Module 14 - Cool Salsa

Summary:

This is a collection of poems presented in Spanish and English.  Each section covers a different subject such as: home and homeland, school days, memories and other subjects.  Edited by Lori M. Carlson the poems express a culture of Latinos and the subjects that are important to them.

Bibliography:

Carlson, Lori M. "Cool Salsa: Bilingual Poems and Growing up Latino in the United States. The Random House Publishing Group, 1994.

My Impressions:

I am not bilingual; but I can read a little Spanish and enjoyed this book.  Some of the translations were close but not exactly the same, but the setiments were conveyed well.  I love hearing about the Latino experience and this book of poems is an excellent source for young Latinos to learn about their culture.

Reviews:

Publishers Weekly


As hot as jalapenos and as cool as jazz, this collection serves up ``ingles con chile'' and Spanish that ``you feel in the blood of your soul.'' Lyrical, traditional poems share space with street-smart free verse, and works by the likes of Sandra Cisneros and Gary Soto are juxtaposed with entries from lesser-knowns. Illustrating the ``beat and pulse'' of generations of U.S. writers of Latin American heritage, the poems are presented both in the original and in translation; poems making use of both languages are easily accessible to English-only readers by virtue of an appended glossary of Spanish terms. In his introduction, Hijuelos ( The Mambo Kings Play Songs of Love ) focuses on the ``unrelenting, unending sense of second classness'' that his parents experienced as Cuban emigrants and explains how this ``sense'' affected his uses of English and Spanish. The political agenda is not hidden, but the potency of the volume lies in Carlson's eclectic selection of voices--her volume approximates what one poet here calls ``a Mixtec chant that touches la tierra and the heavens.'' Ages 12-up. (July)

Suggested Uses:

This is a good source for studying Latino culture and could be used in a Spanish class to provide examples of writing and the use of phrases.

Book Cover: