Books by Juan Felipe Herrera
Notes on the Assemblage
The Books We Love in 2016 - The New Yorker
Best Poetry Collections of 2015 - The Washington Post
Best Books 2015: Poetry - Library Journal
Best Books of 2015 - NPR Books
16 Best Poetry Books of 2015 - BuzzFeed Books
Juan Felipe Herrera, the first Latino Poet Laureate of the United States and son of Mexican immigrants, grew up in the migrant fields of California.
Exuberant and socially engaged, reflective and healing, this collection of new work from the nation's first Latino Poet Laureate is brimming with the wide-open vision and hard-won wisdom of a poet whose life and creative arc have spanned chasms of culture in an endless crossing, dreaming and back again.
"[This year] Juan Felipe Herrera's Notes on the Assemblage has been a ladder of hope …"—Ada Limón, The New Yorker
"Juan Felipe Herrera's family has gone from migrant worker to poet laureate of the United States in one generation. One generation. I am an adamant objector to the Horatio Alger myth of pulling oneself up by the bootstraps, but Herrera's story is one of epic American proportions. The heads carved into my own Mount Rushmás would be Cesar Chavez, Dolores Huerta, Frida Kahlo, El Chapulín Colorado, Selena, and Juan Felipe Herrera. Notes from the Assemblage further carves out Herrera's place in American letters."—David Tomas Martinez
"At home with field workers, wage slaves, the homeless, little children, old folks, artists, traditionalists, the avant-garde, students, scholars and prisoners, the bilingual Juan Felipe Herrera is the real thing: a populist treasure. He will fulfill his appointment as U.S. Poet Laureate with the same high energy, savvy, passion, compassion, commitment and playfulness that his art and life's have always embodied. Bravo! Bravo!"—Al Young
"While reporters can give you the what, when, and where of a war, a poet with the enormous gifts of Juan Herrera can give you its soul."—Ishmael Reed
"I am proud that Juan Felipe Herrera has been appointed U.S. Poet Laureate, bringing his truthful, beautiful voice to all of us universally. As the first Chicano Laureate, he will empower all diverse cultures."—Janice Mirikitani
"Herrera is … a sometimes hermetic, wildly inventive, always unpredictable poet, whose work commands attention for its style alone … Many poets since the 1960s have dreamed of a new hybrid art, part oral, part written, part English, part something else: an art grounded in ethnic identity, fueled by collective pride, yet irreducibly individual too. Many poets have tried to create such an art: Herrera is one of the first to succeed."—The New York Times
"Herrera has the unusual capacity to write convincing political poems that are as personally felt as poems can be."—National Public Radio
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Notes on the Assemblage
Juan Felipe Herrera, the first Latino Poet Laureate of the United States and son of Mexican immigrants, grew up in the migrant fields of California.
Exuberant and socially engaged, reflective and healing, this collection of new work from the nation's first Latino Poet Laureate is brimming with the wide-open vision and hard-won wisdom of a poet whose life and creative arc have spanned chasms of culture in an endless crossing, dreaming and back again.
"Juan Felipe Herrera's family has gone from migrant worker to poet laureate of the United States in one generation. One generation. I am an adamant objector to the Horatio Alger myth of pulling oneself up by the bootstraps, but Herrera's story is one of epic American proportions. The heads carved into my own Mount Rushmás would be Cesar Chavez, Dolores Huerta, Frida Kahlo, El Chapulín Colorado, Selena, and Juan Felipe Herrera. Notes from the Assemblage further carves out Herrera's place in American letters."David Tomas Martinez
"At home with field workers, wage slaves, the homeless, little children, old folks, artists, traditionalists, the avant-garde, students, scholars and prisoners, the bilingual Juan Felipe Herrera is the real thing: a populist treasure. He will fulfill his appointment as U.S. Poet Laureate with the same high energy, savvy, passion, compassion, commitment and playfulness that his art and life's have always embodied. Bravo! Bravo!"Al Young
"While reporters can give you the what, when, and where of a war, a poet with the enormous gifts of Juan Herrera can give you its soul."Ishmael Reed
"I am proud that Juan Felipe Herrera has been appointed U.S. Poet Laureate, bringing his truthful, beautiful voice to all of us universally. As the first Chicano Laureate, he will empower all diverse cultures."Janice Mirikitani
"Herrera is
a sometimes hermetic, wildly inventive, always unpredictable poet, whose work commands attention for its style alone
Many poets since the 1960s have dreamed of a new hybrid art, part oral, part written, part English, part something else: an art grounded in ethnic identity, fueled by collective pride, yet irreducibly individual too. Many poets have tried to create such an art: Herrera is one of the first to succeed."The New York Times
"Herrera has the unusual capacity to write convincing political poems that are as personally felt as poems can be."National Public Radio
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Every Day We Get More Illegal
Voted a Best Poetry Book of the Year by Library Journal
Included in Publishers Weekly's Top 10 Poetry Books of the Year
One of LitHub's most Anticipated Books of the Year!
