21 Hispanic Heritage Month Books for ELA

Hispanic Heritage Month runs from September 15 to October 15, making it a great time to bring more Hispanic stories into your ELA lessons. But finding the right book is only the first step. Teachers also need context, discussion questions, and activities that help students read with care. 

Use this list to find Hispanic Heritage Month books for elementary, middle, and high school students. Each title connects to a Newsela ELA novel or book study with texts, videos, student tasks, and writing activities that can help you build a fuller unit around the book.

[Elementary school Hispanic Heritage Month books](id-elementary)

Use elementary-friendly novels that give students a concrete character journey to follow. These picks work best when students can connect plot events to family, culture, language, and self-expression without losing the joy of reading.

Teach “Esperanza Rising” by Pam Muñoz Ryan

“Esperanza Rising” connects family history, migration, and hope. The main character’s story gives students someone to follow closely while they build context about the Mexican Revolution, the Great Depression, and farmworker experiences.

The strongest area to focus on is the setting. Before students discuss why Esperanza and her mother leave Mexico, help them understand how place, class, and historical events shape the choices available to the characters. 

From there, students can track how Esperanza responds to loss and change. Pair the novel with short texts about grief, working conditions, and cultural traditions so students can connect the character’s growth to real-world history and human experience.

Newsela ELA Novel Study

Teach “Esperanza Rising” by Pam Muñoz Ryan

By Pam Muñoz Ryan

Elementary ELA

Use this Novel Study to connect Esperanza’s story to family history, migration, grief, labor rights, protest, symbolism, tradition, and hope.

Open Novel Study

Explore supporting resources by teaching focus

Open each group to find videos, articles, poems, and fiction that connect to the novel’s essential questions.

Author, setting, and historical context 5 resources

Author, setting, and historical context resources for “Esperanza Rising”

Resource	Runtime / Reading Level	Why this resource?	Spanish?
Pam Muñoz Ryan Video	2:35	Helps students see how family history and real-world events shaped the author’s inspiration for the novel.
History of the Mexican Revolution Article	580L–1230L	Builds setting context for the class, wealth, and gender expectations that shape Esperanza’s early life.	✓ Yes
The Depression and The Dust Bowl Video	2:26	Introduces the economic and environmental crisis students need to understand Esperanza’s new life in California.
Farming and the Dust Bowl During the Great Depression Article	570L–1080L	Connects Esperanza’s experience to the broader history of farm labor during the Great Depression.	✓ Yes
When Hoover deported 1 million Mexican Americans for supposedly stealing U.S. jobs Article	570L–1340L	Helps students understand repatriation and the fear, instability, and discrimination Mexican American families faced during the era.

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Farmworker rights, protest, and resistance 5 resources

Farmworker rights, protest, and resistance resources for “Esperanza Rising”

Resource	Runtime / Reading Level	Why this resource?	Spanish?
When Labor Laws Left Farmworkers Behind—and Vulnerable to Abuse Article	600L–1320L	Extends the novel’s labor-rights themes into a real-world discussion about protections for farmworkers.	✓ Yes
“We’re not animals”: U.S. farmworkers labor in deadly heat with few protections Article	550L–1390L	Connects the novel’s farmworker themes to contemporary working conditions and student discussion about worker safety.	✓ Yes
Dolores Huerta: “Yes we can!” Video	2:36	Gives students a model for understanding activism, organizing, and public voice.
Civil rights icon Huerta has advice for a new generation of activists Article	500L–1330L	Helps students compare protest and resistance in the novel with real activist guidance from Dolores Huerta.	✓ Yes
“Protest”: A poem by Ella Wheeler Wilcox Poem		Gives students a literary text for comparing how different genres develop ideas about protest and resistance.

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Symbolism, tradition, and personal connection 7 resources

Symbolism, tradition, and personal connection resources for “Esperanza Rising”

Resource	Runtime / Reading Level	Why this resource?	Spanish?
How to deal with the death of a loved one Article	430L–1010L	Gives students language for discussing Esperanza’s grief and the different losses she experiences.	✓ Yes
Symbolism Video	2:06	Prepares students to analyze the plants, traditions, and repeated images that carry meaning in the novel.
The Sun Stands Still Fiction	620L–720L	Supports comparison of symbolism, ritual, and cultural meaning across literary texts.	✓ Yes
“Peaches”: A poem by Adrienne Su Poem	710L	Lets students compare how poetry uses everyday objects to express memory, tradition, and identity.
“Walnuts in Nangarhar”: A poem by Zohra Saed Poem	670L	Helps students compare symbols of family, place, and cultural connection across texts.
Basket weavers plant the seeds of Gullah culture in the next generation Article	610L–1260L	Connects Esperanza’s family traditions to the way cultural practices can carry memory across generations.
How kiddie pools of kimchi bind Korean families together Article	460L–1240L	Gives students another example of how food, family, and tradition can preserve culture across generations.	✓ Yes

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Newsela Writing activity

Move from discussion to literary analysis. Students can use this long-form writing assignment to analyze how protest, injustice, and resistance develop across “Esperanza Rising.”

Open Writing Activity

Teach “Return to Sender” by Julia Alvarez

“Return to Sender” gives two points of view on the same situation. Tyler’s family needs help to keep their Vermont farm running, and Mari’s family needs work while living in fear of separation and deportation.

Use this Novel Study to get students thinking about immigration, migrant work, stereotypes, and what it takes to build an accepting community. The supporting resources help them move between historical context, character perspective, and symbolism.

Newsela ELA Novel Study

Teach “Return to Sender” by Julia Alvarez

By Julia Alvarez

Use this Novel Study to help students explore immigration, migrant work, family separation, perspective-taking, inclusive communities, and belonging.

Open Novel Study

Explore supporting resources by teaching focus

Open each group to find videos, overviews, articles, biographies, myths, and related texts that connect to the novel’s essential questions.

Immigration questions and historical context7 resources

Immigration questions and historical context resources for “Return to Sender”

Resource	Runtime / Reading Level	Why this resource?	Spanish?
Julia AlvarezVideo	2:33	Introduces Alvarez and gives students context for the author’s interest in immigration, identity, and belonging.
Issue Overview: Skilled immigrantsOverview	610L–1270L	Helps students ask early questions about immigration and the challenges immigrants may face in the novel.	✓ Yes
Issue Overview: Immigration reformOverview	610L–1280L	Builds background knowledge about immigration policy questions that shape the fears and choices in the novel.	✓ Yes
Why do people move from place to place?Video	2:08	Gives students a simple framework for discussing why individuals and families migrate.
The History of European Immigrants in the United StatesArticle	590L–1290L	Helps students compare past immigrant experiences with the treatment of Mari’s family.	✓ Yes
The Irish Immigrant ExperienceArticle	550L–1290L	Supports comparison of discrimination, economic need, and belonging across immigrant histories.	✓ Yes
Project seeks stories of Chinese railroad workersArticle	590L–1230L	Shows how immigrant labor has shaped U.S. history while also raising questions about whose stories get remembered.	✓ Yes

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Migrant worker rights and advocacy3 resources

Migrant worker rights and advocacy resources for “Return to Sender”

Resource	Runtime / Reading Level	Why this resource?	Spanish?
A lesson from history about protecting migrant workersArticle	880L–1370L	Connects the Cruz family’s work to a broader discussion about migrant worker protection and community responsibility.
Dolores Huerta: “Yes we can!”Video	2:36	Introduces students to farmworker advocacy and gives them a model for speaking up against injustice.
Civil Rights Activists: Dolores HuertaBiography	560L–1230L	Helps students profile Huerta’s work and connect real advocacy to the worker-rights questions in the novel.	✓ Yes

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Perspective, stereotypes, and inclusive communities4 resources

Perspective, stereotypes, and inclusive communities resources for “Return to Sender”

Resource	Runtime / Reading Level	Why this resource?	Spanish?
Perspectives in the first, second, and third personVideo	5:00	Prepares students to analyze how Tyler’s and Mari’s alternating first-person perspectives shape the story.
After photo went viral, Jewish and Muslim families form lasting friendshipArticle	530L–1380L	Shows students how new perspectives can help people challenge stereotypes and build relationships.	✓ Yes
Students teach each other their languages and learn acceptanceArticle	510L–1190L	Connects the novel’s themes of language, acceptance, and belonging to a real classroom community.	✓ Yes
Why stereotypes should be avoidedArticle	600L–1240L	Gives students language for discussing stereotypes and how communities can become more inclusive.	✓ Yes

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Constellations, belonging, and cultural stories3 resources

Constellations, belonging, and cultural stories resources for “Return to Sender”

Resource	Runtime / Reading Level	Why this resource?	Spanish?
The Zodiac constellationsVideo	4:08	Supports the culminating constellation task by introducing students to star patterns and their meanings.
Myths and Legends: The Greek gods in the stars and constellationsMyth	390L–910L	Gives students a mentor text for writing a myth connected to a constellation and a central theme.
Relearning the star stories of Indigenous peoplesArticle	570L–1050L	Broadens the constellation activity by showing how star stories can connect culture, place, memory, and belonging.	✓ Yes

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Newsela Writing activity

Move from perspective-taking to literary analysis. Students can use this long-form writing assignment to analyze how different perspectives shape readers’ understanding of immigration, worker rights, stereotypes, and belonging in “Return to Sender.”

Open Writing Activity

Teach “The Wild Book” by Margarita Engle

“The Wild Book” encourages students to discuss writing, confidence, and learning differences through Fefa’s story. Because Fefa’s “word blindness” is now understood as dyslexia, the novel can help students connect a historical character’s experience to present-day conversations about learning and disability rights.

Use the Novel Study when you want students to think about how writing can become a source of voice and courage. The supporting resources help students build context about the author, Cuba as a setting, and real people’s experiences with dyslexia.

Newsela ELA Novel Study

Teach “The Wild Book” by Margarita Engle

By Margarita Engle

Use this Novel Study to help students connect Fefa’s experience with dyslexia to writing, confidence, acceptance, rights, resilience, and family support.

Open Novel Study

Explore supporting resources by teaching focus

Open each group to find videos, articles, essays, explainers, and documents that connect to the novel’s themes and student tasks.

