December 2012 Conversations with Las Comadres: Teleconference Series
Better With You Here — Outside Links: Book Author Publisher
Summer of the Mariposas — Outside Links: Book Author Publisher
LISTEN TO THE INTERVIEW Length: 00:48:26 | Size: 8.72 MB
December 2012 Book of the Month
Better With You Here
By Gwendolyn Zepeda
Published by Grand Central Publishing
ISBN-13: 978-0446564038
Single mom Natasha Dávila has done a good job holding things together. Her divorce didn’t leave her with much, but she has her kids and they are her world. Only now, she’s facing a problem she never predicted: Her ex-husband is re-marrying, expecting a new baby and worst of all—suing Natasha for full custody of their two children.
Desperate to save her family, she turns to her neighbors—fellow single moms facing their own drama. Sharing their laughter and their tears, these near strangers help Natasha find a strength she never knew she had. And when her exhusband ups the ante and exposes some disturbing news about Natasha’s new friends, she’ll need that strength more than ever
About the Author: Gwendolyn Zepeda
Gwendolyn Zepeda was born in Houston, Texas in 1971 and attended the University of Texas at Austin. She was the first Latina blogger and began her writing career on the Web in 1997 as one of the founding writers of entertainment site, Television Without Pity. Her first book was a short-story collection called To the Last Man I Slept with and All the Jerks Just Like Him (Arte Público Press, 2004).
Her first novel, Houston, We Have a Problema, won praise from Publishers Weekly and Booklist for its wit and upbeat story. Booklist calls Zepeda’s second novel, Lone Star Legend, “fresh and smart.” Publishers Weekly says it presents “a funny and smart heroine that readers will easily pull for.”
Zepeda has also written two award-winning bilingual picture books, Growing Up with Tamales and Sunflowers. Zepeda regularly lectures at universities throughout Texas.
December 2012 Book of the Month
Summer of the Mariposas
By Guadalupe Garcia McCall
Published by Tu Books, An Imprint of Lee & Low Books
ISBN-13: 978-1620140109
When Odilia and her four sisters find a dead body in the swimming hole, they embark on a hero’s journey to return the dead man to his family in Mexico. But returning home to Texas turns into an odyssey that would rival Homer’s original tale.
With the supernatural aid of ghostly La Llorona via a magical earring, Odilia and her little sisters travel a road of tribulation to their long-lost grandmother’s house. Along the way, they must outsmart a witch and her Evil Trinity: a wily warlock, a coven of vicious half-human barn owls, and a bloodthirsty livestock-hunting chupacabras. Can these fantastic trials prepare Odilia and her sisters for what happens when they face their final test, returning home to the real world, where goddesses and ghosts can no longer help them?
Summer of the Mariposas is not just a magical Mexican American retelling of The Odyssey, it is a celebration of sisterhood and maternal love.
About the Author: Guadalupe Garcia McCall
Guadalupe Garcia McCall was born in on the border of Mexico. So she can cook authentic Mexican food like there’s no tomorrow—her specialty being Mole.
She has five sisters which is hard growing up in a house full of beautiful women. She writes poetry which she find very therapuetic.
McCall has lots of men in her life—a husband, three sons, an indoor male dog, and an indoor male cat—the only other female in our home is an outdoor dog, which doesn’t count. She states all was unintentional but it does allow her to be their little princess—which has its benefits.