Cool Salsa Bilingual Poems on Growing Up Latino in the United States

Lori M. Carlson is an editor and translator who has concentrated on bringing Latino literature to American readers. As co-editor of Where Angels Glide at Dawn, she introduced new Latin American authors to younger readers. She is the founder of the bilingual children’s magazine Azul. Most recently she edited American Eyes. Ms. Carlson lives in New York City.

“This spirited, significant collection of poetry for young adults by poets of Latin American heritage is enlivened both by the considerable energy of the poems and by the juxtaposition—and sometimes intermingling—of English and Spanish. . . . The collection is eminently successful in celebrating the particular experience of growing up Latino in the United States.” —The Horn Book, starred review

“Whether discussing the immigrant’s frustration at not being able to speak English, the violence suffered both within and outside of the ethnic community, the familiar adolescent desire to belong, or celebrating the simple joys of life, these fine poems are incisive and photographic in their depiction of a moment. Some of the poets are well-known, others are not, but all contribute to the whole. The Spanish translations capture the sense of the English so well that without the translator’s byline one would be hard pressed to discern the original language. The same is true for those few poems translated from Spanish to English. This is . . . excellent enrichment material for literature courses.” —School Library Journal

“As hot as jalapenos and as cool as jazz, this collection serves up ‘ingles con chile’ and Spanish that ‘you feel in the blood of your soul.’ Lyrical, traditional poems share space with street-smart free verse, and works by the likes of Sandra Cisneros and Gary Soto are juxtaposed with entries from lesser-knowns. Illustrating the ‘beat and pulse’ of generations of U.S. writers of Latin American heritage, the poems are presented both in the original and in translation; poems making use of both languages are easily accessible to English-only readers by virtue of an appended glossary of Spanish terms. In his introduction, Hijuelos focuses on the ‘unrelenting, unending sense of second classness’ that his parents experienced as Cuban emigrants and explains how this ‘sense’ affected his uses of English and Spanish. The political agenda is not hidden, but the potency of the volume lies in Carlson’s eclectic selection of voices—her volume approximates what one poet here calls ‘a Mixtec chant that touches la tierra and the heavens.’ ” —Publishers Weekly

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