Author, Cuba, and historical fiction3 resources

Author, Cuba, and historical fiction resources for “The Wild Book”

Resource	Runtime / Reading Level	Why this resource?	Spanish?
Historical fictionVideo	2:46	Helps students understand how a historical novel can combine real settings with imagined characters and events.
Family visits to Cuba inspired girl to become poetArticle	390L–990L	Introduces a real writerly connection to Cuba and helps students prepare questions about Engle’s life and work.	✓ Yes
Countries of the World: CubaArticle	380L–930L	Builds basic geographic and cultural context before students write to Margarita Engle about what they learned.	✓ Yes

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Dyslexia, confidence, and self-understanding3 resources

Dyslexia, confidence, and self-understanding resources for “The Wild Book”

Resource	Runtime / Reading Level	Why this resource?	Spanish?
Newsom’s struggles with dyslexia spur quest to fund early screeningArticle	400L–990L	Gives students a real-world example for discussing how dyslexia can affect confidence and learning.
Ben Kilham, the American bear whispererArticle	410L–1010L	Shows students another person’s experience with dyslexia and helps them compare it to Fefa’s journey.	✓ Yes
My disabilities do not define me. I am JimEssay	350L–950L	Helps students think about identity, dignity, and why Fefa should not be defined only by dyslexia.	✓ Yes

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Disability rights and access3 resources

Disability rights and access resources for “The Wild Book”

Resource	Runtime / Reading Level	Why this resource?	Spanish?
Universal Declaration of Human RightsDocument	450L–1360L	Gives students rights-based language for discussing why people with learning disabilities deserve protection and respect.	✓ Yes
Perspective: Broken promise for funding law protecting students with disabilitiesArticle	640L–1280L	Connects Fefa’s experience to modern questions about whether students with disabilities receive the support they need.
Disability History: The disability rights movementExplainer	610L–1140L	Helps students place disability rights in a broader historical context before writing about protection and access.	✓ Yes

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Resilience, self-kindness, and family support3 resources

Resilience, self-kindness, and family support resources for “The Wild Book”

Resource	Runtime / Reading Level	Why this resource?	Spanish?
Take it easy on yourself, and be healthierArticle	540L–1360L	Supports discussion about recognizing personal strengths and being kind to yourself when learning feels difficult.	✓ Yes
Lessons from failure: Why we try, try againArticle	490L–1000L	Helps students connect perseverance, stress, and control to Fefa’s decision to keep practicing and writing.	✓ Yes
Opinion: My daughter’s cartwheels taught me joy can live with griefArticle	550L–1030L	Gives students a comparison point for discussing how family support can help someone move through fear, grief, or uncertainty.	✓ Yes

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Newsela Writing activity

Move from character connection to literary analysis. Students can use this long-form writing assignment to analyze how Fefa’s experience with dyslexia shapes her confidence, relationships, and voice in “The Wild Book.”

Open Writing Activity

[Middle school Hispanic Heritage Month books](id-middle)

Middle school readers are ready for deeper conversations about identity, migration, friendship, language, and justice. Use these units to give them enough context before discussion. 

Teach “Before We Were Free” by Julia Alvarez

“Before We Were Free” shows students political history through Anita’s coming-of-age story. As her family becomes involved in resisting Rafael Trujillo’s dictatorship, Anita starts to understand how fear, secrecy, writing, and courage can shape ordinary family life.

Use this Novel Study to help students connect historical context to character growth. The supporting resources invite them to build background knowledge on the Dominican Republic, explore writing as a way to process trauma, and analyze symbols of freedom across poetry and the novel.

Newsela ELA Novel Study

Teach “Before We Were Free” by Julia Alvarez

By Julia Alvarez

Use this Novel Study to help students connect Anita’s coming-of-age story to dictatorship, migration, family, political awareness, writing, trauma, and freedom.

Open Novel Study

Explore supporting resources by teaching focus

Open each group to find articles, videos, biographies, and poems that connect to the novel’s essential questions.

Dictatorship, setting, and migration2 resources

Dictatorship, setting, and migration resources for “Before We Were Free”

Resource	Runtime / Reading Level	Why this resource?	Spanish?
The Trujillo dictatorship in the Dominican RepublicArticle	600L–1390L	Builds the historical context students need to understand the fear, secrecy, and danger surrounding Anita’s family.	✓ Yes
Migration in and out of the Dominican RepublicArticle	740L–1180L	Helps students connect Trujillo’s dictatorship to migration and the family decisions at the center of the novel.

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Writing, storytelling, and trauma2 resources

Writing, storytelling, and trauma resources for “Before We Were Free”

Resource	Runtime / Reading Level	Why this resource?	Spanish?
Julia AlvarezVideo	2:33	Introduces Alvarez’s connection to the Trujillo dictatorship and helps students think about why the novel takes the form of Anita’s diary.
Doctors recognizing that reading, writing can be therapeuticArticle	680L–1310L	Gives students a real-world lens for discussing how writing and storytelling can help people process difficult experiences.	✓ Yes

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The Mirabal sisters, leadership, and coming of age5 resources

The Mirabal sisters, leadership, and coming of age resources for “Before We Were Free”

Resource	Runtime / Reading Level	Why this resource?	Spanish?
Who were Las Mariposas and why were they murdered?Video	5:57	Helps students understand why the Mirabal sisters inspire Papi and why resistance to Trujillo carries real danger.
How the Mirabal sisters helped topple a dictatorArticle	800L–1360L	Gives students more detail about the sisters’ role in Dominican history and the symbolic meaning of Las Mariposas.	✓ Yes
Presidential Profile: John F. KennedyBiography	590L–1160L	Supports the extension comparing Trujillo’s dictatorship with democratic leadership during Anita’s historical moment.	✓ Yes
Coming of ageVideo	2:42	Prepares students to analyze how Anita, Susie, and Lucinda mature as political danger reshapes their lives.
Sweet 15? Quinceañera and the work of Eva CastellanozArticle	530L–1120L	Helps students connect quinceañera traditions to the characters’ coming-of-age journeys and shifting relationships.	✓ Yes

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Resistance, expression, and freedom symbolism6 resources

Resistance, expression, and freedom symbolism resources for “Before We Were Free”

Resource	Runtime / Reading Level	Why this resource?	Spanish?
Student poetry contest in China becomes unexpected outlet for dissentArticle	610L–1390L	Gives students a modern example of expression under pressure so they can discuss the risks and purpose of speaking out.
Iran protests over Amini’s death “forever moved the debate” on women’s rightsArticle	510L–1480L	Helps students compare Anita’s growing political awareness with contemporary examples of people seeking freedom in the face of fear.	✓ Yes
French town reluctantly takes credit for saving more than 1,000 JewsArticle	600L–1120L	Offers another historical example of resistance and protection when people face persecution.
“Monarch Metamorphosis”: A poem by Sandi LeibowitzPoem	780L	Supports the culminating task by helping students analyze butterflies as symbols of transformation and freedom.
“A Minor Bird”: A poem by Robert FrostPoem		Gives students a brief literary model for discussing bird imagery, voice, and the desire to silence or release song.
“For the Bird Singing before Dawn”: A poem by Kim StaffordPoem	650L	Helps students compare how poetry can use birds and flight to express hope during fearful moments.

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Newsela Writing activity

Move from coming-of-age discussion to literary analysis. Students can use this long-form writing assignment to analyze how pivotal events shape Anita’s perspective in “Before We Were Free.”

Open Writing Activity

Teach “Call Me María” by Judith Ortiz Cofer

“Call Me María” gives students a way to explore what it can feel like to live between languages, cultures, and homes. María leaves Puerto Rico to live with her father in New York City, and poetry becomes one of the ways she observes her new world and makes sense of who she’s becoming.

Use this Novel Study to help students connect identity, language, and culture. The supporting resources build background on Puerto Rican identity, discuss belonging and acceptance, and explore how poetry can turn personal experiences into voice.

Newsela ELA Novel Study

Teach “Call Me María” by Judith Ortiz Cofer

By Judith Ortiz Cofer

Use this Novel Study to help students connect María’s search for identity to Puerto Rican culture, language, poetry, figurative language, belonging, and resilience.

Open Novel Study

Explore supporting resources by teaching focus

Open each group to find articles, poems, speeches, videos, and paired texts that connect to the novel’s essential questions.

Puerto Rico, migration, and belonging4 resources

Puerto Rico, migration, and belonging resources for “Call Me María”

Resource	Runtime / Reading Level	Why this resource?	Spanish?
Countries of the World: Puerto RicoArticle	390L–1020L	Builds geographic, cultural, and political context for the place María leaves and remembers.	✓ Yes
More Puerto Ricans move to mainland United States after Hurricane MariaArticle	520L–1180L	Connects Puerto Rican migration to more recent events and helps students discuss movement, loss, and starting over.	✓ Yes
Going “home” to Ecuador, part two: Where do I belong?Memoir	660L–1140L	Gives students a first-person comparison for discussing cultural identity, embarrassment, and belonging across places.	✓ Yes
Going “home” to Ecuador, part one: Finding my peopleMemoir	680L–1170L	Helps students compare María’s search for home with another writer’s search for connection and heritage.	✓ Yes

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Language, voice, and cultural expression5 resources

Language, voice, and cultural expression resources for “Call Me María”

Resource	Runtime / Reading Level	Why this resource?	Spanish?
Students teach each other their languages and learn acceptanceArticle	510L–1190L	Connects María’s language identity to a real classroom example of acceptance and multilingual pride.	✓ Yes
For some kids, Spanglish is a way of connecting culturesArticle	550L–1260L	Helps students discuss how María’s Spanish and English connect to identity, voice, and belonging.	✓ Yes
Opinion: From embarrassment to celebration, accepting a bicultural identityArticle	620L–1260L	Gives students a real-world lens for discussing cultural pride, shame, and identity growth.	✓ Yes
Puerto Rico: A mix of many culturesVideo	2:33	Builds context for Puerto Rican cultural expression before students analyze María’s poems and identity.
Youth Poet Laureate Amanda Gorman uplifts audiences with a message of hopeArticle	520L–1240L	Shows poetry as public voice and helps students discuss how writing can express identity and resilience.	✓ Yes

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Figurative language, poetry, and mentor texts6 resources

Figurative language, poetry, and mentor texts resources for “Call Me María”

Resource	Runtime / Reading Level	Why this resource?	Spanish?
Discover figurative language in writingArticle	550L–1170L	Prepares students to identify and explain figurative language in María’s poems and descriptions.	✓ Yes
Claudia Lars: Great poet of El SalvadorBiography	590L–1050L	Introduces a Latina poet and helps students think about how poets use memory, place, and identity.	✓ Yes
Nobel Prize for Literature: Chilean poet and diplomat Pablo NerudaBiography	600L–1260L	Gives students another Latin American poet to connect poetry, public identity, and cultural voice.	✓ Yes
Amanda Gorman performed “Chorus of the Captains” at Super BowlArticle	500L–1220L	Offers another example of poetry as performance and public expression.	✓ Yes
“My Grandfather’s Typerwriter”: A student poem by Tatiana Rebecca ShrayerPoem		Gives students a short mentor poem for studying how objects can carry memory, family meaning, and voice.
“July”: A poem by Henrietta Cordelia RayPoem		Helps students compare imagery, tone, and emotional language before writing a poem about something meaningful to them.

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Newsela Writing activity

Move from identity discussion to poetry writing. Students can use this long-form writing assignment to write a poem about an object, place, memory, or language that helps express who they are.

Open Writing Activity

Teach “Summer of the Mariposas” by Guadalupe García McCall 

“Summer of the Mariposas” turns a road trip into a magical, myth-inspired journey. As Odilia and her sisters travel to Mexico to return a dead man to his family, the story brings together folklore, Aztec ancestry, sisterhood, and family reconciliation.

