Teachers Guide To Welcome To Washington Fina Mendoza

Use this high interest resource to combine ELA, math, and social studies lessons built around the Readers' Favorite Award winning novel Welcome to Washington Fina Mendoza, about the daughter of a congressman who solves mysteries on Capitol Hill. This 32-page guide includes cross-curricular lessons, research projects, and interesting activities that allow students to practice close reading, strengthen listening skills, and improve text-based vocabulary in English and Spanish. Questions challenge students to analyze and comprehend story elements. The guide also introduces basic civics instruction with an emphasis on how Congress works with a writing exercise to send a letter or postcard to their representative.

It's The West Wing meets Nancy Drew: a mystery set in the U.S. Capitol that also serves as an introduction to how the U.S. government works. Or doesn't. Legend has it that anyone who sees the Demon Cat of Capitol Hill will be cursed with bad luck. 10-year-old Fina Mendoza just saw it and the last thing her family needs right now is more bad luck. Fina and her older sister Gabby just moved to Washington, D.C. to live fulltime with Papa, a congressman from California. Fina loves spending time with Papa, even though he's always on the phone. But after Fina encounters a mysterious cat, disasters follow. Jars of spagetti sauce explode. Her beloved Abuelita breaks her leg. And Fina's only friend in Washington, a congressional dog named Senator Something, becomes the next target. The only way for Fina to save her family from future "cat"astrophe is to solve the mystery of the Demon Cat of Capitol Hill.

A mysterious bird poops on the head of the president during the State of the Union address. Can Fina Mendoza, the 10-year-old daughter of a congressman, outsmart the Capitol Police and the Secret Service to find that bird and uncover its secret message?

Drazen Erdemovic is a 24 year old kid with a hip haircut and bad acne scars. He fought for three different armies during the Bosnian war and never killed anyone until the day he and his mates were sent to a cornfield near Srebrenica. He's haunted by the ghosts of those he killed and tries to free himself by telling his story to the International Criminal Tribunal for the Former Yugoslavia.

What does it mean to be fully alive? Magic blends with reality in a stunning coming-of-age novel about a girl, a grandfather, wanderlust, and reclaiming your roots. Things are only impossible if you stop to think about them. . . . While her friends are spending their summers having pool parties and sleepovers, twelve-year-old Carolina — Carol — is spending hers in the middle of the New Mexico desert, helping her parents move the grandfather she’s never met into a home for people with dementia. At first, Carol avoids prickly Grandpa Serge. But as the summer wears on and the heat bears down, Carol finds herself drawn to him, fascinated by the crazy stories he tells her about a healing tree, a green-glass lake, and the bees that will bring back the rain and end a hundred years of drought. As the thin line between magic and reality starts to blur, Carol must decide for herself what is possible — and what it means to be true to her roots. Readers who dream that there’s something more out there will be enchanted by this captivating novel of family, renewal, and discovering the wonder of the world.

Did you come from Mexico? An Mexican-American defends Joaquin, a boyy frp, Mexico who came across the border. The Border Patrol is looking for him and his mother who are hiding. His newly found friend Prietita took him to the Herb Lady to help him with red welts.

Three moves is all it takes to challenge the outcome of the game... In Marcus' world, battles are fought every day - on the street, at home and in school. Angered by his sister's death, his father's absence, and pushed to the brink by a bullying classmate, Marcus fights back with his fists. One punch from expulsion, Marcus encounters CM, an unlikely chess master who challenges him to fight his battles on the chess board. But Marcus has some hard lessons to learn before he can accept CM's help to regain control of his life.

A 13-year-old girl growing up in Mexico is visited by her 30-year-old future self in this powerful Young Adult novel in verse about accepting yourself. Out of nowhere, a lady comes up to Anamaría and says she's her, from the future. But Anamaría's thirteen, she knows better than to talk to some weirdo stranger. Girls need to be careful, especially in Ciudad Juárez, Mexico--it's the 90's and fear is overtaking her beloved city as cases of kidnapped girls and women become alarmingly common. This thirty-year-old "future" lady doesn't seem to be dangerous but she won't stop bothering her, switching between cheesy Hallmark advice about being kind to yourself, and some mysterious talk about saving a girl. Anamaría definitely doesn't need any saving, she's doing just fine. She works hard at her strict, grade-obsessed middle school--so hard that she hardly gets any sleep; so hard that the stress makes her snap not just at mean girls but even her own (few) friends; so hard that when she does sleep she dreams about dying--but she just wants to do the best she can so she can grow up to be successful. Maybe Thirty's right, maybe she's not supposed to be so exhausted with her life, but how can she ask for help when her city is mourning the much bigger tragedy of its stolen girls? This thought-provoking, moving verse novel will lead adult and young adult readers alike to vital discussions on important topics--like dealing with depression and how to recognize this in yourself and others--through the accessible voice of a thirteen-year-old girl. Alessandra Narváez Varela was born and raised in Ciudad Juárez, México. She earned a B.S. in Biology and an M.F.A. in Creative Writing from the University of Texas at El Paso, where she now teaches. This is her debut novel.

Best friends Kayla and Mishalla know they will be separated when the time comes for their Assignments. They are GENs, Genetically Engineered Non-humans, and in their strict caste system, GENs are at the bottom rung of society. High-status trueborns and working-class lowborns, born naturally of a mother, are free to choose their own lives. But GENs are gestated in a tank, sequestered in slums, and sent to work as slaves as soon as they reach age fifteen. When Kayla is Assigned to care for Zul Manel, the patriarch of a trueborn family, she finds a host of secrets and surprises--not least of which is her unexpected friendship with Zul's great-grandson. Meanwhile, the children that Mishalla is Assigned to care for are being stolen in the middle of the night. With the help of an intriguing lowborn boy, Mishalla begins to suspect that something horrible is happening to them. After weeks of toiling in their Assignments, mystifying circumstances enable Kayla and Mishalla to reunite. Together they hatch a plan with their new friends to save the children who are disappearing. Yet can GENs really trust humans? Both girls must put their lives and hearts at risk to crack open a sinister conspiracy, one that may reveal secrets no one is ready to face.

A graphic novel based on the true story of Robert Yummy Sandifer, an 11-year old African American gang member from Chicago who shot a young girl and was then shot by his own gang members.