Recent Detrimental and Distinguished Books about Hispanic People and Cultures.

The article discusses nine detrimental and six distinguished books about Hispanic people and cultures, published since 1979 for young readers. It is suggested that many recent books that depict Hispanic people and cultures repeat the same stereotypes, misconceptions and insensibilities that were prevalent in books published in the 1960s and early 1970s. The books that are considered detrimental contain such themes as the poverty of Mexican people, a Cuban girl's embarrassment about her background, distorted narratives of pre-Columbian history, and exaggerated and/or simplistic discussions of serious problems of Latin America. The books that are considered distinguished, on the other hand, tell about the joys, wisdom, and fantasy of Hispanic people as well as the beauties of ancient cities in Peru and the works of Hispanic poets and performers. The nine detrimental books are: "One Mexican Sunday" (Mike Oehler), "Home for a Stranger" (Joan Talmage Weiss), "Luisa's American Dream" (Claudia Mills), "Maybe Next Summer" (Don Schellie), "Growing Up in Aztec Times" and "Growing Up in Inca Times" (Brenda Ralph Lewis), "Beyond the Andes: My Search for the Origins of Pre-Inca Civilization" (Pino Turolla), "Puerto Rico, Island between Two Worlds" (Lila Perl), and "Revolutionary Cuba" (Terence Cannon). The six distinguished books are: "Cuentos: Tales from the Hispanic Southwest" (Jose Griego y Maestas), "Chileno!" (Antonio Skarmenta), "Lost City in the Clouds: The Discovery of Machu Picchu" (Elizabeth Gemming), "A Journey to Cuzco" (Mary Ruth Myers), "Alicia and Her Ballet Nacional de Cuba" (Walter Terry), and "The Dream below the Sun: Selected Poems" (Antonio Machado). (NQA)