Children's Books About Puerto Rico and Puerto Ricans

Carlitos lives in a happy home with his mother, his abuela, and Coco the cat. Life in his hometown is cozy as can be, but the call of the capital city pulls Carlitos across the bay in search of his father.

"When Miguel and his parents move from Puerto Rico to the U.S. mainland, Miguel misses their home, his grandparents, and his pet frog, Coquí, but he soon realizes that New York City has more in common with back home than he originally thought"--

While preparing for Christmas in Puerto Rico, seven-year-old Esmeralda asks the Three Magi for a baby doll like her cousin's, but when they bring something else instead she gains a deeper understanding of the meaning of the holiday.

As Estrellita leaves her beloved Caribbean island home, she combines all of its features into an ode celebrating its green and eternal beauty.

A Taino myth of how the island Puerto Rico was created in a world that once had no water or vegetation but was only a tall mountain on a desert plain. A boy finds seeds and plants them at the top of the mountain and lush vegetation grows including an enormous pumpkin. When the pumpkin breaks the sea rushes out and fills the plain leaving the mountain top island of Puerto Rico.

Although he tries to do exactly as his mother tells him, foolish Juan Bobo keeps getting things all wrong.

A young boy has lost Bongo, his favorite stuffed animal, and no matter where he looks for it he cannot find it. Perhaps someone stole it, he thinks, someone like his little sister.

The day before Christmas, everyone in Jose's neighborhood seems grumpy, including his mother who is homesick for Puerto Rico, but when he and his parents return from the pizzeria where they borrowed an oven to cook their roast, the heavenly aroma reminds those they pass of all they have to celebrate.

"When Ren moves to Ava's city, he feels lost without the green and magic of his home, but not everything in the city is what meets the eye and Ren discovers that nothing makes you feel at home quite like a friend"--

Ramsey dons his superhero cape to rescue Grandma from the huge octopus she is trying to cook--or is he simply telling a story? Includes author's note on the story's origin and a recipe for Octopus stew.