Use the Novel Study to help students connect myth and magical realism to modern coming-of-age journeys. The supporting resources build context about Aztec history, heroic journeys, and Mexican and Mexican American storytelling.

Newsela ELA Novel Study

Teach “Summer of the Mariposas” by Guadalupe García McCall

By Guadalupe García McCall

Use this Novel Study to help students connect Odilia’s journey with myth, magical realism, Aztec ancestry, Mexican heritage, sisterhood, family bonds, and the ways journeys change us.

Open Novel Study

Explore supporting resources by teaching focus

Open each group to find videos, articles, fiction, explainers, and cartoons that connect to the novel’s essential questions and student tasks.

Genre, myth, and heroic journeys4 resources

Genre, myth, and heroic journey resources for “Summer of the Mariposas”

Resource	Runtime / Reading Level	Why this resource?	Spanish?
How YA fiction came to beVideo	5:43	Helps students understand the YA genre before discussing why this magical journey centers teen sisters and their growth.
What makes a hero?Video	4:29	Introduces heroic traits students can use to analyze Odilia, her sisters, and the choices they make on the journey.
Explainer: Magical realismExplainer	570L–1310L	Gives students language for tracking mythical, magical, and realistic elements throughout the Garza sisters’ journey.	✓ Yes
Are you monomythic? Joseph Campbell and the hero’s journeyArticle	540L–1220L	Supports the culminating task by helping students map Odilia’s journey against a classic heroic-journey structure.	✓ Yes

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Aztec history, ancestry, and heritage2 resources

Aztec history, ancestry, and heritage resources for “Summer of the Mariposas”

Resource	Runtime / Reading Level	Why this resource?	Spanish?
Origin and growth of the Aztec empireArticle	810L–1420L	Builds historical context for the Aztec ancestry, symbols, gods, and storytelling that appear in the novel.	✓ Yes
A Day In The Life: The AztecsFiction	1000L–1050L	Helps students imagine daily life, social roles, and cultural practices before connecting Aztec history to the sisters’ journey.	✓ Yes

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Sisterhood, mariposas, and family bonds3 resources

Sisterhood, mariposas, and family bonds resources for “Summer of the Mariposas”

Resource	Runtime / Reading Level	Why this resource?	Spanish?
Who were Las Mariposas, and why were they murderedVideo	5:57	Gives students another lens on sisters, courage, memory, and the symbolic meaning of mariposas.
‘I am living his dream’: Why Kikau plays for his brotherArticle	550L–1040L	Helps students compare the Garza sisters’ loyalty with a real sibling relationship shaped by grief, responsibility, and love.
Opinion: Serena and Venus Williams are tennis stars, sisters, and best friendsArticle	390L–920L	Supports discussion about how sisters can challenge, protect, and strengthen one another through difficult moments.

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Mexican and Mexican American storytelling3 resources

Mexican and Mexican American storytelling resources for “Summer of the Mariposas”

Resource	Runtime / Reading Level	Why this resource?	Spanish?
Legend of the Poinsettias: a Mexican storyFiction	760L–780L	Gives students a Mexican folktale to compare with the novel’s use of myth, heritage, and moral lessons.	✓ Yes
“The Casagrandes” extols Mexican-American life via animationArticle	390L–970L	Connects the novel’s family and heritage themes to a modern Mexican American story told through animation.	✓ Yes
A cartoon: “Dancing at sunrise: life in Mexico’s land of the artists”Cartoon	1300L	Offers a visual text for discussing how art can represent place, culture, and Mexican heritage.

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Newsela Writing activity

Move from sisterhood discussion to literary analysis. Students can use this long-form writing assignment to analyze how sibling relationships shape the Garza sisters’ choices, survival, and growth in “Summer of the Mariposas.”

Open Writing Activity

Teach “Taking Sides” by Gary Soto

“Taking Sides” follows main character Lincoln Mendoza as basketball forces him into conflicts he can’t avoid. After transferring from an inner-city school to a suburban one, Lincoln has to play against former teammates while figuring out where his loyalties lie.

Use this Novel Study when you want students to connect sports, friendship, class, and educational inequality in one tale. The supporting resources explore basketball as a competition and community builder. They also analyze how inequality affects growing up, and connect Lincoln’s conflicts to social influence, diversity, and literary conflict.

Newsela ELA Novel Study

Teach “Taking Sides” by Gary Soto

By Gary Soto

Use this Novel Study to help students connect Lincoln’s basketball conflict to loyalty, competition, class divides, racism, educational inequality, acceptance, diversity, and self-confidence.

Open Novel Study

Explore supporting resources by teaching focus

Open each group to find articles, poems, and explainers that connect to the novel’s essential questions and student tasks.

Basketball, competition, and community3 resources

Basketball, competition, and community resources for “Taking Sides”

Resource	Runtime / Reading Level	Why this resource?	Spanish?
The yin and yang of basketballArticle	560L–1120L	Introduces the sport at the center of the novel so students can discuss how rules, competition, and teamwork create conflict.
Two Somali teens turn to basketball for expressionArticle	580L–1270L	Shows how basketball can become a source of identity, expression, confidence, and community for young people.
Basketball more than just a game for Saudi womenArticle	380L–1200L	Helps students see how basketball can connect to belonging, confidence, and opportunity beyond the court.	✓ Yes

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Class divides, racism, and school inequality3 resources

Class divides, racism, and school inequality resources for “Taking Sides”

Resource	Runtime / Reading Level	Why this resource?	Spanish?
Why it’s hard to be a poor boy with richer neighborsArticle	570L–1300L	Helps students connect Lincoln’s move to a broader discussion about class differences, confidence, and growing up around wealth.	✓ Yes
Poor teens’ health may benefit from top schoolsArticle	570L–1370L	Gives students a research-based lens for discussing how school environments can affect opportunity, health, and belonging.	✓ Yes
Report finds “systemic racism” at Collingwood Football ClubArticle	600L–1310L	Connects sports culture to racism and inequality so students can discuss how conflict can reveal character and systems.

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Loyalty, diversity, and social influence2 resources

Loyalty, diversity, and social influence resources for “Taking Sides”

Resource	Runtime / Reading Level	Why this resource?	Spanish?
The positive side of social influenceArticle	590L–1420L	Helps students discuss how old and new friends influence Lincoln’s choices, confidence, and sense of loyalty.
Opinion: How diversity makes us smarterArticle	560L–1240L	Supports discussion about how new groups of people can broaden perspective without erasing earlier relationships.	✓ Yes

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Gary Soto, dreams, and literary conflict2 resources

Gary Soto, dreams, and literary conflict resources for “Taking Sides”

Resource	Runtime / Reading Level	Why this resource?	Spanish?
“In Praise of Dreams”: A poem by Gary SotoPoem		Gives students a Gary Soto poem to compare with the style, images, hopes, and conflicts in the novel.
What is conflict in literature?Explainer	810L–1260L	Prepares students to identify the internal and external conflicts they might show on a redesigned book cover.

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Newsela Writing activity

Move from social context to literary analysis. Students can use this long-form writing assignment to analyze how racism, class divides, and educational inequality influence Lincoln’s experiences in “Taking Sides.”

Open Writing Activity

Teach “The Circuit: Stories from the Life of a Migrant Child” by Francisco Jiménez

“The Circuit” gives students a firsthand view of migration, farm labor, and family uncertainty through Francisco’s autobiographical stories. As his family moves from place to place for seasonal work, Francisco holds onto his hope for education even when instability keeps reshaping his daily life. 

Use the Book Study when you want students to connect migration and poverty to basic needs like learning and health care. The supporting resources shine a light on migrant children’s experiences, examine farmworker rights, and discuss how school and community support can shape a young person’s future.

Newsela ELA Book Study

Teach “The Circuit” by Francisco Jiménez

By Francisco Jiménez

Use this Book Study to help students connect Francisco’s autobiographical stories to migration, poverty, seasonal farm labor, healthcare access, interrupted schooling, family uncertainty, and hope.

Open Book Study

Explore supporting resources by teaching focus

Open each group to find articles, poems, and profiles that connect to the book’s essential questions and student tasks.

Migration, border crossing, and mixed emotions 3 resources

Migration, border crossing, and mixed emotions resources for “The Circuit”

Resource	Runtime / Reading Level	Why this resource?	Spanish?
Farmworker children uprooted by California rules Article	680L–1220L	Helps students connect Francisco’s disrupted schooling to the real instability many farmworker children face.	✓ Yes
“We come in peace”: Migrants start asylum journey at U.S. border Article	560L–1180L	Gives students another migration story for comparing hopes, risks, and uncertainty at the border.	✓ Yes
“America”: A poem by Claude McKay Poem		Helps students compare complicated feelings about America, opportunity, pain, and belonging.

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Farm labor, poverty, and healthcare access 4 resources

Farm labor, poverty, and healthcare access resources for “The Circuit”

Resource	Runtime / Reading Level	Why this resource?	Spanish?
Why equal opportunity still eludes us Article	620L–1160L	Helps students discuss how poverty and unequal opportunity shape Francisco’s family’s choices.	✓ Yes
When Labor Laws Left Farmworkers Behind—and Vulnerable to Abuse Article	600L–1320L	Connects the book’s farm labor scenes to the broader history of worker protections and exploitation.	✓ Yes
Rural teachers, doctors try to help kids living in poverty Article	620L–1280L	Gives students a real-world lens for discussing how poverty can affect schooling, health, and daily routines.	✓ Yes
Fighting for health care in America’s rural schools Article	730L–1240L	Supports the healthcare analysis task by showing how school-based care can affect families with limited access.

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Language, interrupted schooling, and hope 3 resources

Language, interrupted schooling, and hope resources for “The Circuit”

Resource	Runtime / Reading Level	Why this resource?	Spanish?
Students teach each other their languages and learn acceptance Article	510L–1190L	Connects Francisco’s language learning to classroom acceptance, belonging, and peer support.	✓ Yes
Hawaii school beats odds with English language learners Article	700L–1150L	Builds context for discussing how language learning and school support affect students with interrupted learning.	✓ Yes
She once struggled to learn English. Now she’s heading to MIT Article	1190L	Gives students a real example of persistence, language learning, and academic hope to compare with Francisco’s goals.

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Immigration laws and family uncertainty 2 resources

Immigration laws and family uncertainty resources for “The Circuit”

Resource	Runtime / Reading Level	Why this resource?	Spanish?
Laws pull one undocumented family in many directions Article	510L–1070L	Helps students imagine possible outcomes after immigration officers arrive at Francisco’s school.
Facebook group raises more than $15 million to help reunite immigrant families Article	550L–1220L	Connects the book’s uncertain ending to real efforts to support families affected by immigration enforcement.

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Newsela Writing activity

Move from memoir discussion to literary analysis. Students can use this long-form writing assignment to analyze how access to healthcare affects Francisco’s family in “The Circuit.”

