It's All in the Frijoles: One Hundred Famous Latinos Share Real Life Stories, Timed Tested Dichos, Favorite Folktales and Inspiring Words of Wisdom »

Yolanda Nava is an Emmy Award-winning television journalist, newspaper columnist, educator, consultant, and community leader. The daughter of Mexican immigrants, she has balanced family responsibilities with a career and broad-based community service. She lives in Southern California.

Do you wish you could remember all the words to the childhood songs your grandmother taught you, so you could sing them to your children? Have you ever found yourself repeating the dichos, or proverbs, your parents used to lecture you with? If you are looking for a way to get back in touch with your culture, It's All in the Frijoles is the perfect start. A treasure trove of cherished folktales, lullabies, poems, and dichos, this rich collection of Latino wisdom includes inspiring recollections and anecdotes by well-known and beloved figures, both past and present — from actor Edward James Olmos and author Isabel Allende to Nobel laureate Octavio Paz and Saint Teresa de Avila. It's All in the Frijoles is certain to evoke with fondness many a childhood memory of essential teachings learned from parents and grandparents, including:

It's All in the Frijoles captures and perpetuates the essence of Latino tradition and is destined to become a family treasure that is passed down from generation to generation. This legacy of wisdom provides food for thought not only for Latinos but also for people of all other ethnic backgrounds.

Publishers Weekly

Emmy-award-winning journalist Nava has produced a collection of poems, old sayings, personal stories, folktales and short quotations drawn from an eclectic array of sources that is guaranteed to be a constant resource for parents who wish to instruct their children in traditional virtues. ("Blood is inherited," Nava's mother told her, "but virtue is acquired.") Divided into chapters with titles such as Responsibility, Respect, Hard Work, Faith, Courage, Justice and Chastity, each section features a host of historical figures, contemporary writers, directors, producers, political figures, artists, actors and entrepreneurs--a veritable who's who of international Latinos that demonstrates the immense influence of this group on American culture. Laced through it all is Nava's commentary on her own life, which, coming as it does from a highly successful journalist and businesswoman (she owns the Ponce-Niacasio Broadcasting Co.), is worth consideration. Despite a tendency to rely on celebrity status as intrinsic proof of virtue, Nava pulls off her lessons of Latino life with charm and old-fashioned grace. (May) Copyright 2000 Cahners Business Information.|