This bilingual book tells the story of the founding of Chicano Park in San Diego, California. The community Take Over of land that had been ravished by the construction of Interstate 5 and the Coronado Bridge has now become a National Landmark hosting murals of international acclaim and stands as a symbol of self-determination and culture.

Reexamining the Chicano civil rights movement of the 1960s and 1970s, In the Spirit of a New People brings to light new insights about social activism in the twentieth-century and new lessons for progressive politics in the twenty-first. Randy J. Ontiveros explores the ways in which Chicano/a artists and activists used fiction, poetry, visual arts, theater, and other expressive forms to forge a common purpose and to challenge inequality in America. Focusing on cultural politics, Ontiveros reveals neglected stories about the Chicano movement and its impact: how writers used the street press to push back against the network news; how visual artists such as Santa Barraza used painting, installations, and mixed media to challenge racism in mainstream environmentalism; how El Teatro Campesino’s innovative “actos,” or short skits,sought to embody new, more inclusive forms of citizenship; and how Sandra Cisneros and other Chicana novelists broadened the narrative of the Chicano movement. In the Spirit of a New People articulates a fresh understanding of how the Chicano movement contributed to the social and political currents of postwar America, and how the movement remains meaningful today.

Am I Blue or Am I Green- ¿Azul o verde, cual soy yo? is a children's bilingual (Spanish and English) book that explores, through the eyes of a child, the differences between the Red, White and Blue of the American flag and the Green, White and Red of the Mexican flag. Topics covered include: Identity, Citizen Child, Chicano-Latino-Mexican-American Identity, Immigrant Identity, Bilingual (Spanish-English), Undocumented/Unauthorized Status, Mixed Status Family, Citizenship, Mexican Cultural Traditions, BIPOC, Resilience and Freedom. This bilingual (English/Spanish) children's book explores the feelings of a child who is an American Citizen and whose parents are Undocumented Immigrants. The child examines his life where he enjoys the American experience and lives in a home where his parents speak Spanish and practice the traditions of Mexico. Although he enjoys baseball and soccer, reggae and Rock en Español, he feels the fear of his parent's uncertain status. He explores the difference between being American and being an immigrant, and he acknowledges the "limbo" status that so many immigrants experience of not fully belonging to either country. Ultimately, he reaches an elegant solution, a coming to terms with his life and the richness he draws from two distinct cultural heritages. He is a symbol of resiliency and pride. This book focuses upon the Mexican- American/Chicano/a immigrant experience, but it is one that all immigrant communities can relate to while also providing an inside view from the child's point of view. It is fun and light-hearted while also emotional and moving at times. This is a great read for children in mixed status homes, for immigrant parents, for teachers and community members who interface with immigrant populations. It is an Insightful view of the challenging world of the child of immigrant parents in the United States and the beauty of resilience.

The novel embraces food as a communal practice with the ability to heal a family through storytelling.

A Day at Bob-lo Set in the mid 60s, A Day at Bob-lo is a 24 hour odyssey that captures the lives of Americans and Canadians as they meet and mingle on a hot summer day at an amusement park on an island in the Detroit River. The action begins in the wee hours of the morning at the Detroit dock as the Night Gang crew of the SS Columbia struggle to clean up the ship for the coming day. A sense of mystery is introduced as one of the gang senses an apparition in the river's haze. The morning unfolds with the introduction of crew members, entertainers, island employees and park patrons - as they make their way onto the Bob-lo scene. Soon the boat is on its way for its 90 minute cruise from downtown Detroit to the island and the fun begins amidst ominous portents. The afternoon is full of adventures of both the expected and unexpected variety as the paths of many of the players cross as the day heats up. A summer squall comes out of nowhere to nearly drive the ship ashore and threatens to close the park. But, as the sun and heat return and the rides restart, the strange events begin to build toward a reaction stage: The ship is experiencing a shifting channel; the company mascot, Captain Bob-lo, has gotten into the bandleader's dago red and begins to morph into a legendary being out of the city's past; The Columbia's First Mate enters into counter warfare with his nemesis, the Purser; and the dj of CKLW radio, doing a farewell live remote from the island, discovers that his engineer is on the way to Bob-lo with the intent of doing him great bodily harm. As darkness falls, the players merge at the park's infamous roller coaster for a last ride with the coolly pathological operator Eddie before getting on the last boat home. The boat ride is even more fraught with peril and, as the hijacked SS Columbia drifts powerless towards a radio tower dangling over the river, we know that this has been no ordinary day at Bob-lo Island. It is left to Nick and Tom, the bike boys, to try to save the day while winning the girls away from the Night Gang.

A New York Times bestseller and enduring classic, All About Love is the acclaimed first volume in feminist icon bell hooks' "Love Song to the Nation" trilogy. All About Love reveals what causes a polarized society, and how to heal the divisions that cause suffering. Here is the truth about love, and inspiration to help us instill caring, compassion, and strength in our homes, schools, and workplaces. “The word ‘love’ is most often defined as a noun, yet we would all love better if we used it as a verb,” writes bell hooks as she comes out fighting and on fire in All About Love. Here, at her most provocative and intensely personal, renowned scholar, cultural critic and feminist bell hooks offers a proactive new ethic for a society bereft with lovelessness--not the lack of romance, but the lack of care, compassion, and unity. People are divided, she declares, by society’s failure to provide a model for learning to love. As bell hooks uses her incisive mind to explore the question “What is love?” her answers strike at both the mind and heart. Razing the cultural paradigm that the ideal love is infused with sex and desire, she provides a new path to love that is sacred, redemptive, and healing for individuals and for a nation. The Utne Reader declared bell hooks one of the “100 Visionaries Who Can Change Your Life.” All About Love is a powerful, timely affirmation of just how profoundly her revelations can change hearts and minds for the better.