A State of the Union from the nation’s first Latino Poet Laureate. Trenchant, compassionate, and filled with hope.
"Many poets since the 1960s have dreamed of a new hybrid art, part oral, part written, part English, part something else: an art grounded in ethnic identity, fueled by collective pride, yet irreducibly individual too. Many poets have tried to create such an art: Herrera is one of the first to succeed."—New York Times
"Herrera has the unusual capacity to write convincing political poems that are as personally felt as poems can be."—NPR
"Juan Felipe Herrera's magnificent new poems in Every Day We Get More Illegal testify to the deepest parts of the American dream—the streets and parking lots, the stores and restaurants and futures that belong to all—from the times when hope was bright, more like an intimate song than any anthem stirring the blood."—Naomi Shihab Nye, The New York Times Magazine
"From Basho to Mandela, Every Day We Get More Illegal takes us on an international tour for a lesson in the history of resistance from a poet who declares, 'I had to learn . . . to take care of myself . . . the courage to listen to my self.' You hold in your hands evidence of who we really are."—Jericho Brown, author of The Tradition
"These poems talk directly to America, to migrant people, and to working people. Herrera has created a chorus to remind us we are alive and beautiful and powerful."—José Olivarez, Author of Citizen Illegal
"The poet comes to his country with a book of songs, and asks: America, are you listening? We better listen. There is wisdom in this book, there is a choral voice that teaches us 'to gain, pebble by pebble, seashell by seashell, the courage.' The courage to find more grace, to find flames."—Ilya Kaminsky, author of Deaf Republic
In this collection of poems, written during and immediately after two years on the road as United States Poet Laureate, Juan Felipe Herrera reports back on his travels through contemporary America. Poems written in the heat of witness, and later, in quiet moments of reflection, coalesce into an urgent, trenchant, and yet hope-filled portrait. The struggle and pain of those pushed to the edges, the shootings and assaults and injustices of our streets, the lethal border game that separates and divides, and then: a shift of register, a leap for peace and a view onto the possibility of unity.
Every Day We Get More Illegal is a jolt to the conscience—filled with the multiple powers of the many voices and many textures of every day in America.
"Former Poet Laureate Juan Felipe Herrera should also be Laureate of our Millennium—a messenger who nimbly traverses the transcendental liminalities of the United States . . ."—Carmen Gimenez Smith, author of Be Recorder
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Lejos / Far
Some things are close — cerca. Others are far — lejos. With sweet simplicity, this charming dual-language board book and its companion volume, Cerca/Close, engage young children.
El árbol de limones está lejos de mi casa. The lemon tree is far from my house.
The little boy’s house is far from the city, and the city is far from the ocean. What about the mountains in the distance, or the clouds in the sky, or the sun that shines over the boy as he walks?
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Imagine
by Norman Messenger, John Lennon, Alison Lester, Hervé Tullet, Juan Felipe Herrera, Bart Vivian
Inspiring, intriguing, endlessly entertaining -- Norman Messenger's interactive book allows us to step out of our everyday lives, shed our preconceptions, and experience a little magic.
IMAGINE . . . a ladder without steps, a clock without hands, a racket without strings, a kiss without a mouth. Imagine a world where the hills have faces and wherever you went, you'd have someone to talk to. Imagine flipping a series of flaps to form fantastical creatures or turning a wheel to fit the top of one face on the bottom of another. Imagine that Norman Messenger's quirky, humorous suggestions, ingenious visual puzzles, and beautifully crafted illustrations will open your eyes and mind and reveal that -- with a little imagination -- the world can become a different and mysterious place, where anything is possible.
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Imagine
by Norman Messenger, John Lennon, Alison Lester, Hervé Tullet, Juan Felipe Herrera, Bart Vivian
Imagine all the people living life in peace.
You may say I'm a dreamer, but I'm not the only one.
I hope some day you'll join us, and the world will be as one.
