Maria Machado won the 2000 Hans Christian Andersen Award.

Me in the Middle (AMERICAS AWARD FOR CHILDREN'S AND YOUNG ADULT LITERATURE COMMENDED (AWARDS))

GROUNDWOOD BOOKS *

One day Isabel finds a box in her mother's closet, and inside the box is a photograph of a girl dressed in old-fashioned clothes. Ten-year-old Bel is enchanted to discover that the girl is her great-grandmother, her Bisa Bea, and that she and her great-grandmother look very much alike. Bel convinces her mother to let her borrow the treasured photo. To keep her Bisa Bea close to her heart, she tucks the picture inside the waistband of her shorts but she soon discovers, the picture is missing. Suddenly it is as if Bisa Bea is alive inside her, telling Bel what life was like when she was a girl but then Bisa Bea starts to tell her how to behave. Bel learns that her great-grandmother lived at a time where girls were expected to be proper young ladies. She argues with her grandmother and another voice comes into her head, encouraging her to stand up for herself and telling her what it means to be a modern girl.

Me in the Middle

Mérola, Caroline

Ana Maria Machado, Brazilian author and winner of the Hans Christian Andersen award, brings us the tragic story of Rosario, a young slave from the late 1800s who appears as a ghost to some children living in contemporary time. Martin and his friends are helping their parents turn an old Brazilian coffee plantation into an inn. The children sleep in a shed, which is being converted into guest rooms. One night they hear crying. Gradually, the slave Rosario appears to them and tells the story of why she is so sad. It is a terrible and tragic account that reveals the danger and instability that existed in Brazil, in the late 1800s, when slavery finally ended. Martin is distressed because he is not a very good student, but he has promised to record Rosario’s story in book form. Humor and happy everyday moments in the children’s lives enliven the book. Though Rosario’s experience may have happened in another world, by the time the children and the reader confront the terrible episode at the heart of the story, the utter hellishness of slavery is made shockingly clear.

Martin and his friends are helping their parents turn an old Brazilian coffee plantation into an inn. The children have a fun time helping to renovate the old place and they sleep in a shed that is being converted into a guest room. But one night they hear the sound of a young girl crying. Gradually, the ghost of a slave girl from the late 1800s named Rosario appears to them. Rosario tells them the story of her life and in doing so reveals the danger and instability that existed in Brazil after slavery ended. Martin promises Rosario to record her story in the form of a book. Though the experience of slavery seems remote to Martin and his friends, by the time they've heard Rosario's story, the evil of slavery is made painfully clear. Ana Maria Machado’s deft storytelling skills and social conscience come together in this powerfully moving book that explores the history and impact of slavery.

When Manny Wolf sees an ad in the paper announcing Wolf Wanted” he responds right away, only to realize the company is looking for a real wolf. Luckily for Manny, so many wolves respond to the ad that he is hired to answer all the letters. As Manny reads between the lines of the wolves’ letters, with their glowing descriptions of themselves, he realizes that all the applicants are famous fictional wolves! Finding no suitable candidates, Manny finally rewrites the ad, clarifying that a real wolf is needed so that a documentary can be made to show people what real wolves are like and how different they are from their big, bad fictional counterparts. Mixing fantasy and reality with zany illustrations, this hilarious story highlights the very serious risk of the extinction of wolves worldwide.

Wolf Wanted

See the best price to sell, buy, or rent books by Machado, Ana María. BookScouter helps to compare book prices from 25+ online bookstores and 30+ buyback vendors with a single search.

Books by Machado, Ana María

See the best price to sell, buy, or rent books by Machado, Ana María. BookScouter helps to compare book prices from 25+ online bookstores and 30+ buyback vendors with a single search.

Exploration into Latin America

Exploration into Latin America

Nina Bonita

From Another World

Exploration into Latin America

Me in the Middle (AMERICAS AWARD FOR CHILDREN'S AND YOUNG ADULT LITERATURE COMMENDED (AWARDS))

Me in the Middle

From Another World

From Another World

Wolf Wanted