Si Se Puede!/Yes We Can
Diana Cohn
  - Cinco Puntos Press, 2004, $7.95

There are very few children’s books dedicated to stories of working-class struggles. Si, Se Puede makes a wonderful contribution to this endeavor by giving voice to one child’s story as his mother goes on strike with the janitor’s union in LA. Written in both Spanish and English, this book provides a compelling example of how children can relate to and support their parents’ political organizing.

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When I Feel Angry
Cornelia Maude Spelman
  - Albert Whitman & Company, 2004, $6.95

“Anger is a strong, hot feeling,” the bunny-protagonist explains to us, in this book geared for three to seven year olds. Indeed, anger is one of those emotions that most of us struggle with into adulthood. When I feel Angry articulates what anger feels like, and what situations provoke it, so that children can better learn to recognize it as a feeling. It also presents some concrete suggestions for how to calm anger down and avoid violent impulses, as well as how to communicate the emotional needs that often lie at the root of anger. This book is a great tool for parents and educators working to develop emotional skills in children.

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Lakas and the Makibaka Hotel/Si Lakas at ang Makibaka Hotel
by Anthony D. Robles / Illustrated by Carl Angel
  - Children's Book Press, 2006, $16.95

As the San Francisco ruling class attempts to annihilate working-class communities of color, maintaining an institutional memory of our struggles becomes an important terrain of struggle in itself. In this beautifully illustrated book, Lakas tells us the story of the tenants of the Trinity Plaza Apartments, who faced with their evictions in 2002, organized collectively and won. Written in both Tagalog and English, this book emphasizes the centrality of cultural activism as a tool for movement building and as a force that can build political consciousness in children.

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Kiki’s Journey
Kristy Orona-Ramirez
  - Children's Book Press, 2006, $16.95

Having grown up in Los Angeles, Kiki struggles to feel connected to her Tiwa ancestry, and the reservation where much of her family still lives. It does not help that her white teachers ask her to speak any time they are studying a Native American culture, as if they are all the same. When Kiki goes to visit Taos Pueblo where her family lives, she explores ways to transform the alienation that she feels in both communities, and build her own sense of cultural connectedness—“a heart belonging to both the Pueblo and the city.” This is a story that educators can use to explore the particular identities of urban native peoples, as well as the general struggle to maintain community and identity across geographical, political, and cultural borders.


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