Book Finder
Use our Book Finder tool to create your own customized list of fiction and nonfiction books. Search through more than 5,000 books on Reading Rockets — by author, illustrator, age, reading level, genre, format, and topic.
Capoeira: Game! Dance! Martial Art!
A trip to Brazil inspired this look at a unique sport called "capoeira." The result is a compelling journey into capoeira's history and its popularity around the world. The book begins with students at an academy in Oakland, California. Well-placed and -paced, full-color photographs chronicle this amazing activity.
Patterns in Peru: An Adventure in Patterning
Matt and his twin sister, Bibi accompany their scientist parents to Peru where they stumble into an archaeological adventure. They ride their guanaco (a cousin to the llama), decode the patterns on the poncho, and find the mysterious lost city of Quwi! A note to adults suggests additional patterning activities.
A Ring of Tricksters: Animal Tales from America, the West Indies, and Africa
A collection of trickster stories — from the Brer Rabbit found in the American South to East Africa's Anansi — are presented from a master storyteller. Watercolor illustrations add humor and verve to each of these outrageous and often funny characters.
Animal Poems of the Iguazu
Inspired by a visit to the Iguazu National Park in South America, Francisco X. Alarcón celebrates its animals, skies, waterfalls, and more in these short and vibrant bilingual poems. Each page holds pulsating paintings that swirl and move, further vivifying each poem.
The Storyteller's Candle
This is the story of librarian Pura Belpré, told through the eyes of two young children who are introduced to the library and its treasures just before Christmas. Lulu Delacre's lovely illustrations evoke New York City at the time of the Great Depression, as well as the close-knit and vibrant Puerto Rican community that was thriving in El Barrio during this time. Bilingual Spanish-English text.
Once Upon a Time: Traditional Latin American Tales / Habia una vez: Cuentos tradicionales Latino Americanos
Animals and people wise and foolish are presented in these tales retold. Their origins, from a range of Spanish-speaking countries including Argentina, Cuba, Puerto Rico, and Spain, are retold and handsomely illustrated — just right for reading aloud.
Good-bye, Havana! Hola, New York!
The narrator describes her family's immigration from Cuba to New York City based on her own family's story and illustrated by her husband for a striking memoir.
Martin de Porres: The Rose in the Desert
Martin and his sister grew up in a Lima, Peru, barrio, children of an African slave and a Spanish nobleman. Martin was apprenticed to a cirujano, would join a Dominican monastery, and later become sought after as a healer. Jewel-like illustrations complement the accessible telling to reveal a man of faith and courage, despite the prejudices he confronted.
No Monkeys, No Chocolate
Most kids like something chocolate-y, right? But there wouldn't be chocolate without cocoa beans that come from cocoa pods that rely on insects and other creatures in rainforests — even monkeys! A brief but engaging look at this interconnected habitat is realistically illustrated with informative but humorous asides by bookworms to encourage each page turn.
Mayeros: A Yucatec Maya Family
Visit Mexico's Yucatan Peninsula to meet several generations of Mayan Indians, learn a bit about their history, culture, and contemporary life in this riveting portrait in pictures and words.