Open Writing Activity

Teach “The Red Umbrella” by Christina Diaz Gonzalez

“The Red Umbrella” helps students understand the Cuban Revolution through Lucía’s experience as a child forced to leave her home. After her parents send her and her younger brother to the United States through Operation Pedro Pan, Lucía has to adjust to life in Nebraska while carrying fear, homesickness, and uncertainty about her family’s future.

Use this Novel Study to help students connect political change to personal identity, family separation, and symbols of home. The supporting resources build context about Cuba, compare Lucía’s experiences across settings, and analyze how the red umbrella and other motifs carry meaning throughout the novel.

Newsela ELA Novel Study

Teach “The Red Umbrella” by Christina Diaz Gonzalez

By Christina Diaz Gonzalez

Use this Novel Study to help students connect Lucía’s story to the Cuban Revolution, Operation Pedro Pan, propaganda, migration, family separation, cultural adjustment, and symbols of home.

Open Novel Study

Explore supporting resources by teaching focus

Open each group to find videos, biographies, explainers, articles, and fiction that connect to the novel’s history, themes, and symbols.

Operation Pedro Pan and child migration3 resources

Operation Pedro Pan and child migration resources for “The Red Umbrella”

Resource	Runtime / Reading Level	Why this resource?	Spanish?
Exodus of Cuba’s childrenVideo	2:35	Introduces Operation Pedro Pan so students can understand why Lucía and Frankie are sent to the United States without their parents.
Number of unaccompanied minors arriving illegally in U.S. is risingArticle	700L–1150L	Gives students a contemporary point of comparison for discussing children who migrate without parents or guardians.
Central America turmoil may be cause of child migrant surgeArticle	730L–1330L	Helps students compare the causes and effects of child migration across different historical and political contexts.

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Revolution, leadership, and propaganda2 resources

Revolution, leadership, and propaganda resources for “The Red Umbrella”

Resource	Runtime / Reading Level	Why this resource?	Spanish?
World Leaders: Fidel CastroBiography	660L–1360L	Builds historical context for the Cuban Revolution and the political changes that reshape Lucía’s family life.	✓ Yes
How propaganda worksExplainer	600L–1320L	Prepares students to analyze how persuasion and propaganda influence young people in the novel.	✓ Yes

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Cuba, Nebraska, and cultural adjustment3 resources

Cuba, Nebraska, and cultural adjustment resources for “The Red Umbrella”

Resource	Runtime / Reading Level	Why this resource?	Spanish?
Countries of the World: CubaArticle	380L–930L	Gives students background on Cuba so they can better understand the home, culture, and community Lucía leaves behind.	✓ Yes
Nebraska: The Cornhusker StateArticle	310L–990L	Helps students compare Lucía’s life in Cuba with her new surroundings in Nebraska.
Family visits to Cuba inspired girl to become a poetArticle	390L–990L	Connects Cuban American identity, memory, and writing to Lucía’s experience of being forced to leave Cuba behind.	✓ Yes

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Changing relationships, symbols, and motifs2 resources

Changing relationships, symbols, and motifs resources for “The Red Umbrella”

Resource	Runtime / Reading Level	Why this resource?	Spanish?
U.S., Cuba to begin talks on normalizing relations, official saysArticle	730L–1400L	Helps students imagine how Lucía might view Cuba and the United States differently as an adult looking back on change.
A White HeronFiction	1090L–1250L	Gives students a paired text for analyzing how authors use birds, umbrellas, and other motifs to symbolize larger ideas.	✓ Yes

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Newsela Writing activity

Move from historical context to literary analysis. Students can use this long-form writing assignment to analyze how propaganda shapes Lucía’s world, relationships, and understanding of the Cuban Revolution in “The Red Umbrella.”

Open Writing Activity

[High school Hispanic Heritage Month books](id-high)

High school students are ready for more complex questions about identity, power, language, grief, and migration. These lessons pair strong context with close reading and clear discussion norms.

Teach “Bless Me, Ultima” by Rudolfo Anaya

“Bless Me, Ultima” follows Antonio Márez as he grows up in rural New Mexico and begins questioning the beliefs, traditions, and expectations around him. With Ultima’s guidance, Antonio learns that two things can be true about family, culture, and good and evil.

Use this Novel Study when you want students to explore cultural conflict, storytelling, and the influence of place. The supporting resources help them build context about the Southwest, vaquero culture, Indigenous history, and multicultural identity.

Newsela ELA Novel Study

Teach “Bless Me, Ultima” by Rudolfo Anaya

By Rudolfo Anaya

Use this Novel Study to help students connect Antonio’s coming-of-age story to New Mexico history, vaquero culture, Indigenous and Spanish influences, religious questions, storytelling, identity, and changing values.

Open Novel Study

Explore supporting resources by teaching focus

Open each group to find videos, articles, and poems that connect to the novel’s essential questions and student tasks.

New Mexico, the Southwest, and vaquero culture 4 resources

New Mexico, the Southwest, and vaquero culture resources for “Bless Me, Ultima”

Resource	Runtime / Reading Level	Why this resource?	Spanish?
Toypurina: Rebelling against the mission systemVideo	2:20	Introduces resistance to Spanish mission systems so students can discuss Indigenous history and cultural conflict in the Southwest.
New Mexico: Land of EnchantmentArticle	430L–1080L	Builds geographic and cultural context for Antonio’s rural New Mexico setting.
Native American Cultures: The SouthwestArticle	540L–1270L	Helps students understand Indigenous histories and traditions that shape the region around Antonio’s community.
Real cowhands on the Texas rangeArticle	470L–1160L	Connects the novel’s vaquero culture to Spanish and Indigenous traditions across the Southwest.

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Multicultural identity and expectations 2 resources

Multicultural identity and expectations resources for “Bless Me, Ultima”

Resource	Runtime / Reading Level	Why this resource?	Spanish?
Opinion: From embarrassment to celebration, accepting a bicultural identityArticle	540L–1300L	Helps students discuss how people move from tension or embarrassment toward a fuller acceptance of identity.	✓ Yes
Opinion: “Third culture kids” like me make it up as we go alongArticle	380L–1280L	Gives students another lens for analyzing how Antonio reconciles different family, cultural, and community expectations.	✓ Yes

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Stories, language, and acceptance 2 resources

Stories, language, and acceptance resources for “Bless Me, Ultima”

Resource	Runtime / Reading Level	Why this resource?	Spanish?
Students teach each other their languages and learn acceptanceArticle	510L–1190L	Connects language, learning, and acceptance to Antonio’s growing understanding of people around him.	✓ Yes
The barrier-breaking power of learning someone else’s storyArticle	580L–1140L	Supports analysis of how Antonio changes as he learns other people’s stories and sees the “strange magic” in their lives.	✓ Yes

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Coming of age and changing values 2 resources

Coming of age and changing values resources for “Bless Me, Ultima”

Resource	Runtime / Reading Level	Why this resource?	Spanish?
“Season of Change”: A poem by C.L. ClickardPoem		Gives students a poem for comparing images of change with Antonio’s coming-of-age journey.
“Up-Hill”: A poem by Christina RossettiPoem		Helps students discuss how questions, uncertainty, and persistence can shape a person’s values over time.

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Newsela Writing activity

Move from identity discussion to literary analysis. Students can use this long-form writing assignment to analyze how multicultural influences shape Antonio’s identity in “Bless Me, Ultima.”

Open Writing Activity

Teach “Chronicle of a Death Foretold” by Gabriel García Márquez

“Chronicle of a Death Foretold” tells you the outcome before it starts: Santiago Nasar will be murdered. What makes the novella powerful is the way the narrator reconstructs how an entire community knew enough to intervene, but still failed to stop a preventable death.

Use this Novel Study to have students examine narrative structure, memory, justice, and community responsibility. The supporting resources help students understand magical realism, analyze social norms and stereotypes, and discuss how bystanders can affect injustices in public settings.

Newsela ELA Novel Study

Teach “Chronicle of a Death Foretold” by Gabriel García Márquez

By Gabriel García Márquez

Use this Novel Study to help students connect García Márquez’s novella to narrative structure, magical realism, honor, gender expectations, justice, retribution, bystander responsibility, and community complicity.

Open Novel Study

Explore supporting resources by teaching focus

Open each group to find articles, videos, explainers, speeches, and firsthand accounts that connect to the novella’s essential questions and student tasks.

Magical realism, narrative style, and chronology 4 resources

Magical realism, narrative style, and chronology resources for “Chronicle of a Death Foretold”

Resource	Runtime / Reading Level	Why this resource?	Spanish?
Daily lives turn magical in these books and storiesArticle	580L–1310L	Introduces magical realism and García Márquez’s style so students can anticipate how extraordinary details may shape the novella’s world.	✓ Yes
Magical realismVideo	2:43	Gives students concise genre language for identifying realistic, surreal, and symbolic elements in the novella.
Writing well: The elements of narrative writingExplainer	570L–1080L	Helps students analyze how García Márquez follows, bends, or disrupts expected narrative structure.	✓ Yes
Rising action in literatureArticle	520L–1130L	Supports the culminating task by helping students test how the novella’s meaning changes when events are placed in chronological order.	✓ Yes

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Social identity, honor, and gender expectations 5 resources

Social identity, honor, and gender expectations resources for “Chronicle of a Death Foretold”

Resource	Runtime / Reading Level	Why this resource?	Spanish?
What is social identity?Explainer	450L–1010L	Gives students language for analyzing how gender, family, honor, and community status shape the characters’ roles.	✓ Yes
Opinion: Is teen sexting a cause for concern?Article	580L–1250L	Helps students compare social norms about sexuality, shame, privacy, and reputation across time periods.
Gender stereotypes are firmly rooted by age 10: global studyArticle	600L–1600L	Builds evidence for discussing how gender stereotypes can shape expectations, decisions, and harm.	✓ Yes
Cady Stanton’s Address on “The Destructive Male”Speech	580L–1490L	Gives students an argumentative model for examining damaging expectations about masculinity and power.	✓ Yes
Sojourner Truth’s “Ain’t I a Woman?” (1863 account)Speech	540L–1280L	Offers a second speech for analyzing how speakers challenge gender assumptions and social expectations.	✓ Yes

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Justice, retribution, and community responsibility 3 resources

Justice, retribution, and community responsibility resources for “Chronicle of a Death Foretold”

Resource	Runtime / Reading Level	Why this resource?	Spanish?
The function of justice and retribution in our societyArticle	610L–1230L	Helps students define justice and retribution before evaluating legal and moral blame in the novella.
Time Machine (1905): An Eyewitness Account of a LynchingFirst-Person Account	670L–1110L	Supports careful discussion of mob violence, bystander behavior, and moral paralysis in the face of public harm.	✓ Yes
Three men found guilty in killing of jogger Ahmaud Arbery in GeorgiaArticle	600L–1420L	Gives students a contemporary case for discussing vigilantism, accountability, and how communities respond after public injustice.	✓ Yes

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Newsela Writing activity

Move from social norms discussion to opinion writing. Students can use this long-form writing assignment to evaluate how social norms and attitudes shape behavior, blame, and community responsibility in “Chronicle of a Death Foretold.”