Join one little pigeon as she sets out on a journey to spread a message of tolerance around the world. Featuring the lyrics of John Lennon’s iconic song and illustrations by the award-winning artist Jean Jullien, this poignant and timely picture book dares to imagine a world at peace. Imagine will be published in partnership with human rights organization Amnesty International.
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Imagine
by Norman Messenger, John Lennon, Alison Lester, Hervé Tullet, Juan Felipe Herrera, Bart Vivian
A vivid introduction to animals from all parts of the world, portraying them in their specialized environments with intricately detailed pictures.
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Imagine
by Norman Messenger, John Lennon, Alison Lester, Hervé Tullet, Juan Felipe Herrera, Bart Vivian
A buoyant, breathtaking poem from Juan Felipe Herrera — brilliantly illustrated by Caldecott Honoree Lauren Castillo — speaks to every dreaming heart.
Have you ever imagined what you might be when you grow up? When he was very young, Juan Felipe Herrera picked chamomile flowers in windy fields and let tadpoles swim across his hands in a creek. He slept outside and learned to say good-bye to his amiguitoseach time his family moved to a new town. He went to school and taught himself to read and write English and filled paper pads with rivers of ink as he walked down the street after school. And when he grew up, he became the United States Poet Laureate and read his poems aloud on the steps of the Library of Congress. If he could do all of that . . . what could you do? With this illustrated poem of endless possibility, Juan Felipe Herrera and Lauren Castillo breathe magic into the hopes and dreams of readers searching for their place in life.
Copies
No copies available.
Imagine
by Norman Messenger, John Lennon, Alison Lester, Hervé Tullet, Juan Felipe Herrera, Bart Vivian
A buoyant, breathtaking poem from Juan Felipe Herrera — brilliantly illustrated by Caldecott Honoree Lauren Castillo — speaks to every dreaming heart.
Have you ever imagined what you might be when you grow up? When he was very young, Juan Felipe Herrera picked chamomile flowers in windy fields and let tadpoles swim across his hands in a creek. He slept outside and learned to say good-bye to his amiguitoseach time his family moved to a new town. He went to school and taught himself to read and write English and filled paper pads with rivers of ink as he walked down the street after school. And when he grew up, he became the United States Poet Laureate and read his poems aloud on the steps of the Library of Congress. If he could do all of that . . . what could you do? With this illustrated poem of endless possibility, Juan Felipe Herrera and Lauren Castillo breathe magic into the hopes and dreams of readers searching for their place in life.
Copies
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Imagine
by Norman Messenger, John Lennon, Alison Lester, Hervé Tullet, Juan Felipe Herrera, Bart Vivian
Parenting expert, popular speaker, and bestselling author of The Blessing of a Skinned Knee returns with a revelatory new book for parents of teenagers.
In The Blessing of a Skinned Knee, author Wendy Mogel introduced a new approach to parenting, one that drew its fundamental principles from Jewish wisdom and emphasized resisting overprotection of our children. With its combination of insight and practicality, the book became a word-of-mouth success and made Mogel a much sought after speaker.
Now, in the long-awaited follow-up to her perennial seller, Mogel addresses the question she is asked most frequently: how to be a parent in a culture that breeds anxiety and fragility in older children and teens by placing too high a value on perfection and success. Applying concepts from mussar (a Jewish system of character refinement that focuses on ethical behavior) and other teachings, Mogel shows parents how to stop overindulging or pressuring their children and instead focus on developing sound judgment. By practicing composure, detachment, acceptance, moderation, integrity, authority, and delightthe traits covered in the seven chaptersparents will not only uncover an appreciative and reflective relationship with their children, but will also set an example of the adults they want them to become.
An important and inspiring book, The Blessing of a B Minus encourages parents to see beyond the drama of teenage crises and the competitiveness of college applications to the goal of raising resilient, optimistic adults.
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Imagine
by Norman Messenger, John Lennon, Alison Lester, Hervé Tullet, Juan Felipe Herrera, Bart Vivian
Imagine a world where everything is an adventure and there is a surprise around every corner! It's a wonderful world - just look inside and see for yourself! Award-winning author Hervé Tullet returns with another magical, instant classic for children.
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Half of the World in Light: New and Selected Poems
Winner of the National Book Critics Circle Award for Poetry and the PEN/Beyond Margins Award
For nearly four decades, Juan Felipe Herrera has documented his experience as a Chicano in the United States and Latin America through stunning, memorable poetry that is both personal and universal in its impact, themes, and approach. Often political, never fainthearted, his career has been marked by tremendous virtuosity and a unique sensibility for uncovering the unknown and the unexpected. Through a variety of stages and transformations, Herrera has evolved more than almost any other Chicano poet, always re-inventing himself into a more mature and seasoned voice.
