ALA Booklist (Fri Apr 01 00:00:00 CST 2005)

Carlson follows up Cool Salsa (1994) with another bilingual collection of poems that appear in both Spanish and English. Included are many well-known writers, such as Gary Soto and Luis J. Rodriguez, who appeared in the first volume, as well as emerging poets. Divided into loose categories--language, identity, neighborhoods, amor, family moments, victory--the poems often speak about the complex challenges of being bicultural: I'm a grafted flower that didn't / take, a Mexican without being one, / an American without feeling like one, writes Raquel Valle Senties. Among the new writers are a few high-school students, and teens of all backgrounds will easily relate to the young authors' fury over stereotypes: I'm surrounded by a society that expects nothing of me / other than to become a regular, tired housewife, writes student Ivette Alvarez. Most poems are translated by the poets themselves, and many are written in an inventive blend of languages, which English speakers will easily follow with help from the appended glossary. Powerful and immediate, these are voices students and teachers will want to share.

Horn Book (Mon Aug 01 00:00:00 CDT 2005)

In this follow-up to Cool Salsa, Carlson notes that while much about Latino-American life has changed in ten years, much remains the same, a fact reflected in these poems. In addition to established poets (Gary Soto, Raquel Valle Senties) are new voices, including students whose less-polished poems capture the potent emotion of adolescence. Biographical notes on the poets are appended. Glos.

Kirkus Reviews

A decade after Cool Salsa (1994), Carlson has collected a new generation of voices. Thirty-eight poems in English and in Spanish reintroduce poets from her earlier collection (Gina Valdes, Trinidad Sanchez, Jr., Luis Rodriguez) and debut many new ones. Divided into themed sections (language, identity, neighborhoods, etc.) the poems elicit not just the particulars of people and place, but of being an adolescent. Some of the best poems play with language, much of which is sadly lost in translation (Michele Serros's imagined epitaph in "Dead Pig's Revenge": "Chicharrones Choke Chicana Child to Death (in Chino)" in Spanish just lies on the page like a dead pig). Nevertheless, the translations add an essential dimension to the book—a sense of an inclusive and diverse community—and Carlson leaves a handful of the untranslatable ones untouched, as Sacinto Cardona's "women who weep into their huiples" in "Tumbling Through My Tumbaburro." Biographical notes on the poets, and an introduction by Oscar Hijuelos round out this volume that will be appreciated by any young writer. (Poetry. 12+)

School Library Journal (Mon Aug 01 00:00:00 CDT 2005)

Gr 8 Up-As she did in Cool Salsa (Holt, 1994), Carlson assembles another impressive forum of poetic voices. In Spanish and English, the poets speak eloquently of themselves, how and where they live, their families, and their dreams for the future. Many of them are quite well known and a number were included in the earlier book: Gary Soto, Gina Valdes, Martin Espada, and Luis J. Rodriguez, among others. In this volume, Carlson has added a few poems by students in the New York City public school system: they, too, are excellent and thought-provoking. Ivette clvarez, for example, issues a passionate plea in "Invisible Boundaries" to "go beyond the stereotypes that/lock us down and judge us." Other poems will delight readers with their delicate play of language, as in Jos Antonio Burciaga's "Bilingual Love Poem/Poema de amor bilingue," or in Tato Laviera's "My Graduation Speech," which conveys a sardonic frustration through its comic mix of languages. By turns humorous and poignant, nostalgic and immediate, these poems represent a diversity of experiences, underpinned by emotions that anyone can recognize. Once again, Oscar Hijuelos's personable, highly readable introduction sets the tone. Carlson has crafted an accessible gem of a collection, and teen readers of all backgrounds will find echoes of their own experiences in its pages.-Marilyn Taniguchi, Beverly Hills Public Library, CA Copyright 2005 Reed Business Information.