Open Writing Activity

Teach “Clap When You Land” by Elizabeth Acevedo

“Clap When You Land” follows Yahaira in New York and Camino in the Dominican Republic after their father dies in a plane crash. When the girls discover they are half-sisters, their alternating poems reveal emotions like grief and anger, and expose family secrets.

Use this Novel Study to help students connect novel-in-verse craft to complex emotions, symbolism, and coming of age. The supporting resources build background on the settings, study how poetry carries emotion, and analyze the water symbolism that runs through the novel.

Newsela ELA Novel Study

Teach “Clap When You Land” by Elizabeth Acevedo

By Elizabeth Acevedo

Use this Novel Study to help students connect Yahaira and Camino’s alternating stories to home, grief, family secrets, betrayal, water symbolism, narrative poetry, safety, and coming of age.

Open Novel Study

Explore supporting resources by teaching focus

Open each group to find videos, articles, poems, explainers, and fact sheets that connect to the novel’s essential questions and student tasks.

Home, identity, and setting 2 resources

Home, identity, and setting resources for “Clap When You Land”

Resource	Runtime / Reading Level	Why this resource?	Spanish?
Facts about the Dominican RepublicFact Sheet	530L–1290L	Builds background on one of the novel’s central settings so students can discuss Camino’s home with more context.	✓ Yes
The immigrant history of the New York City neighborhood behind film “In the Heights”Article	940L–1520L	Helps students connect Yahaira’s New York setting to Dominican identity, migration, neighborhood history, and belonging.

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Novel in verse, mood, and water symbolism 5 resources

Novel in verse, mood, and water symbolism resources for “Clap When You Land”

Resource	Runtime / Reading Level	Why this resource?	Spanish?
Narrative poetry: Telling stories through verseArticle	610L–1250L	Gives students a foundation for reading the novel as a story told through poetry.	✓ Yes
Novel in verseVideo	2:40	Introduces the form of a novel in verse before students analyze Acevedo’s alternating speakers and structure.
How mood and tone function in a poemExplainer	610L–1100L	Helps students name how Acevedo uses word choice, imagery, and form to create emotional effects.
“Behold the Water of Waters”: A poem by RumiPoem		Gives students a paired poem for analyzing how water imagery can carry spiritual, emotional, or symbolic meaning.
“Apostrophe”: A poem by Liza Katz DuncanPoem	730L	Supports the symbolism task by giving students another poem that uses water and address to create meaning.

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Grief, coping, and asking for help 3 resources

Grief, coping, and asking for help resources for “Clap When You Land”

Resource	Runtime / Reading Level	Why this resource?	Spanish?
Online chess is thriving, a calming constant in a chaotic pandemic yearArticle	600L–1040L	Connects to Yahaira’s relationship with chess and helps students discuss routines that can offer steadiness during grief.	✓ Yes
It’s time to move to the beach for your mental healthArticle	470L–1270L	Helps students compare how place, water, and environment can shape coping, comfort, and mental health.
What is human trafficking?Explainer	630L–1520L	Builds safety-focused context for discussing the threats Camino faces and where people can turn for help.

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Coming-of-age stories and YA context 4 resources

Coming-of-age stories and YA context resources for “Clap When You Land”

Resource	Runtime / Reading Level	Why this resource?	Spanish?
Author Elizabeth Acevedo on writing a coming-of-age novelVideo	4:00	Introduces Acevedo’s thinking about coming-of-age stories before students evaluate whether the novel fits the genre.
How YA fiction came to beVideo	5:43	Gives students genre context for discussing why YA novels often center identity, independence, and transition.
“Absolute”: A poem by Jacqueline WoodsonPoem	1000L	Offers a literary comparison for discussing voice, growth, and the moments that mark a shift toward adulthood.
Coming of age during a war, a Ukrainian teen finds her “mission”Article	570L–1040L	Gives students a real-world coming-of-age example to compare with Yahaira and Camino’s growth after loss.

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Newsela Writing activity

Move from imagery discussion to literary analysis. Students can use this long-form writing assignment to analyze how water functions as a symbol in “Clap When You Land.”

Open Writing Activity

Teach “Dominicana” by Angie Cruz

“Dominicana” follows Ana Canción, a 15-year-old girl who marries an older man and leaves the Dominican Republic for New York City in the 1960s. Ana’s isolation in an unhappy marriage gives students a character study of gender, immigration, family expectations, and survival.

Use this Novel Study to help students examine coming of age through the lens of power, relationships, and lesser-told stories. The supporting resources build context of the setting, analyze gender expectations, and prompt students to think about why it matters to read stories with less common plot lines or protagonists. 

Newsela ELA Novel Study

Teach “Dominicana” by Angie Cruz

By Angie Cruz

Use this Novel Study to help students connect Ana’s story to coming of age, Dominican identity, immigration, patriarchy, women’s agency, relationship power, and the value of reading stories centered on women and immigrants.

Open Novel Study

Explore supporting resources by teaching focus

Open each group to find videos, articles, poems, explainers, a manifesto, and essays that connect to the novel’s essential questions and student tasks.

Setting, identity, and coming of age 3 resources

Setting, identity, and coming of age resources for “Dominicana”

Resource	Runtime / Reading Level	Why this resource?	Spanish?
Facts about the Dominican RepublicFact Sheet	530L–1290L	Builds setting context so students can connect Ana’s choices, family expectations, and migration to the Dominican Republic.	✓ Yes
America Ferrera: My identity is a superpower—not an obstacleVideo	14:02	Gives students a model for discussing identity, confidence, and the pressure to see culture as something to overcome.
Coming of ageVideo	2:42	Prepares students to analyze Ana’s growth as she begins to imagine a future shaped by her own choices.

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Masculinity, patriarchy, and women’s voices 3 resources

Masculinity, patriarchy, and women’s voices resources for “Dominicana”

Resource	Runtime / Reading Level	Why this resource?	Spanish?
Teen authors urge boys to express their feelingsArticle	590L–1110L	Helps students discuss how narrow expectations about masculinity can shape behavior, power, and relationships.
Male versions of “Good Night Stories for Rebel Girls” arrive on shelvesArticle	600L–1500L	Gives students another way to examine gender expectations, role models, and the stories society tells boys and girls.	✓ Yes
“the lost women”: A poem by Lucille CliftonPoem		Connects to Ana and the women around her by giving students a poetic lens for discussing women whose names, choices, or stories have been pushed aside.

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Relationships, power, and safety 2 resources

Relationships, power, and safety resources for “Dominicana”

Resource	Runtime / Reading Level	Why this resource?	Spanish?
Handling conflict in relationshipsArticle	480L–1210L	Supports discussion of Ana’s relationships with Juan, César, Marisela, and the people who influence her decisions.	✓ Yes
What healthy and unhealthy relationships look likeExplainer	490L–1220L	Gives students careful language for evaluating power, safety, control, and trust in Ana’s relationships.	✓ Yes

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Feminist communities and literary perspectives 4 resources

Feminist communities and literary perspectives resources for “Dominicana”

Resource	Runtime / Reading Level	Why this resource?	Spanish?
The Combahee River Collective statementManifesto	600L–1430L	Helps students think about collective power, women’s experiences, and what a community built around shared values can demand.
The commune in Ethiopia where feminism is the lawArticle	520L–1270L	Gives students a real-world model for imagining a community designed around women’s safety, voice, and shared rules.	✓ Yes
Opinion: Books by immigrants, foreigners and minorities don’t diminish the classic curriculumArticle	610L–1180L	Supports the final opinion task about why novels centered on women and immigrants belong in the classroom.	✓ Yes
Essay: Taking “Little Women” seriouslyEssay	610L–1380L	Offers a mentor text for discussing literary value, women-centered stories, and what counts as important reading.

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Newsela Writing activity

Move from perspective-taking to opinion writing. Students can use this long-form writing assignment to evaluate the value of studying “Dominicana” and other novels that center women and immigrants.

Open Writing Activity

Teach “Dreaming in Cuban” by Cristina García

“Dreaming in Cuban” follows three generations of women whose family is divided between Cuba and the United States after the Cuban Revolution. Their shifting perspectives show how politics, language, memory, and betrayal can shape what people believe about home and truth.

Use this Novel Study when you want students to connect family conflict to larger questions about history and transnational identity. The supporting resources help them build context about Cuba and U.S.-Cuba relations, analyze how stories become history, and explore how language can affect identity.

Newsela ELA Novel Study

Teach “Dreaming in Cuban” by Cristina García

By Cristina García

Use this Novel Study to help students connect the novel’s divided family to Cuban history, U.S.-Cuba relations, memory, storytelling, language, national identity, forgiveness, and transnationalism.

Open Novel Study

Explore supporting resources by teaching focus

Open each group to find videos, articles, biographies, explainers, poems, and current-events connections that support the novel’s history, themes, and student tasks.

Cuba, Castro, and Cold War context 6 resources

Cuba, Castro, and Cold War context resources for “Dreaming in Cuban”

Resource	Runtime / Reading Level	Why this resource?	Spanish?
Magical realismVideo	2:43	Introduces genre language students can use to discuss the novel’s dreamlike moments, memory, and layered narration.
Countries of the World: CubaArticle	380L–930L	Builds geographic and cultural background before students trace how characters experience Cuba from different places and generations.	✓ Yes
World Leaders: Fidel CastroBiography	660L–1360L	Gives students political context for the revolution and the loyalties that divide members of the family.	✓ Yes
Fidel Castro, who defied U.S. for 50 years, dies at 90 in CubaObituary	500L–1340L	Helps students understand Castro’s long influence and why characters may remember the same political era differently.	✓ Yes
The Bay of Pigs Invasion of CubaArticle	590L–1530L	Supports timeline work by explaining a major event in the tense relationship between Cuba and the United States.	✓ Yes
The Cuban Missile Crisis, October 1962Article	580L–1460L	Gives students Cold War context for understanding fear, allegiance, and political tension in the novel’s background.	✓ Yes

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Memory, storytelling, and history 3 resources

Memory, storytelling, and history resources for “Dreaming in Cuban”

Resource	Runtime / Reading Level	Why this resource?	Spanish?
How did “bourgeoisie” become a bad word?Explainer	560L–1270L	Helps students discuss how political language can shape what characters believe is true, valuable, or dangerous.	✓ Yes
How We Have Turned Memories and Stories into HistoriesArticle	710L–1220L	Supports discussion of how personal memory, family stories, and historical record overlap throughout the novel.	✓ Yes
Family visits to Cuba inspired girl to become poetArticle	390L–990L	Connects Cuban American memory, family stories, and writing to the way characters hold on to place across generations.	✓ Yes

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Language, national identity, and connection 3 resources

Language, national identity, and connection resources for “Dreaming in Cuban”

Resource	Runtime / Reading Level	Why this resource?	Spanish?
How do people define national identity? By speaking the languageArticle	580L–1280L	Helps students analyze how language can shape belonging, truth, and national identity across borders.	✓ Yes
“The U.S. of Us”: A poem by Richard BlancoPoem	1230L	Offers a mentor text for discussing apostrophe, national identity, and the emotional pull of more than one home.
How loving kindness meditation can help you deal with even the most annoying peopleArticle	580L–1290L	Supports reflection on love, betrayal, forgiveness, and whether characters can repair damaged family relationships.	✓ Yes

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Changing U.S.-Cuba relations 2 resources

Changing U.S.-Cuba relations resources for “Dreaming in Cuban”

Resource	Runtime / Reading Level	Why this resource?	Spanish?
U.S., Cuba to begin talks on normalizing relations, official saysArticle	730L–1400L	Helps students imagine how the novel’s conflicts might shift if characters could travel and communicate more freely.
Tussling on human rights, Obama, Castro vow new path forwardArticle	460L–1310L	Gives students a later historical moment for thinking about memory, politics, human rights, and alternate endings.