Now, in this unprecedented collection, we encounter the trajectory of this highly innovative and original writer, bringing the full scope of his singular vision into view. Beginning with early material from A Certain Man, the volume moves through thirteen of Herrera’s collections into new, previously unpublished work. Serious scholars and readers alike will now have available to them a representative set of glimpses into his production as well as his origins and personal development. The ultimate value of bringing together such a collection, however, is that it will allow us to better understand and appreciate the complexity of what this major American poet is all about.
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Imagina
A buoyant, breathtaking poem from Juan Felipe Herrera—brilliantly illustrated by Caldecott Honoree Lauren Castillo—speaks to every dreaming heart.
Have you ever imagined what you might be when you grow up? When he was very young, Juan Felipe Herrera picked chamomile flowers in windy fields and let tadpoles swim across his hands in a creek. He slept outside and learned to say goodbye to his amiguitos each time his family moved to a new town. He went to school and taught himself to read and write English and filled paper pads with rivers of ink as he walked down the street after school. And when he grew up, he became the United States Poet Laureate and read his poems aloud on the steps of the Library of Congress. If he could do all of that . . . what could you do? With this illustrated poem of endless possibility, Juan Felipe Herrera and Lauren Castillo breathe magic into the hopes and dreams of readers searching for their place in life.
Copies
No copies available.
Cerca / Close
Some things are close — cerca. Others are far — lejos. With sweet simplicity, this charming dual-language board book and its companion volume, Lejos/Far, engage young children.
Mi cuarto está cerca de la cocina. My bedroom is close to the kitchen.
As she walks from her kitchen through a daisy-filled yard to the house next door, a little girl notices things that are close to each other — just as the little boy she goes to visit is close to her.
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Portraits of Hispanic American Heroes
An inspiring tribute to Hispanic Americans who have made a positive impact on the world
This visually stunning book showcases twenty Hispanic and Latino American men and women who have made outstanding contributions to the arts, politics, science, humanitarianism, and athletics. Gorgeous portraits complement sparkling biographies of Cesar Chavez, Sonia Sotomayor, Ellen Ochoa, Roberto Clemente, and many more. Complete with timelines and famous quotes, this tome is a magnificent homage to those who have shaped our nation.
In this volume: Adelina Otero-Warren, Bernardo de Galvez, Cesar Chavez, David Farragut, Dennis Chavez, Desi Arnaz, Dolores Huerta, Ellen Ochoa, Helen Rodríguez Trías, Hero Street USA, Ignacio Lozano, Jaime Escalante, Joan Baez, Judy Baca, Julia de Burgos, Luis Alvarez, Rita Moreno, Roberte Clemente, Sonia Sotomayor, and Tomas Rivera
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The Roots of a Thousand Embraces Dialogues
"Juan Felipe Hererra's writing fuses wide-ranging experimentalism with reflections on Mexican-American identity . . ."--The New York Times
In forty cantos, the poet explores the metaphysical relationship between Frida Kahlo, her art, her broken body, and cross-border consciousness. First published in 1994, this early work--his sixth book--reveals a deep sense of longing for all to be made whole again in spite of fractures--physical, metaphorical, cultural--bestowed by the world.
From "Prologue: A Second Body":
Think on the time it takes a scar to heal,
a river to rise -- an old woman to regain the tumbling
powers of her busted arms -- a young woman (calling
herself Frida) to re-structure her shattered vertebrae, to
be caught up with a body-cast, a second body which she
inhabits -- for the rest of her life; this is precious to me,
that is all.
She painted herself somewhere in-between Mexico and
the United States -- in the open space of the jaws; between
the mandibles of the jaguar and the nuclear turbine.
It is the healing of this metaphysical fracture too (which
may invoke further breakage) that concerns me.
Juan Felipe Herrera was raised in a farm-working family in the San Joaquin Valley. A graduate of UCLA, the Iowa Writers' Workshop, and Stanford University, he has written numerous books. Herrera's awards include a Guggenheim Fellowship, the National Book Critics Circle Award, and the PEN USA Award. Former Poet Laureate of California and now United States Poet Laureate, he lives in Fresno.
