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November 2014 Book of the Month
The Ghosts of Hero Street
By Carlos Harrison
Published by Berkley Caliber
ISBN-13: 978-0425262535
The story of the tiny street that sent more to fight than any similarly sized stretch in the U.S. — and changed the way the people there were viewed.
Twenty-two Mexican-American families sent 57 of their children to fight in World War II and Korea.
And they all came from a single street in the railroad town of Silva, Illinois – a tiny stretch of dirt a block and a half long, now officially designated by the Department of Defense as “Hero Street.”
Death found them in many ways, and many places—in a distant jungle, a frozen forest, and trapped in the flaming wreckage of a bomber blown from the sky. One died going over a fence during the greatest paratrooper assault in history. Another, in the biggest battle of World War II. Yet another, riddled with bullets in an audacious act of heroism during a decisive onslaught a world, and a war, away. They were eight men from a single street in a railroad town called Silvis, Ill., a tiny stretch of dirt barely a block-and-a-half long, and their acts of bravery gave it the name it’s known by today: Hero Street.
November 2014 Additional Conversation
The Book of Unknown Americans / El Libro de Los Americanos Desconocidos
By Cristina Henríquez
Published by Penguin Random House
ISBN-13: 978-0385350846
A boy and girl who fall in love. Two families whose hopes collide with destiny. An extraordinary novel that offers a resonant new definition of what it means to be American.
Also available in Spanish.
When Mayor Toro, whose family is from Panamà, sees Maribel in a Dollar Tree store, it is love at first sight. It’s also the beginning of a friendship between the Rivera and Toro families, whose web of guilt and love and responsibility is at this novel’s core.
Woven into their stories are the testimonials of men and women who have come to the United States from all over Central and Latin America. Their journeys and their voices will inspire you, surprise you, and break your heart.
Suspenseful, funny and warm, rich in spirit and humanity, The Book of Unknown Americans is a new American classic.