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Newsela Writing activity

Move from historical context to literary analysis. Students can use this long-form writing assignment to analyze how history and transnationalism shape the characters’ identities in “Dreaming in Cuban.”

Open Writing Activity

Teach “Enrique’s Journey” by Sonia Nazario

“Enrique’s Journey” follows a Honduran boy who travels through Mexico to reunite with his mother in the United States. Because the book is nonfiction, students can connect Enrique’s experiences to real questions about immigration policy, border crossing, and family separation.

Use this Book Study when you want students to examine how immigration systems affect lives and families. The supporting resources build context about migration routes and border policies, explore the emotional cost of separation, and compare Nazario’s reporting with more recent migrant experiences and public policy debates.

Newsela ELA Book Study

Teach “Enrique’s Journey” by Sonia Nazario

By Sonia Nazario

Use this Book Study to help students connect Enrique’s nonfiction story to immigration policy, border crossing, family separation, perseverance, compassion, adapting to a new home, and the current impacts of migration.

Open Book Study

Explore supporting resources by teaching focus

Open each group to find overviews, maps, articles, and videos that connect to the book’s essential questions and student tasks.

Immigration policy and route context3 resources

Immigration policy and route context resources for “Enrique’s Journey”

Resource	Runtime / Reading Level	Why this resource?	Spanish?
Issue Overview: History of the Mexico borderOverview	590L–1470L	Builds policy and historical context before students trace the causes and effects of Enrique’s journey.	✓ Yes
Central American turmoil may be cause of child migrant surgeOverview	730L–1330L	Helps students connect migration decisions to instability, safety, and conditions in Central America.
Topography of North AmericaMap	900L	Supports mapping Enrique’s route from Honduras through Mexico to the United States and discussing physical challenges along the way.	✓ Yes

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Family separation, longing, and loneliness2 resources

Family separation, longing, and loneliness resources for “Enrique’s Journey”

Resource	Runtime / Reading Level	Why this resource?	Spanish?
Teen who migrated to U.S. border to escape gang hopes to join his momArticle	580L–1140L	Gives students another young person’s migration story to compare with Enrique’s longing to reunite with his mother.	✓ Yes
Bedtime stories capture the longing of deported parents and their childrenArticle	480L–1240L	Helps students discuss how separation affects parents and children emotionally, even when families try to stay connected.	✓ Yes

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Hope, compassion, and survival4 resources

Hope, compassion, and survival resources for “Enrique’s Journey”

Resource	Runtime / Reading Level	Why this resource?	Spanish?
These Asian American women are chaperoning others who feel unsafeArticle	600L–1270L	Gives students a real-world example of people protecting others in vulnerable situations.
Letters with young ease the loneliness of lockdowns for elderlyArticle	580L–1160L	Helps students discuss how small acts of connection can reduce isolation and preserve hope.
In an angry America, a new remedy emerges: compassionArticle	400L–1170L	Supports the essential question about whether compassion and perseverance are necessary for survival.	✓ Yes
US nonprofit helps immigrants survive perilous journeyVideo	2:34	Connects directly to the dangers of migration and the role compassion can play along the route.

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Adapting to a new home and current impacts5 resources

Adapting to a new home and current impacts resources for “Enrique’s Journey”

Resource	Runtime / Reading Level	Why this resource?	Spanish?
Venezuelans fleeing turmoil at home, making new lives in Evansville, IndianaArticle	600L–1130L	Helps students compare Enrique’s adjustment to life in the U.S. with other migrants building new lives after leaving home.
Handmade blankets welcome refugees, immigrants to U.S.Article	580L–1260L	Supports discussion of what newly arrived families may need to feel safe, welcomed, and supported.
Facebook group raises more than $15 million to help reunite immigrant familiesArticle	580L–1260L	Connects the book’s family-separation questions to a more recent example of public action and support.
U.S.-raised Dreamers are building new lives—back in MexicoArticle	650L–1270L	Helps students discuss how immigration policy can continue to shape identity, belonging, and family life years after migration.	✓ Yes
Migrant deaths at an all-time high along the southwest borderVideo	5:11	Supports the afterword task by helping students evaluate what has changed or stayed dangerous since Nazario reported the book.

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Newsela Writing activity

Move from migration context to literary analysis. Students can use this long-form writing assignment to analyze the impacts of immigration, separation, and survival in “Enrique’s Journey.”

Open Writing Activity

Teach “I Am Not Your Perfect Mexican Daughter” by Erika Sánchez

“I Am Not Your Perfect Mexican Daughter” follows Julia after the death of her older sister, Olga, whose image as the “perfect” daughter hides more than Julia’s family wants to admit. As she grieves, Julia questions her family’s expectations and struggles with depression, secrecy, and her own future.

Use this Novel Study when you want students to examine how grief, mental health, and family pressure can collide. The supporting resources discuss grief with care, connect Julia’s college essay conflict to family and immigration, and help students understand why suicide prevention and emotional health matter.

Newsela ELA Novel Study

Teach “I Am Not Your Perfect Mexican Daughter” by Erika Sánchez

By Erika Sánchez

Use this Novel Study to help students connect Julia’s story to grief, family expectations, depression, secrets, undocumented status, mental health, inherited trauma, heritage, identity, and self-definition.

Open Novel Study

Explore supporting resources by teaching focus

Open each group to find articles, poems, explainers, videos, and memoirs that connect to the novel’s essential questions and student tasks.

Grief, loss, and emotional response2 resources

Grief, loss, and emotional response resources for “I Am Not Your Perfect Mexican Daughter”

Resource	Runtime / Reading Level	Why this resource?	Spanish?
Opinion: Children and grieving the loss of a loved oneArticle	560L–1030L	Helps students discuss how Julia, Amá, and Apá each respond differently to Olga’s death.
“The Soul unto Itself”: A poem by Emily DickinsonPoem	1210L	Gives students a short literary comparison for interior conflict, isolation, and emotional response.

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Family expectations, essays, and self-definition4 resources

Family expectations, essays, and self-definition resources for “I Am Not Your Perfect Mexican Daughter”

Resource	Runtime / Reading Level	Why this resource?	Spanish?
The Literary Reform: The Four Types of EssaysExplainer	530L–1200L	Prepares students to identify how Julia uses personal writing to define herself and challenge expectations.	✓ Yes
EssaysVideo	2:31	Gives students a concise refresher on essay purposes before analyzing Julia’s college essay choices.
Writing a college essay: A poetic call to ignore the college essay “rules”Poem		Connects Julia’s college essay conflict to questions about family story, gratitude, privacy, and immigrant parents’ sacrifices.
How to write a personal essay for collegeExplainer	520L–1020L	Gives students practical language for evaluating what Julia might choose to reveal about herself and her family.	✓ Yes

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Mental health, suicide prevention, and support2 resources

Mental health, suicide prevention, and support resources for “I Am Not Your Perfect Mexican Daughter”

Resource	Runtime / Reading Level	Why this resource?	Spanish?
Mental, emotional, social, and spiritual healthExplainer	480L–1210L	Gives students neutral language for discussing Julia’s depression, grief, and need for support.	✓ Yes
Learning when to ask for helpExplainer	560L–1180L	Supports safe discussion about support systems and what people can do when they or others are struggling.

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Secrets, truth, and public consequences4 resources

Secrets, truth, and public consequences resources for “I Am Not Your Perfect Mexican Daughter”

Resource	Runtime / Reading Level	Why this resource?	Spanish?
The Spy Who Tried To Stop a WarArticle	630L–1350L	Helps students compare personal secrets with public secrets and ask when truth should be revealed.	✓ Yes
Despite 50 years of research, governments keep UFO info secretArticle	620L–1190L	Gives students another accessible case for debating secrecy, transparency, and trust.
This Is the Real Reason the U.S. Government Passed the Espionage ActArticle	630L–1480L	Extends the secrets-and-lies discussion from family relationships to public history, power, and the cost of hidden information.	✓ Yes
The secret Pentagon Papers publishedArticle	610L–1270L	Offers another example for evaluating why people keep secrets and what changes when hidden information becomes public.

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Heritage, identity, and belonging2 resources

Heritage, identity, and belonging resources for “I Am Not Your Perfect Mexican Daughter”

Resource	Runtime / Reading Level	Why this resource?	Spanish?
Going “home” to Ecuador, part one: Finding my peopleMemoir	580L–1220L	Helps students compare Julia’s relationship with family and heritage to another writer’s search for belonging.	✓ Yes
Going “home” to Ecuador, part two: Where do I belong?Memoir	570L–1260L	Extends the identity conversation by asking students to compare embarrassment, conflict, acceptance, and cultural connection.	✓ Yes

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Newsela Writing activity

Move from secrets discussion to literary analysis. Students can use this long-form writing assignment to analyze the role and impact of secrets in “I Am Not Your Perfect Mexican Daughter.”

Open Writing Activity

Teach “In the Time of the Butterflies” by Julia Alvarez

“In the Time of the Butterflies” fictionalizes the lives of the Mirabal sisters, four Dominican women living under Rafael Trujillo’s dictatorship. As three of the sisters become involved in resistance work, the novel asks students to think about courage, censorship, and how national events reshape individual lives.

Use this Novel Study to have students connect historical fiction to questions about real political systems, resistance, and personal conviction. The supporting resources build context about Trujillo and Las Mariposas, examine how people speak out under censorship, and compare different forms of courage across history.

Newsela ELA Novel Study

Teach “In the Time of the Butterflies” by Julia Alvarez

By Julia Alvarez

Use this Novel Study to help students connect the Mirabal sisters’ story to Trujillo’s dictatorship, historical memory, censorship, authoritarianism, resistance, ritual, courage, and the impact of national events on individual lives.

