Hispanic, Female and Young: An Anthology » (1st Edition)

To be young, female and Latino in the kaleidoscopic world of New York City is the reality Phyllis Tashlik captured in this multifaceted volume. The voices that speak through its pages are Las Mujeres Hispanas, a group of Latina teenagers at Manhattan East, a public alternative school in New York City's El Barrio. They met throughout the course of a year to read and discuss their reactions to the works of renowned female Hispanic authors as well as the concerns born from their own identities. Individually and as a collectivity they went on to write poems, stories, essays and interviews with prominent Latinas. Hispanic, Female and Young: An Anthology, the result of these endeavors, is an anthology of both Las Mujeres creative efforts and the literature that inspired them. It combines the fresh perspectives of the younger women with those of such seasoned, prize-winning, authors as Loma Dee Cervantes, Judith Ortiz Coler, Roberta Fernandez, Nicholasa Mohr, Pat Mora and many more. The resulting intergenerational dialogue includes remembrances of family and childhood, the difficulties and joys of growing up bilingual and bicultural, and what it is like to deal with both racism and misogynism.

Children's Literature

This anthology of short stories, personal essays, poems and interviews was complied by a group of 12 eighth-grade girls from Spanish Harlem, and then edited by their teacher. The girls searched for poems and stories that reflected their own cultural heritages and then arranged to have them reprinted here. Along with the poems of poets such as Lorna Dee Cervantes and Judith Ortiz Cofer, there are personal essays and stories written by the students themselves. The personal essays allowed the students to tell stories from their own lives to be enjoyed by readers who have similar backgrounds and other people who are interested in learning more about Hispanic cultures. This unique anthology is a needed and well-planned addition to multicultural collections for young adults.