THE DREAM ON BLANCA’S WALL/EL SUEÑO PEGADO EN LA PARED DE BLANCA

In this worthy successor to My Name Is Jorge (1999), Medina again creates a collection of poems in English and Spanish that form a story-in-verse. Sixth-grader Blanca applies herself in school (most of the time) and dreams of being a teacher. Her clear eye takes in how hard her father works, how distant her older brother has become in his teenage years, and even how easily she can manipulate being bilingual in order to “translate” a teacher’s concerned criticisms into a glowing report for her Spanish-only mother. She notices how brown her classmates are, and how white her teachers; she adores Mrs. Farley, the only white neighbor to remain as the neighborhood “went brown.” Medina’s easy-to-read free verse encourages even the reluctant reader, in English or Spanish, and Casilla’s soft black-and-white illustrations are lifelike and inviting. A winner. (Poetry. 7-10)