Open Novel Study

Explore supporting resources by teaching focus

Open each group to find videos, articles, and poems that connect to the novel’s essential questions and student tasks.

Author, dictatorship, and the Mirabal sisters4 resources

Author, dictatorship, and the Mirabal sisters resources for “In the Time of the Butterflies”

Resource	Runtime / Reading Level	Why this resource?	Spanish?
Julia AlvarezVideo	2:33	Introduces Alvarez’s background and helps students think about why she returns to Dominican history through fiction.
The Trujillo dictatorship in the Dominican RepublicArticle	600L–1390L	Builds historical context for the fear, surveillance, and political pressure that shape the sisters’ lives.	✓ Yes
How the Mirabal sisters helped topple a dictatorArticle	800L–1360L	Gives students direct historical background on Las Mariposas before they analyze Alvarez’s fictionalized version of their lives.	✓ Yes
Who were Las Mariposas, and why were they murdered?Video	5:57	Helps students understand the sisters’ nickname, their resistance work, and why their deaths became historically significant.

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Censorship, authoritarianism, and speaking out2 resources

Censorship, authoritarianism, and speaking out resources for “In the Time of the Butterflies”

Resource	Runtime / Reading Level	Why this resource?	Spanish?
Student poetry contest in China becomes unexpected outlet for dissentArticle	610L–1390L	Gives students a modern example of coded expression under pressure so they can discuss how people speak out when open criticism is dangerous.
Scholars discuss Tiananmen Square massacre’s 25th anniversaryArticle	790L–1160L	Supports discussion of censorship, memory, and why governments may try to control how people remember public violence.

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Ritual, connection, and resilience2 resources

Ritual, connection, and resilience resources for “In the Time of the Butterflies”

Resource	Runtime / Reading Level	Why this resource?	Spanish?
Zoom Shabbat, drive-through confessional: Faith during coronavirusArticle	590L–1570L	Helps students discuss how faith, community, and rituals can sustain people during fear, isolation, and adversity.	✓ Yes
“Songs for the People”: A poem by Frances Ellen Watkins HarperPoem		Gives students a paired poem for comparing how art, song, and collective voice can express hope during struggle.

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Courage, voice, and public impact3 resources

Courage, voice, and public impact resources for “In the Time of the Butterflies”

Resource	Runtime / Reading Level	Why this resource?	Spanish?
The woman whose words inflamed the American RevolutionArticle	530L–1300L	Gives students another example of a woman whose words and convictions influenced resistance during a historical crisis.	✓ Yes
Josephine Baker’s daring double life as a World War II spyArticle	560L–1400L	Helps students compare public performance, private risk, and different forms of courage under threat.
Nobel laureate Malala and Afghan novelist show the power of wordsArticle	440L–1180L	Connects the Mirabal sisters’ courage to modern examples of women using words, education, and public voice to challenge oppression.

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Newsela Writing activity

Move from ritual discussion to literary analysis. Students can use this long-form writing assignment to analyze how ritual sustains characters during fear, uncertainty, and resistance in “In the Time of the Butterflies.”

Open Writing Activity

Teach “The Book of Unknown Americans” by Cristina Henríquez

“The Book of Unknown Americans” follows Latin American immigrant families living in the same Delaware apartment complex. At the center of the novel are Maribel and Mayor, whose relationship develops while their families navigate prejudice, sacrifice, and the gap between the American Dream and daily life.

Use this Novel Study to have students compare immigration, belonging, relationships, and socioeconomic pressure to character perspective. The supporting resources help them build immigration context, evaluate the American Dream, and discuss healthy relationships and safety.

Newsela ELA Novel Study

Teach “The Book of Unknown Americans” by Cristina Henríquez

By Cristina Henríquez

Use this Novel Study to help students connect immigrant families’ experiences to the American Dream, belonging, relationship boundaries, advocacy, loneliness, financial pressure, community, and the promises and limits of life in America.

Open Novel Study

Explore supporting resources by teaching focus

Open each group to find articles, a fact sheet, videos, an explainer, a biography, and poems that connect to the novel’s essential questions and student tasks.

Immigration and American Dream context5 resources

Immigration and American Dream context resources for “The Book of Unknown Americans”

Resource	Runtime / Reading Level	Why this resource?	Spanish?
Workers, strivers, huddled masses: Immigration in AmericaArticle	560L–1260L	Builds historical context for why people immigrate, how newcomers have been treated, and what challenges the Riveras and their neighbors may face.	✓ Yes
Key findings about U.S. immigrantsFact Sheet	630L–1340L	Gives students current-facing data they can use to discuss immigration patterns, public perception, and the novel’s many immigrant perspectives.
What we’re missing in the debate about immigrationVideo	7:56	Prepares students to think beyond simplified immigration arguments before they analyze the families’ hopes and challenges.
What is the American Dream?Explainer	590L–1480L	Helps students define the American Dream before comparing the Riveras’ expectations with the reality they encounter.
“Let America Be America Again”: A poem by Langston HughesPoem	1066L	Gives students a literary comparison for evaluating whether America’s promises match the experiences of the Riveras and the Toros.

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Relationships, advocacy, and safety2 resources

Relationships, advocacy, and safety resources for “The Book of Unknown Americans”

Resource	Runtime / Reading Level	Why this resource?	Spanish?
Students need to know how to say #MeToo: School officials make a planArticle	590L–1430L	Supports careful discussion of assault, unwanted advances, and how teens can advocate for themselves and others.
What healthy and unhealthy relationships look likeExplainer	490L–1220L	Gives students language for analyzing boundaries, trust, safety, and how others misinterpret Maribel and Mayor’s relationship.	✓ Yes

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Financial pressure, isolation, and community4 resources

Financial pressure, isolation, and community resources for “The Book of Unknown Americans”

Resource	Runtime / Reading Level	Why this resource?	Spanish?
Ten years after banking crisis, Americans still feel ripplesArticle	610L–1190L	Builds context for the financial pressure Arturo Rivera and Rafael Toro face and how hardship complicates the American Dream.	✓ Yes
Bedtime stories capture the longing of deported parents and their childrenArticle	480L–1240L	Helps students discuss longing, separation, and the emotional cost of trying to sustain family connection across borders.	✓ Yes
“No Cookbooks Allowed”: Seattle pop-up dinners celebrate immigrant cooksArticle	500L–1050L	Gives students a hopeful example of immigrant culture, work, and community being valued instead of treated as invisible.	✓ Yes
“A place of safety” on stage: How music is helping immigrant studentsArticle	540L–1190L	Connects the novel’s loneliness and belonging questions to a real example of students finding safety, voice, and community through art.

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Emma Lazarus, poetry, and America’s promises2 resources

Emma Lazarus, poetry, and America’s promises resources for “The Book of Unknown Americans”

Resource	Runtime / Reading Level	Why this resource?	Spanish?
“Give us your tired, your poor”: The story of Emma LazarusBiography	580L–1500L	Builds background on Lazarus before students evaluate how her vision of America compares with the Rivera family’s experiences.	✓ Yes
“The New Colossus”: A poem by Emma LazarusPoem		Gives students the paired poem for comparing America’s symbolic welcome with the hopes and disappointments characters experience.

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Newsela Writing activity

Move from paired-text discussion to literary analysis. Students can use this long-form writing assignment to compare how “The Book of Unknown Americans” and “The New Colossus” depict America’s attitudes and opportunities for immigrants.

Open Writing Activity

Teach “The House on Mango Street” by Sandra Cisneros

“The House on Mango Street” uses short vignettes to follow Esperanza Cordero as she observes her Chicago neighborhood and begins to name what she wants from home, language, family, and her future. The novella’s compact structure makes it useful for close reading because each vignette carries image, voice, and emotion in a small space.

Use this Novel Study when you want students to connect coming of age to home, poverty, bilingualism, and identity. The supporting resources help them learn about Sandra Cisneros, examine the role of writing in expression, and compare poetry and other genres.

Newsela ELA Novel Study

Teach “The House on Mango Street” by Sandra Cisneros

By Sandra Cisneros

Use this Novel Study to help students connect Esperanza’s vignettes to home, language, identity, poverty, immigration, gender roles, friendship, adolescence, and the power of writing to shape a future.

Open Novel Study

Explore supporting resources by teaching focus

Open each group to find videos, interviews, articles, poems, and explainers that connect to the novella’s essential questions and student tasks.

Sandra Cisneros, writing, and home2 resources

Sandra Cisneros, writing, and home resources for “The House on Mango Street”

Resource	Runtime / Reading Level	Why this resource?	Spanish?
Writers: Sandra CisnerosVideo	2:32	Introduces Cisneros before students discuss why houses, homes, and brief vignettes matter in her writing.
Author Sandra Cisneros explains how writing is a therapyInterview	500L–1050L	Helps students connect writing, healing, memory, and self-expression to Esperanza’s growing voice.	✓ Yes

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Gender roles and expectations3 resources

Gender roles and expectations resources for “The House on Mango Street”

Resource	Runtime / Reading Level	Why this resource?	Spanish?
Gender stereotypes are firmly rooted by age 10: global studyArticle	600L–1600L	Builds evidence for discussing how stereotypes shape expectations for Esperanza and the women and girls around her.	✓ Yes
Want to raise an empowered girl? Then let her be funnyArticle	580L–1150L	Helps students discuss voice, confidence, and the ways girls can challenge limiting expectations.	✓ Yes
“Platform for Action” provides a road map to gender equalityArticle	740L–1360L	Gives students a broader framework for connecting gender roles in the novella to arguments for equality.	✓ Yes

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Poetry, identity, and immigration4 resources

Poetry, identity, and immigration resources for “The House on Mango Street”

Resource	Runtime / Reading Level	Why this resource?	Spanish?
Poet Amanda Gorman has a way with wordsArticle	420L–700L	Shows students how a young writer can use language and performance to express identity and reach an audience.
National Youth Poet Laureate says, “Your story is always going to be important”Article	550L–1180L	Reinforces the idea that students’ own stories matter and connects to Esperanza’s search for voice and self-definition.
Salvadoran poet writes to humanize the immigrant storyArticle	540L–1280L	Connects poetry, immigration, and identity to Esperanza’s effort to describe her neighborhood and future in her own language.	✓ Yes
“The U.S. of Us”: A poem by Richard BlancoPoem	1230L	Gives students a paired poem for analyzing how language, imagery, and national identity can shape a sense of place.

