News for booksellers, librarians, and educators who care about serving speakers and readers of Spanish en-us http://www.criticasmagazine.com/blog/820000482.html?nid=4127 Copyright 2009 Reed Business Information. Subject to its Terms of Use October 14, 2009 http://www.criticasmagazine.com/blog/820000482/post/290040029.html?nid=4127 Dear Ms. Fialkoff and Mr. Shank, It is with deep regret that Reforma received the news about the closing of Críticas. For the last eight years, the publication has been an extremely valuable tool in the promotion of Latino literature and Spanish language re… http://www.criticasmagazine.com/blog/820000482/post/980039898.html?nid=4127 In early 2001 some of us were thrilled to hear of the launch of a major new magazine devoted to books in Spanish. The charming chica in the blog next door, Adriana, put out a call for reviewers. In short order she sent to the shack a shrink-wrapped copy of La caverna, the new novel by re… http://www.criticasmagazine.com/blog/820000482/post/120039812.html?nid=4127 Margarita Ingle, author of The Surrender Tree: Poems of Cuba’s Struggle for Freedom received one of four Newbery Honor Awards given by the American Library Association (ALA) at its Midwinter Conference in Denver, CO. She is the first Latina to receive such an honor. Ms. Ingle also received the… http://www.criticasmagazine.com/blog/820000482/post/1340039734.html?nid=4127 An article about some brilliant-sounding library discussions up in Fond du Lac, "Hispanic program travels immigration road" in The Reporter, reminds me that it's been a whole year already since we visited Wisconsin's ¡Hola! program in the dead of winter. This week's story features… http://www.criticasmagazine.com/blog/820000482/post/130039613.html?nid=4127 Generations on Line (GoL) is an internet literacy program developed for people who are being left behind by this communication technology. The program is a self-teaching tutorial that uses large type, plain language, familiar images and on-screen instructions to help a novice internet user qui… http://www.criticasmagazine.com/blog/820000482/post/1810039581.html?nid=4127 Medline Plus has launched a new magazine in Spanish. Well, it is a bilingual publication with articles coming in English on one side of the page, and in Spanish on the other side. Fabulous! The topics on the quarterly publication mirror those on the Medline Plus English-only magazine. Readers… http://www.criticasmagazine.com/blog/820000482/post/1360039536.html?nid=4127 Panama-born filmmaker Anayansi Prado focuses on immigrants to the US. Maybe you've seen her Maid In America on public television and strongly recommended in the pages of Críticas. Her new documentary from Impacto Films is about the littlest victims of the far… http://www.criticasmagazine.com/blog/820000482/post/500039450.html?nid=4127 I recently had the pleasure of reading an issue of the Primera Revista Latinoamericana de Libros (PRL) and was pleasantly surprise with the quality of the articles (I was not aware of this type of magazine!). Every issue covers a wide variety of topics such as current affairs, literature, history, a… http://www.criticasmagazine.com/blog/820000482/post/1800039380.html?nid=4127 With all eyes on Washington DC this week, library woes a couple hours to the northeast in Philadelphia have not gone away. You'll recall that a $1 billion deficit led the mayor to announce the January 1 closure of eleven branches chosen in consultation with the library system's recently instal… http://www.criticasmagazine.com/blog/820000482/post/650039265.html?nid=4127 A new, engagingly written report, published just last week, is fun to read and well worth your time. It's all about collaboration across cultures. Subtitled Principles & Practices for Effective Multicultural Communication—Library Edition, its thirty-some pages are right here. … http://www.criticasmagazine.com/blog/820000482/post/770039077.html?nid=4127 Here is the schedule for REFORMA events @ the 2009 ALA Midwinter Conference in Denver: REFORMA Executive Committee I Friday,January 23, 6:00-8:30pm REFORMA All Committees I Saturday, January 24, 8:00-10:00 am REFORMA All Committees II Saturday, January 24, 10:30 am -12:00 pm … http://www.criticasmagazine.com/blog/820000482/post/1330038933.html?nid=4127 If you have ever studied a language that's even remotely related to English, you know that false cognates or "false friends"—words that seemingly descended from a common root but whose meanings somehow diverged in the two tongues—are a perennial source of wonder. Learners… http://www.criticasmagazine.com/blog/820000482/post/610038661.html?nid=4127 