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Loteria Cards and Fortune Poems A Book of Lives
by Juan Felipe Herrera, Artemio Rodriguez
The gorgeous black and white line art inside this hefty little book instantly caught my eye. These linocut drawings were not the regular loteria images. They were modern adaptations, made with painstaking detail (think of a turn-of-the-millenium, wired Posada) and showing a distinctive sense of humor and pathos. The poetry, commissioned especially for the drawings, also showed a fresh and modern take on the icons of Mexicanismo and Chicanismo."-Frontera Magazine
Table of Contents
Introduction
The Lottery
The Hunchback
The Armadillo
Death
The Fly
The Bell
The Horse
The Press
The Smokers
The Pear
The Guitar
The Little Saint
The Rooster
The Bicycle
The Archangel
The Palm Tree
The Hermit
The Bat
The Witch
The Friends
The Cactus
God
The Hand
The Fruit
The Pig
The Glutton
The Flight
The Ostrich
The Fall
The Virgin
The Tree
The Star
The Bottle
The Drunkards
The Scorpion
Corn
Fire
The Clown
Vengeance
The Prodigal Son
The Soldier
The Hunter
The Mermaid
The Lion
The Wrestler
The Wetback
The Immigration Officer
Feet
The Railroad
The Ladder
The Serpent
The Dancer
The Scissors
Eve
Adam
The Plague
Hell
The Giant
The Musicians
The Poet
The Devil
The Goat
The Victim
The Flag
The Canoe
The Circus
The Camel
Bad Government
Sadness
The Sun
The Fish
The Wound
The Chair
The Worker
The Airplane
The Trap
The Heart
The Sword
The Comet
The Beggars
The Cat
The Horseman
The Cow
The Magician
Torture
The Absent One
The Crab
Heaven
The Lizard
The Sandals
The Knife
The Hen
The Inspired One
The Deer
The Zapatista
The Dog
The Old Man
The Monkey
The Hanged One
The Eagle
The Bath
The Guardian Angel
The World
The Rose
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CrashBoomLove: A Novel in Verse (Mary Burritt Christiansen Poetry Series)
In this novel in verse--unprecedented in Chicano literature--renowned poet Juan Felipe Herrera illuminates the soul of a generation. Drawn from his own life as well as a lifetime of dedication to young people, CrashBoomLove helps readers understand what it is to be a teen, a migrant worker, and a boy wanting to be a boy.
Sixteen-year-old César García is careening. His father, Papi César, has left the migrant circuit in California for his other wife and children in Denver. Sweet Mama Lucy tries to provide for her son with dichos and tales of her own misspent youth. But at Rambling West High School in Fowlerville, the sides are drawn: Hmongs vs. Chicanos vs. everybody vs. César, the new kid on the block.
Precise and profound, CrashBoomLove will appeal to and resonate with high school readers across the country.
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Giraffe on Fire (Camino del Sol)
First Place co-winner, Best Poetry, Latino Literary Hall of Fame
A poetic collage of voices, genres, and time-spaces. A display of power over language and rhythm. A postmodern performance of naked figures hanging in the nebulae of a militarized universe. A new millennium cubist manifesto against decrepit political machines. A mystic song in search of birth and love. In this new collection of poems, Juan Felipe Herrera's natural talent for capturing the raw dimensions of reality merges with his wild imagination and technical prowess.
Things, names, places, histories, herstories, desires, wills, minds, and their effects and progeny are re-mixed, re-mastered, and re-cast into a new narrative theater. Characters in a constant and stubborn rush, appearance, disappearance, and flow—with, against, and for each other—create the fire and give birth to the hallucinatory spotted and leaf-eating, long-necked child. Exciting and original, cutting-edge and risk-taking, Giraffe on Fire is a breathtaking addition to a respected body of work by a poet not afraid to speak out about how poetry reflects the raw beauty and truth of life.
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Senegal Taxi
ÒI wish I could find the words to tell you the story of our village after you were killed.Ó So begins Senegal Taxi, the new work by one of contemporary poetryÕs most vibrant voices, Juan Felipe Herrera. Known for his activism and writings that bring attention to oppression and injustice, Herrera turns to stories of genocide and hope in Sudan. Senegal Taxi offers the voices of three children escaping the horrors of war in Africa.
Unflinching in its honesty, brutality, and beauty, the collection fiercely addresses conflict and childhood, inviting readers to engage in complex and often challenging issues. Senegal Taxi weaves together verse, dialogue, and visual art created by Herrera specifically for the book. Stylistically genre-leaping, these many layers are part of the collectionÕs innovation. Phantom-like televisions, mud drawings, witness testimonies, insects, and weaponry are all storytellers that join the siblings for a theatrical crescendo. Each poem is told from a different point of view, which Herrera calls Òmud drawings,Ó referring to the evocative symbols of hope the children create as they hide in a cave on their way to Senegal, where they plan to catch a boat to the United States.
