Hijas Americanas: Beauty, Body Image, and Growing Up Latina by Molinary, Rosie Monday, May 19, 7:30pm In Hijas Americanas, author Rosie Molinary sheds new light on what it means to grow up Latina. Drawing upon her own experiences, as well as interviews and surveys collected from more than 500 Latina women, Molinary provides a powerful understanding of the inner conflicts and powerful triumphs of Latinas. The women profiled in this book are Caribbean, Mexican, Central American, and South American. These first-, second-, and third-generation Latinas have all grappled with the experience of coming of age within not one but two cultures--that of the United States and that of their familial homelands. Hijas Americanas addresses experiences that are uniquely female and Latina, focusing on themes of body image, standards of beauty, ethnic identity, and sexuality. In doing so, Molinary gives voice to the struggles and successes of Latinas across racial, sexual, and cultural identities, emphasizing that the challenges inherent in growing up between two cultures can positively shape Latinas' lives.

Harold!: Photographs from the Harold Washington Years by Dickey, Antonio, Pokempner, Marc, Muwakkil, Salim This handsome book captures in words and pictures the powerful emotions that circled around one man in Chicago in the early 1980's: Harold Washington. More than one hundred pictures, from candid shots on the campaign trail to triumphant public appearances, give readers a window onto a man who won over an entire city. Washington's mayoral win represented a faltering of the previously all-powerful Chicago Machine, and his campaign was a part of a larger civil rights crusade that forged unity in the black community in Chicago. Antonio Dickey and Marc PoKempner were there with Washington throughout 1982-87, Dickey as his campaign and personal photographer and PoKempner on assignment for the" New York Times," "People," and "Time," capturing the force of his personality and the inspiration he brought to Chicago. Their photographs have become the definitive documentation of the Harold years and were featured in the Chicago Historical Society's 2003-2004 exhibit "Harold Washington: The Man and the Movement." They were there for his underdog rise, his win, his first term, and his untimely death just seven months into his second term. The year 2007 marks the twentieth anniversary of Washington's death, and this loving tribute in words and pictures will keep his message alive for future generations.

The House of Paper by Dominguez, Carlos Maria, Sis, Peter, Caistor, Nick "I was utterly charmed by this short, lyrical, literary, almost otherworldly mystery of bibliomania taken to its extreme. With illustrations by Peter Sis." --Dale Szczeblowski, Porter Square Books, Cambridge, MA

The Traveling Death and Resurrection Show: by Gore, Ariel Orphaned at age four and raised by her black-clad, rosary-mumbling, preoccupied grandmother, Frankka discovered the ability to perform the stigmata as a way to attract her grandmother's attention. Now twenty-eight, Frankka's still using this extraordinary talent, crisscrossing the country with "The Death and Resurrection Show," a Catholic-themed traveling freak show and cast of misfits who have quickly become her new family. But when a reporter from the "Los Angeles Times" shows up to review the show, Frankka finds herself on the front page of the newspaper -- the unwitting center of a religious debate. Now unsure of who she is and where she belongs, Frankka disappears in search of herself and a place to call home.