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Bilingualism, language, and schooling2 resources

Bilingualism, language, and schooling resources for “The House on Mango Street”

Resource	Runtime / Reading Level	Why this resource?	Spanish?
Opinion: Half of the world is bilingual, and America is behindArticle	590L–1240L	Gives students a central argument to evaluate as they discuss Esperanza’s experiences with language and identity.	✓ Yes
Fewer Latinos are speaking only Spanish at homeArticle	560L–1150L	Helps students use evidence to support or challenge claims about bilingualism, language use, and school support.	✓ Yes

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Adolescence, friendship, and vignettes5 resources

Adolescence, friendship, and vignettes resources for “The House on Mango Street”

Resource	Runtime / Reading Level	Why this resource?	Spanish?
The importance of an unhappy adolescenceVideo	6:01	Helps students discuss Esperanza’s difficult adolescence and how discomfort can shape growth and self-understanding.
Someone to lean on arrives just as you need a friendArticle	370L–950L	Connects Esperanza’s friendships to the role of support, trust, and encouragement during adolescence.	✓ Yes
Coming of ageVideo	2:42	Prepares students to evaluate how the novella does and does not follow a traditional coming-of-age structure.
How to write a personal narrativeExplainer	570L–1070L	Supports students as they plan their own vignettes about home, family, friendship, and identity.	✓ Yes
Writing well: The elements of narrative writingExplainer	570L–1080L	Gives students narrative craft language they can use to revise their own vignette collections.	✓ Yes

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Newsela Writing activity

Move from language discussion to opinion writing. Students can use this long-form writing assignment to evaluate whether schools in the U.S. should do more to promote bilingualism, using evidence from “The House on Mango Street” and supporting articles.

Open Writing Activity

Teach “The Poet X” by Elizabeth Acevedo

“The Poet X” follows Xiomara Batista as she uses poetry to say what she can’t express at home, at school, or in church. Her poems give students a way to discuss voice, shame, pride, faith, family, and the courage it takes to claim your own words. 

Use this Novel Study to have students connect novel-in-verse craft to identity, setting, and emotional expression. The supporting resources help build context about Harlem, study contemporary and classic poetry, and analyze how faith can both support and constrain people.

Newsela ELA Novel Study

Teach “The Poet X” by Elizabeth Acevedo

By Elizabeth Acevedo

Use this Novel Study to help students connect Xiomara’s poetry to voice, Harlem, identity, shame, pride, family expectations, religious conflict, emotional expression, and the power of language to build community.

Open Novel Study

Explore supporting resources by teaching focus

Open each group to find videos, articles, poems, an explainer, and a letter that connect to the novel’s essential questions and student tasks.

Novel-in-verse craft, Harlem, and poetic voice4 resources

Novel-in-verse craft, Harlem, and poetic voice resources for “The Poet X”

Resource	Runtime / Reading Level	Why this resource?	Spanish?
Author Elizabeth Acevedo on writing a coming-of-age novelVideo	4:00	Introduces Acevedo’s writing process before students analyze Xiomara’s coming-of-age story and poetic voice.
Novel in verseVideo	2:40	Gives students craft language for discussing how verse form affects pacing, emotion, imagery, and voice.
Poetry and Fiction of the Harlem RenaissanceArticle	600L–1570L	Builds setting context so students can connect Harlem’s literary history to Xiomara’s development as a poet.	✓ Yes
Kids are using their poetry in new ways to make their voices heardArticle	400L–970L	Connects Xiomara’s writing to real students using poetry for expression, confidence, and public voice.	✓ Yes

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Language, emotion, and community4 resources

Language, emotion, and community resources for “The Poet X”

Resource	Runtime / Reading Level	Why this resource?	Spanish?
Instapoets and bards of YouTube are going viral—and some poets hate itArticle	580L–1150L	Helps students discuss how poetry reaches audiences and how public sharing can change a writer’s relationship to their words.
Poet Amanda Gorman has a way with wordsArticle	420L–700L	Gives students another example of a poet using language, performance, and identity to connect with a wider audience.
Doctors recognizing that reading, writing can be therapeuticArticle	680L–1310L	Supports discussion of why writing helps Xiomara process emotions she cannot openly share.	✓ Yes
“A Short Note to My Very Critical and Well-Beloved Friends and Comrades”: A poem by June JordanPoem		Offers a paired poem for analyzing direct address, community, criticism, and the relationship between a speaker and an audience.

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Shame, pride, and coming of age3 resources

Shame, pride, and coming of age resources for “The Poet X”

Resource	Runtime / Reading Level	Why this resource?	Spanish?
“darkskin”: A poem by Maren Lovey Wright-KerrPoem	1400L	Supports close reading of image, identity, shame, pride, and the way a speaker claims language about themselves.
“Absolute”: A poem by Jacqueline WoodsonPoem	1000L	Gives students a paired poem for discussing coming of age, self-understanding, and how a speaker makes meaning from experience.
Coming of ageVideo	2:42	Helps students define coming of age before they analyze how Xiomara’s confidence, voice, and choices change.

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Faith, religious language, and constraint5 resources

Faith, religious language, and constraint resources for “The Poet X”

Resource	Runtime / Reading Level	Why this resource?	Spanish?
The Book of Genesis: Judeo-Christian Origin StoryExplainer	490L–920L	Builds context for religious language, origin stories, and imagery students may connect to Xiomara’s questions about faith.
St. Paul’s First Letter to the CorinthiansLetter	480L–1160L	Gives students a religious text for comparing themes of love, identity, gender, obedience, and acceptance across texts.
Interfaith fourth-graders bond through poetry, art and Steph CurryArticle	500L–1180L	Shows students how faith, art, and poetry can help people build relationships across difference.	✓ Yes
Native Americans and freedom of religionArticle	620L–1280L	Supports discussion of religious freedom, cultural identity, and what happens when belief and authority come into conflict.	✓ Yes
Faith groups increasingly join fight against climate changeArticle	620L–1430L	Gives students an example of faith motivating public action, helping them discuss how religion can support as well as constrain believers.

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Newsela Writing activity

Move from poetry discussion to literary analysis. Students can use this long-form writing assignment to analyze how language, poetry, and self-expression shape Xiomara’s identity in “The Poet X.”

Open Writing Activity

Teach “With the Fire on High” by Elizabeth Acevedo

“With the Fire on High” follows Emoni Santiago, a talented young cook who is balancing high school, work, family responsibilities, and motherhood. When a culinary arts opportunity pushes her to imagine a bigger future, Emoni has to decide how to pursue her dreams without ignoring the people who depend on her.

Use the Novel Study when you want to draw connections between food, creativity, identity, and ambition. The supporting resources help students explore how cooking can carry memory and culture, examine the obstacles people face when reaching for a dream, and analyze the character traits that keep Emoni moving forward.

Newsela ELA Novel Study

Teach “With the Fire on High” by Elizabeth Acevedo

By Elizabeth Acevedo

Use this Novel Study to help students connect Emoni’s story to food, creativity, memory, culture, teen parenthood, ambition, obstacles, healthy relationships, career goals, and the character traits that help people keep reaching for their dreams.

Open Novel Study

Explore supporting resources by teaching focus

Open each group to find videos, articles, explainers, a review, and a job profile that connect to the novel’s essential questions and student tasks.

Author, YA fiction, and story preview3 resources

Author, YA fiction, and story preview resources for “With the Fire on High”

Resource	Runtime / Reading Level	Why this resource?	Spanish?
Author Elizabeth Acevedo on writing a coming-of-age novelVideo	4:00	Introduces Acevedo’s thinking about coming-of-age stories before students analyze Emoni’s growth, choices, and voice.
How YA fiction came to beVideo	5:43	Builds genre context so students can discuss why Emoni’s responsibilities, relationships, and ambitions fit within YA fiction.
Book Review: “With the Fire on High” is poetic and perfect for foodiesReview	540L–1070L	Gives students a preview of the novel’s characters, plot, tone, and food-centered themes before they begin reading.

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Food, identity, and culinary opportunity4 resources

Food, identity, and culinary opportunity resources for “With the Fire on High”

Resource	Runtime / Reading Level	Why this resource?	Spanish?
Careers: Chef or head cookJob Profile	590L–1260L	Helps students connect Emoni’s talent and ambition to the skills, challenges, and responsibilities of a culinary career.
Students cook up food, opportunity with culinary arts program in MinnesotaArticle	580L–1290L	Shows how culinary programs can create opportunity, confidence, and practical pathways for students with food-related goals.
Chef Michael Twitty is finding himself through African and Southern foodsArticle	620L–1280L	Helps students discuss how food can carry memory, culture, identity, history, and personal meaning.	✓ Yes
“No Cookbooks Allowed”: Seattle pop-up dinners celebrate immigrant cooksArticle	500L–1050L	Connects Emoni’s cooking to community, cultural knowledge, creativity, and the value of honoring people’s food stories.	✓ Yes

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Fundraising, obstacles, and reaching dreams3 resources

Fundraising, obstacles, and reaching dreams resources for “With the Fire on High”

Resource	Runtime / Reading Level	Why this resource?	Spanish?
A 99-year-old veteran walks his garden to raise money to fight pandemicArticle	610L–1270L	Gives students an example of creative fundraising and perseverance as they think about Emoni’s effort to raise money for Spain.
Young activists raise money to save rain forestsArticle	370L–1000L	Shows students how young people can organize support, raise funds, and take action for a goal they care about.	✓ Yes
Some Olympic athletes can hardly afford to competeArticle	540L–1120L	Helps students connect talent and ambition to financial obstacles, sacrifice, and the support people may need to pursue big opportunities.

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Healthy relationships and boundaries2 resources

Healthy relationships and boundaries resources for “With the Fire on High”

Resource	Runtime / Reading Level	Why this resource?	Spanish?
How to establish boundariesExplainer	440L–940L	Gives students language for analyzing how Emoni balances responsibility, care, and limits in her relationships.	✓ Yes
What healthy and unhealthy relationships look likeExplainer	490L–1220L	Supports discussion of trust, communication, safety, and what Emoni needs from the people closest to her.	✓ Yes

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Career readiness and character strengths3 resources

Career readiness and character strengths resources for “With the Fire on High”

Resource	Runtime / Reading Level	Why this resource?	Spanish?
How to write a resume (for college students)Video	8:48	Supports the culminating task by helping students translate Emoni’s experiences, skills, and responsibilities into resume language.
How to write a resumeExplainer	560L–1030L	Gives students a written model for identifying work experience, transferable skills, and career goals.	✓ Yes
Avoid these major mistakes when writing a cover letter for your job searchArticle	600L–1160L	Helps students write a cover letter from Emoni’s perspective that connects her character traits to a specific opportunity.	✓ Yes

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Newsela Writing activity

Move from career discussion to literary analysis. Students can use this long-form writing assignment to analyze how Emoni’s character traits help her pursue her goals in “With the Fire on High.”

Open Writing Activity

Keep Hispanic Heritage books in your classroom all year with Newsela ELA

Hispanic Heritage Month is a great time to highlight Hispanic voices, but these stories can support strong ELA instruction well beyond September and October. As you browse these novel and book selections, think about the context students will need before they read and the conversations you want them to have after.

With Newsela ELA, you can pair every novel with leveled texts, videos, and other multimodal resources that build the background knowledge students need to understand the story and write about it with evidence.

Not a Newsela customer yet? You can create an account and start your free 45-day trial of our premium products to see everything the Newsela Learning Suite has to offer.