Friends of Montclair Library

Page from “Side by Side / Lado a Lado: The Story of Dolores Huerta and Cesar Chavez” by Monica Brown

September 15th-October 15th is National Hispanic Heritage Month.

Did you know the Oakland Public Library has an extensive collection of books in Spanish (and other languages, from Amharic to Tagalog, but that’s another post)? Nine branches have special collections of Spanish books, videos and CDs. Montclair’s collection isn’t one of the big ones, but there is a shelf of children’s books in Spanish or bilingual Spanish/English in the Children’s Room.

Some to try:
My Name is Celia: The Life of Celia Cruz / Me llamo Celia: La Vida de Celia Cruz by Monica Brown

Perros! Perros! / Dogs! Dogs! by Ginger Foglesong Guy

Taking a Walk: A Book in Two Languages / Caminando: Un Libro en Dos Lenguas by Rebecca Emberley

You can locate books in Spanish by using the facets in the Encore catalog to narrow down your search to items by language. You can even choose to use Encore en Español by using the Language Settings option on the Encore start page.

And, of course, the library also has books in English about important people and events in Hispanic heritage, for both kids and adults. For inspiration, try this Hispanic Heritage Month Booklist from PBS or this list of books for all ages from the Florida Department of Education. Try putting “books hispanic heritage month” into your favorite search engine to find lots more suggestions.