An Island Like You

 

~BOOK SUMMARY~

 An Island Like You, Stories of the Barrio, is a collection of twelve stories set in a Latino neighborhood in Patterson, New Jersey.  Each story captures the life of a Puerto Rican teenager.  Each character is trying to find out who they are and what their place is in not only their Puerto Rican community, but in the United States.  The stories have their own plot, but constantly intertwine with one another.  The main theme in the novel is about being an individual and standing up for what you believe in.
 

~Author Study~

   Judith Ortiz Cofer is a poet, novelist, and essayist.  Cofer was born in Puerto Rico and raised in New Jersey. Currently, she resides in Georgia, where she is the Franklin Professor of English and the Director of the Creative Writing Program at the University of Georgia.
    Judith Ortiz Cofer grew up speaking Spanish, but learned to read and write in English.  She feels that English is her literary language and she feels most comfortable using it to express herself.  Her stories deal with the mixing of her two cultures.
    Judith Ortiz Cofer's writing has received many awards.  She is the winner of the 1994 O'Henry Prize for her short story, Dancing.  She received the 1990 Pushcart Prize for Non-fiction, for both verse and prose.  She was awarded a PEN/Martha Albrand Special Citation in non-fiction for Silent Dancing, and the Anisfield Wolf Book Award for The Latin Deli. Her work has also been selected for the Syndicated Fiction Project, and she has received fellowships from the NEA and the Witter Bynner Foundation for poetry. Her collection of short stories, An Island Like You: Stories of the Barrio was named the Best Book of the Year, 1995-96 by the American Library Association and awarded the first Pura Belpre medal by REFORMA of ALA in 1996.  in 1998 she was awarded the Christ-Janner Award in Creative Research which was issued by the University of Georgia.
 

~BookList~

~Other Works by Judith Ortiz Cofer~


*The Year Of Our Revolution: New And Selected Stories And Poems, Pinata Books, c1998


*The Latin Deli: Prose And Poetry, University of Georgia Press, c1993


*The Line Of The Sun, University of Georgia Press, c1991


*Reaching For The Mainland And Selected New Poems, Bilingual Press, c1995


*Silent Dancing: A Partial Remembrance Of A Puerto Rican Childhood, Arte Publico Press, c1990


*Sleeping With One Eye Open: Women Writers And The Art Of Survival, University of Georgia Press, c1999


*Terms Of Survival, Arte Publico Press, c1995


*Women In Front Of The Sun: On Becoming A Writer, University of Georgia Press, c2000

 

~Other Related Books~

~Related Readings~

- Cool Salsa: Bilingual Poems of Growing Up Latino in the US. Carlson, Lori. New York: H. Holt and Co., 1994.
*A wonderful assortment of poems that express Latino culture and the concerns of growing up in the United States.  Some poems are written in Spanish, some are written in English, and some are a mixture of both languages.

-Esperanza Rising. Ryan, Pam Munoz. Neww York: Scholastic Press, 2000.
*The story of a 13-year-old girl and her mother who have to leave a privilegedlife in Mexico to work in the labor camps of California in the 1930's.

-Party Girl. Ewing, Lynne. New York: Alfred A. Knopf, 1998.
*A teenage girl questions her involvement in gang life after her best friend is killed in a drive by shooting.

-Petty Crimes. Soto, Gary. New York: Harcourt Brace, 1998.
*A collection of ten stories about Mexican American teenages growing up in California's Central Valley.

-Buried Onions. Soto, Gary. New York: Harcourt Brace, 1997.
*A 19-year-old Mexican American male finds a place for himself in a violent neighborhood in Fresno, California.

-The Circuit: Stories from the Life of a Migrant Child. Jimenez, Francisco. Albuquerque: University of New Mexico Press, 1997.
*Francisco Jimenez relates his childhood in a family of migrant agricultural workers.

-Parrot in the Oven: Mi Vida. Martinez, Victor. New York: HarperCollins Publishers, 1996.
*The story of a young man's life growing up in a poor Mexican American family with an alcoholic father.

-Sweet Fifteen. Bertrand, Diane Gonzales. New York: Arte Publico Press, 1995.
*Romantic novel of a Hispanic family and the celebration of the Quinceanera.
 

~Puerto Rico~

-Puerto Rico (America the Beautiful, Second Series). Davis, Lucile. Dublin, Children's Press, 2000.

- Puerto Rico (True Book). Landau, Elaine. Dublin, Children's Press, 1999.

- Puerto Rico (One Nation). Kummer, Patricia K. Mankoto, Capstone Press, 1999.

- Puerto Rico (Portrait of America). Thompson, Kathleen. Austin: Raintree/Steck Vaughn, 1996.

- Puerto Rico (Cultures of the World). Levy, Patricia Majorie.  San Marino, Benchmark Books, 1995.

-Puerto Rico In Pictures. Pub, Lerner. Minneapolis: Lerner Publications Company, 1995.

-Puerto Rico (Hello U.S.A.). Johnson, Joyce. Minneapolis: First Avenue Editions, 1994.
 

~Classroom Activities~

~Social Studies~

     * Students will complete a history lesson on Puerto Rico:

  • Study and discuss social and cultural aspects of Puerto Rico and it's people
  • Compare and contrast their customs and society to those in the Unites States
  • Discover how the United States tried to make Puerto Rico a state


~Language Arts~

       *Short Story Creation

  • Students will create a short story to accompany the existing twelve.
  • Students will write a story from the perspective of one character.
  • The story will be about where that person is ten years from now.


        *Alternate Ending

    • Students will write an alternate ending to the book.


        *Poetry

  • The students will write a poem that expresses Puerto Rican culture.


        *Research Paper

    • Students will research a paper.
    • It will concern the differences in children here and those in Puerto Rico.

~Related Websites~

~About the Author~

Judith Ortiz Cofer http://parallel.park.uga.edu/~jcofer/
        *Judith Cofer's Homepage

Judith Ortiz Cofer http://www.kirsha.com/authors/Ortiz_J.htm
        *Fan website featuring book summaries for a few of her works

Judith Ortiz Cofer http://www.chelseaforum.com/speakers/Cofer.htm
        *A brief description of her accomplishments and works
 

~Puerto Rico~

Welcome to Puerto Rico http://welcome.topuertorico.org
        *A website featuring a large amount of information about the country, it's people, and other information

Puerto Rican Publication http://www.elboricua.com
        *A cultural hisotry of Puerto Rico through the use of a bilingual publication
 


 

~Creators~
                          Jaimie Brink
                          Rebecca Hanson
                          Janet McDaniel
                          Rhiannon O'Neal

~Edited on February 27, 2002~
                                                                 Christina Allhoff
                                                                 Jennifer Haynes

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