{"id":2056,"date":"2008-03-19T18:59:00","date_gmt":"2008-03-19T18:59:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/writingya.com\/?p=2056"},"modified":"2018-11-20T05:28:42","modified_gmt":"2018-11-20T05:28:42","slug":"voices-of-river","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/writingya.com\/?p=2056","title":{"rendered":"The Voices of the River"},"content":{"rendered":"

Rio Grande Stories<\/a>, By Carolyn Meyer<\/p>\n

Rio Grande Middle isn\u2019t just a typical Albuquerque middle school. It\u2019s a magnet school for kids from all over the city to come and enjoy special projects like the Heritage Project, which studies various cultures and peoples as part of the curriculum. Some of the kids at RGM weren\u2019t too sure about coming all the way across town to a special school, but the Heritage Project has been really interesting, and slowly the students are bonding.<\/p>\n

One of the \u2018different\u2019 things the Heritage Project kids are doing is writing a book. It\u2019s to help the school raise money for some finishing touches on the remodel. It\u2019s supposed to be a book about the various cultures represented at the school, a chapter written by each student. It\u2019s an idea that everybody can get behind \u2013 almost.<\/p>\n

Some kids, like Tony Martinez, love the idea \u2013 he\u2019s got a great story to tell about his famous ancestor, the story his father\u2019s been telling him since he was little, the story his mother hates to hear\u2026 He thought it was a great story, but none of the Catholic kids believe him. After all, how can he be descended from a priest!? Priests don\u2019t have kids!<\/p>\n

Kids like April Ellis are horrified at how excited her parents get over the Heritage Project. So far, none of her classmates know she and her hippie parents live in a bus, but unfortunately, that doesn\u2019t last. Her Dad shows up at school to volunteer for the Heritage Project! April is furious. What does her dad, Tom, know about heritage? Or adobe!? Actually, you\u2019d be surprised\u2026<\/p>\n

Even though Tom\u00e1s Jaramillo was born Espa\u00f1ola and have moved to Albuquerque, he knows how many people think his hometown\u2019s a bad joke, and that the Hispanic people there are poor and short and stupid. So, should he risk being called a cholo and ask his cousin, Johnny to bring his low-rider to school for his part of the Project?<\/p>\n

Told in alternating voices \u2013 one chapter from a student, one chapter about that student, Carolyn Meyer\u2019s Rio Grande Stories is a tasty m\u00e9lange of the sights, flavors and sounds of the Latin and Indian cultures of the Rio Grande. Through the student\u2019s stories, the people and history of the region come to life, drawn together with the bright threads of the past and present. Perfect for middle grade students trying to find pride in themselves and their particular culture, this book delightfully reminds us how, across the cultures, we all are much the same.<\/p>\n

This review was first published in the February ’08 Edge of the Forest<\/a> Children’s Literature Monthly.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Rio Grande Stories, By Carolyn Meyer Rio Grande Middle isn\u2019t just a typical Albuquerque middle school. It\u2019s a magnet school for kids from all…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[108,14,36,21,5],"class_list":["post-2056","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized","tag-edge-of-the-forest","tag-middle-grade","tag-multicultural-fiction","tag-realistic-fiction","tag-reviews"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/writingya.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2056","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/writingya.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/writingya.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/writingya.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/writingya.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=2056"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/writingya.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2056\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":4794,"href":"https:\/\/writingya.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2056\/revisions\/4794"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/writingya.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=2056"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/writingya.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=2056"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/writingya.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=2056"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}