Return to Sender by Julia Alvarez

You would be hard pressed to find two more opposite characters then Tyler and Mari. Tyler is the son of a proud farmer who has been injured and finds it difficult to keep up with his farm work. Mari is the eldest daughter of a Mexican migrant worker who is desperate need to work. Mari's family lives and works on the farm that Tyler's family has own since the begining of time, frienship blossoms and the families become close. But everything comes to a head when the "coyotes" contact Mari's father about her Mama, and immigration gets involved...can these two remain friends? Will Tyler turn his back on Mari?

I really enjoyed this book. I'm a huge fan of non-traditional writing styles. I feel like you can get so much more out of a book and it's characters if the story is told from multiple perspectives. I loved the letters that mari writes. They really pulled at my emotional strings. Highly recommendable. Probably upper elementary school on up!

Book Fiesta! by Pat Mora

Book Fiesta! is a beautifully illustrated book about all the places you can read. You can read in an airplane, at the library, or a submarine, in a hot air balloon, or even on an elephant. The point is that children can read anywhere and that's all part of the Book Fiesta! and celebrating Children's day or Dia de los ninos.
Pat Mora first heard of Dia de los ninos in 1996 and thought it was a great idea to celebrate children, but why not add to that and celebrate children AND books. So on or around April 30th he and others encourage people to celebrate children, but also celebrate children reading. What a great idea Mr. Mora!