Here's an appalling picture of the USA that makes it look as if the lower 48 are afflicted with a hideous case of zits, or perhaps wads of festering blisters. That's appropriate. It's a map of immigration jails. The big rust-colored ones are privately run. This is an excellent i… http://www.criticasmagazine.com/blog/820000482/post/1700038570.html?nid=4127 Greetings from Chinatown, Philadelphia. (Maybe not the first place folks think of when pondering a visit to this historic city, but you'd be surprised. Philly's big Chinatown is packed with amazing markets, incomprehensible street signs, and at least three brilliant vegetarian restaurant… http://www.criticasmagazine.com/blog/820000482/post/190038419.html?nid=4127 How to better serve Hispanics or Latinos? Last week, I was thinking how to summarize my posts for the 2008 when I received an email from a colleague from Oregon. My answer to that email included my 2008 Multicultural Link highlights - or - best practices for library services for Latinos and the… http://www.criticasmagazine.com/blog/820000482/post/610038461.html?nid=4127 Just south of Memphis is Mississippi's De Soto County. In the M.R. Dye Public Library there, Ms. Carson Culver has for several years been working hard and successfully "to bring families and cultures together," as she puts it in a nice feature in yesterday's Memphis Commercial Appeal… http://www.criticasmagazine.com/blog/820000482/post/170038417.html?nid=4127 Are you looking for movies in Spanish for your library collection? Here is my list of the most exciting, dramatic, and interesting movies of 2008. I must thank family, friends and colleagues from the States and Spain for their contributions. Argentina ¿Quién d… http://www.criticasmagazine.com/blog/820000482/post/30038403.html?nid=4127 Before you watch the terrifyingly festive holiday video below featuring El Vez, a huge inflatable dancing Santa, and great El Paso guitarist Adrian Esparza, here's a great gift idea, worth tens of thousands of dollars, from Loriene Roy, immediate past president of the A… http://www.criticasmagazine.com/blog/820000482/post/1860038386.html?nid=4127 I hope you are having a wonderful holiday time. I am thinking of my Puerto Rico. In the Island, we start celebrating las Navidades right after Thanksgiving. It is a beautiful season. Everyone has pretty much mastered a happy evening-lifestyle: dinner with family and friends, continue to church … http://www.criticasmagazine.com/blog/820000482/post/1830038383.html?nid=4127 If there's anything on earth that can counterbalance the psychic pain of having yet another birthday, when you're a cuarentón who has already had a few too many, or the physical agony of traipsing around in subzero temperatures, it seems to me that it would be a pot of fresh homemade tamales.… http://www.criticasmagazine.com/blog/820000482/post/790038279.html?nid=4127 Looking for music in Spanish for your library collection? Here is my list of 2008 best Latin American albums and the songs we liked from each one. This compilation is based on conversations with family, friends and colleagues. Pop Latino MTV Unplugged: Julieta Venegas (Live) &n… http://www.criticasmagazine.com/blog/820000482/post/490038249.html?nid=4127 Say, how's that holiday shopping thing going? If you still seek the ideal gift for the little chamacos in your life, allow me to recommend a new bilingual Christmas book about a fresh kind of Santa suplente who is "so smart he speaks both Spanish and English." … http://www.criticasmagazine.com/blog/820000482/post/1340038134.html?nid=4127 With the growing variety of recorded books in Spanish—from publishers such as FonoLibro, Live Oak Media, Nueva Onda, Oyelo.com, Recorded Books, Simon & Schuster, and more—it's comforting to know that there are some good review sources. Naturally we here at your favorite magazin… http://www.criticasmagazine.com/blog/820000482/post/500038050.html?nid=4127 The REFORMA listserv has been buzzing with emails from librarians discussing how we need to develop more aggressive advocacy strategies. Libraries and library workers are eagerly looking for tools to reach out to elected officials, library decision-makers, colleagues, and the community. Here is a sa… http://www.criticasmagazine.com/blog/820000482/post/50038005.html?nid=4127 Bill Santiago is a pretty funny guy. In fact, he's comiquísimo, according to a source no less authoritative than his own website. You've seen him on Comedy Central. If you don't hold a rather alarming Shakira imitation against him, chances are this cerebral wiseguy—San…