Project Cornerstone ~ Cultural Heritage Program

Tomatoes laugh, chiles explode, and tortillas applaud the sun. With joy and tenderness, delight and sadness, Frances X. Alarcón's poems honor life and nature: welcoming the morning sun, remembering his grandmother's songs, paying tribute to children working in the fields, and dreaming of a world filled with gardens. Artist Maya Christina Gonzalez invites readers to experience the poems with her lively cast of characters - including a spirited grandma, four vivacious children, and playful pets who tease and delight. Follow them from page to page as they bring each poem to colorful life. Laughing Tomatoes is a verbal and visual treat, giving readers eighteen opportunities to see everything for the first time.

With a poet's magical vision, Francisco X. Alarcón takes young readers back to his childhood when he traveled with his family to Mexico to visit his grandmother and other relatives. Readers ride with him in the family station wagon across the misty mountain range to the little town of Atoyac, the beloved town of his ancestors. There he listens his grandma's colorful stories, samples Auntie Reginalda's tasty breakfasts, learns about the keys to the universe, and take playful dips in the warm sea. Maya Christina Gonzalez's lighthearted illustrations perfectly capture the spirit of a summer in Alarcón's Mexico where "colors are more colorful, tastes are tastier, and even time seems to slow down.

The world is filled with bold, beautiful colors, if only you know where to find them. Little Maya finds purple and yellow in the flowers in her garden, red in her swing set, and black in her Papa’s shiny hair. Mud is squishy, cool, and brown. Orange marigolds glow like the sun. Look around you. Where are the colors in your world?

My Colors, My World/Mis colores, mi mundo is Maya Christina Gonzalez’s wonder-filled exploration of the colors and textures that make up the everyday environment of a small child. This new board book format of the award-winning story is perfect for tiny hands and was developed with the help of early childhood educators. The simple, streamlined text introduces rich vocabulary words alongside vibrant acrylic illustrations. Little Maya will draw the littlest readers in to her world, and will encourage them to make connections between the colors on the page and the world around them.

Published fall 1995. In this bilingual story, the Day of the Dead is seen from a Mexican child's perspective. Nando describes the preparations for honoring his beloved uncle, and he and his mother pay a poignant visit to Tfo Fernando's grave, where they are sure he acknowledges their presence. The illustrations, though colorful, retain a grayish hue mirroring the solemnity of the occasion. ~ Horn Book Guide Reviews