This collection signals a poignant shift for Herrera as he continues to use his craft to focus attention on global concerns. In so doing, he offers an acknowledgment that the suffering of some is the suffering of all.
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Notebooks of a Chile Verde Smuggler (Camino del Sol)
Raucous adobe hearts and urban violet mascara. Televised immigration games and ethnic sit-coms. Chile con karma served on a bed of race. In a startling melange of poetry, prose, journal entries, and even a screenplay, Zen Chicano desperado Juan Felipe Herrera fixes his gaze on his own life and times to craft his most personal work to date.
Notebooks of a Chile Verde Smuggler is a river of faces and phrases, jottings and reflections—a personal pilgrimage and collective parade of love, mock-prophecy, and chiste. Tuning in voices from numerous time zones, languages, and minds, Herrera recalls his childhood and coming of age, his participation in the Chicano Movement, and the surreal aspects of postmodern America. He uses broad strokes to paint a historical, social, and familial portrait that moves from the twilight of the nineteenth century to the dawn of the twenty-first, then takes up a finer brush to etch the eternal tension between desire and frustration, hope and disillusionment, violence and tenderness.
Here are transamerican sutras spanning metrocenters from Mexico City to San Francisco, or slinking across the border from Juárez to El Paso. Outrageous, rhythmic lists—"Foodstuffs They Never Told Us About," "Things Religion Makes Me Do"—that fire the imagination. Celebrations of his Plutomobile that "runs on ham hawks & bird grease," and of Chicano inventions such as cilantro aftershave and "the art of eating Vicks VapoRub with your dedos."
Pushing forms to the edge of possibility while forcing readers to rethink reality as well as language, Herrera invokes childhoods and neighborhoods, stand-up clowns and Movimiento gypsies, grandmothers of the buñuelo kitchen and tragicomic soliloquies of dizzy-headed outcasts of paradise. Notebooks of a Chile Verde Smuggler is a crucible of flavorful language meant to be rolled lazily on the mind's tongue—and then swallowed whole to let its hot and savory sweetness fill your soul.
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Jabberwalking
Juan Felipe Herrera, the first Mexican-American Poet Laureate in the USA, is sharing secrets: how to turn your wonder at the world around you into weird, wild, incandescent poetry.
Can you walk and talk at the same time? How about Jabberwalk? Can you write and draw and walk and journal all at the same time? If not, you’re in luck: exuberant, blue-cheesy cilantro man Juan Felipe Herrera, Poet Laureate of the United States, is here to teach you everything he knows about being a real-life, bonified, Jabberwalking poet! Jabberwalkers write and speak for themselves and others no matter where their feet may take them — to Jabberwalk is to be a poet on the move. And there’s no stopping once you’re a Jabberwalker, writing fast, fast, fast, scribble-poem-burbles-on-the-run. Scribble what you see! Scribble what you hear! It’s all out there — vámonos!
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187 Reasons Mexicanos Can't Cross the Border: Undocuments 1971-2007
A hybrid collection of texts written and performed on the road, from Mexico City to San Francisco, from Central America to central California, illustrated throughout with photos and artwork. Rants, manifestos, newspaper cutups, street theater, anti-lectures, love poems, and riffs tell the story of what it’s like to live outlaw and brown in the United States.
Juan Felipe Herrera is a professor of creative writing at the University of California, Riverside. The author of twenty-one books, he is also a community arts leader and a dynamic performer and actor. He is the son of Mexican immigrants and grew up in the migrant fields of California.
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Cinnamon Girl: letters found inside a cereal box
From U.S. Poet Laureate Juan Felipe Herrera comes the story of one teen’s emotional journey in the days after 9/11, and a personal look at the culture of Loisaida, the Lower East Side of Manhattan. This emotional and stirring novel won the Américas Award and is written in a unique and arresting style.
When the Twin Towers fell, New York City was blanketed by dust. On the Lower East Side, Yolanda, the cinnamon girl, makes her manda, her promise. She vows to gather as much of the dust as she can. Maybe if she can return it to Ground Zero, she can comfort all the voices. Maybe that will help Uncle DJ open his eyes again. As tragedies from her past mix in the air of an unthinkable present, Yolanda searches for hope. Maybe it’s buried somewhere in the silvery dust of Alphabet City.
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