Libros solidarios: Teaching Language and Building Community with Latine Children's Literature in Spanish, PreK-6 - Softcover

Luz Yadira Herrera; Carla Espana

Softcover

ISBN 10: 1681258188 ISBN 13: 9781681258188

Publisher: Brookes Publishing Co., 2025

Synopsis

Latine Spanish-language children’s literature is powerful for supporting bilingual learners’ language and literacy development and nurturing cross-linguistic connections. Libros solidarios shows K–6 teachers how to grow biliteracy through authentic Spanish-language picture books, early readers, and middle-grade literature on key topics like identity, family, community, and immigration. Written in Spanish with brief English introductions to each chapter, this book is perfect for use in any space with bilingual and multilingual Spanish speakers.

The heart of this book is 18 K-6 classroom-ready unit plans. Built around Spanish-language text pairings, the units encourage deep engagement with the texts' themes and advance a metalinguistic study of varieties of the Spanish language. For each unit, teachers will get:

• Unit Overview: Essential questions, Spanish-language objectives, translanguaging objectives, and key concepts
• Unit Projects: Recommendations for multiple means of expression to evaluate students’ learning (aligned with UDL)
• Sample Activities: Language study charts, sample teacher moves, personal reflections, and book club discussion guides for language practice and content analysis
• Language Study: Guidance for intentional analysis of Spanish language practices and characteristics in texts
• Translation Discussion Guide: Prompts to examine differences between the languages and create opportunities for cross-linguistic discussions and connections
• Reading Group Guides: Additional paired texts for guiding further reading and teaching on the topic

An essential resource for bilingual education programs and Spanish language classes, this innovative book will help teachers nurture their students’ language and literacy skills while honoring their linguistic and cultural practices.

About this title

About the Author

Dr. Luz Yadira Herrera is an Assistant Professor of Dual Language Learning. Her teaching and research are in culturally and linguistically sustaining pedagogy, translanguaging, critical pedagogies, and bilingual education policy. She is the co-author of En Comunidad: Lessons for Centering the Voices and Experiences of Bilingual Latinx Students, The Translanguaging Collections: Affirming Bilingual and Multilingual Learners Handbook, and co-founder of the En Comunidad Collective with Dr. Carla España. Her teaching journey began with students in grades K-6 in an English as a New Language classroom in NYC public schools.

Dr. Carla España is a New York-based educator from Chile. She is an Assistant Professor of Puerto Rican and Latinx Studies at Brooklyn College, City University of New York. Her research and teaching live at the intersections of Latinx studies, bilingual education, youth literature, and teacher preparation. Her most recent book is Narrative Writing with Latinx Teens: Testimonios, Texts, and Teaching (Stenhouse/Routledge). Dr. España is also the co-author of En Comunidad: Lessons for Centering the Voices and Experiences of Bilingual Latinx Students (Heinemann), and The Translanguaging Collections: Affirming Bilingual and Multilingual Learners Handbook (Penguin Random House) with Dr. Luz Yadira Herrera. Her teaching journey began with bilingual sixth graders at Don Pedro Albizu Campos School in New York City.

Edition details

• Publisher: Brookes Publishing Co.
• Publication date: 2025
• Language: English
• ISBN 10: 1681258188
• ISBN 13: 9781681258188
• Binding: Paperback
• Number of pages: 176