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On Belonging to Two Places: A Guest Post from Marcus Vega Doesn’t Speak Spanish Author Pablo Cartaya
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To many, Puerto Rico is a place to escape to for the warm beaches and relaxed atmosphere of island life. But it is so much more, and it has a complicated history. Puerto Rico is part of the United States. The people living on the island have U.S. passports. They serve in the U.S. military. They cannot, however, vote for the U.S. president. It is an island detached from mainland U.S., yet there is so much linking the two worlds. Marcus Vega Doesn’t Speak Spanish is my attempt to show readers the links between Puerto Rico and mainland U.S. through the eyes of a fourteen-year old boy who belongs to both places.
It’s my hope that young readers ponder their own identities after they see how Marcus learns to explore his own. I hope they can discover a part of their own identities that they never knew, to bridge a gap, or to fill a void that only family and culture can fill.
I also wrote Marcus Vega Doesn’t Speak Spanish to honor the people of Puerto Rico. After the hurricanes devastated the island in September 2017, I felt a new sense of urgency to share Marcus Vega Doesn’t Speak Spanish with readers. A popular saying people have on the island is, “pa’lante siempre,” (“always go forward”). That’s how I see the island and the people living there. Puertorriqueños have a spirit that will not be broken and will always find a way forward.
In that spirit, here is a list of book titles that I find particularly inspiring for young readers, and one super awesome comics anthology about a Puerto Rican superhero named La Borinqueña. Enjoy, y pa’lante siempre:
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The Storyteller’s Candle/ La velita de los cuentos, by Lucía Gonzalez, illustrated by Lulu Délacre
This is a lovely picture book about New York City’s first Latina librarian, Pura Belpré. Belpré was born in Cidra, Puerto Rico and moved to New York in her twenties and later became a librarian and champion of making Spanish language books accessible to young readers. Her legacy and love of literature continues to inspire children, writers, and dreamers the world over.
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My Name is Maria Isabel, by Alma Flor Ada
I have a complicated history with my own name. I have been told to change it multiple times in my life because it sounded too Latino. It wasn’t until adulthood that I fully embraced my name and claimed it proudly. Alma Flor Ada’s novel is about what names mean and how they are a critical part of our identity. I would have loved this book as a kid.
The Golden Flower: A Taino Myth from Puerto Rico, by Nina Jaffe, illustrated by Enrique O. Sanchez
The Taino people, a subgroup of the Arawakan Indians, were the early inhabitants of the island. It’s a celebration of a young Taino boy’s quest to respect the gifts of the winds and the cycle of nature that provides for the whole community. I wish we had more books about indigenous inhabitants of lands and their myths. We need them.
Ricanstruction: Reminiscing & Rebuilding Puerto Rico, by multiple authors
Contributors to this super awesome comics anthology include comic book legends like Gabby Rivera, Will Rosado, Gail Simone, Mike Allred; Puerto Rican and Latinx celebrities like Ruben Blades, Rosario Dawson, Javier Muñoz, Sonia Manzano; and over 100 more. Superhero La Borinqueña teams up with the most iconic comic book heroes from DC comics: Wonder Woman, Aquaman, Superman, The Flash, Batman, plus others! There are original stories about Puerto Rican history as well as tales that see a revitalized island. What’s even more amazing is that 100% of the proceeds from the anthology go to aiding in the continued hurricane recovery efforts. Buy it, feel good about where your money is going, and enjoy a superhero story written by some pretty fantastic writers and artists.
The Coquí and the Iguana, by Alidis Vicente
I happen to adore the sound of the coquí as it sings through the Puerto Rican night. It’s like I’m being sung a story of the past that’s both beautiful and sad. Set in La Parguera, one of Puerto Rico’s three bioluminescent bays, Sebastian tells his younger cousin the story of the coquí and the iguana. It’s a sweet book about overcoming fears that teaches the legend of Puerto Rico’s special frog.
Marcus Vega Doesn’t Speak Spanish is on B&N bookshelves now.