Luna, Luna: Creative Writing Ideas from Spanish, Latin American, and Latino Literature

by Julio Marzan (editor)

In these 21 lively essays, such distinguished contributors as Naomi Shihab Nye, Julia Alvarez, and Martin Espada share their experience in creating groundbreaking curricula, using the many Spanish language literatures of the world as imaginative writing models. Lessons provide tools for approaching such treasures as Federico Garcia Lorca, Pablo Neruda and Sandra Cisneros. Each essay targets specific grade levels (e.g. middle school, high school) or addresses the bilingual classroom, making this text an invaluable resource for teachers in diverse regions, of multiple grade levels. Included are writing samples from students of every level, from K-College.

231 pages, Paperback

First published June 1, 1997

Reviews

[Laura Lee · Rating 4 out of 5]

I was a little unsure of how to star rate this book because I am not its intended audience, that is creative writing teachers. For my own subjective relationship to the book, reading it as a writer not a teacher, I would give it a three star or average rating. I think, though cannot say for sure, that a teacher would get a great deal out of it and as a book on the teaching of writing, especially to students with a bilingual Spanish/English background, it would be a wonderful resource.

It made up of a series of essays by teachers who explain how they used Latino literature to teach creative writing. As a writer I tend to prefer books like this that are not written with adult writers in mind. The poetry both by the professional poets and often by the children themselves is beautiful and a great source for inspiration.

[Deb · Rating 5 out of 5]

I loved the poems and stories that introduced the various exercises and the results they produced in the students.

--The part below came from the back cover of the book:

The author useds writings from famous bilingual Latino, Latin American and Spanish poets and authors to encourage students to be creative in more than one language. The results are quite interesting.

Among the contributors to this book are Julia Alvarez, Kenneth Koch, Martin Espada, Naomi Shihab Nye, Bill Zabatsky, John Oliver Simon, Janine Pommy Vega. Modern greats such as Lorca, Neruda, Jimenez, Vallejo, Gabriela Mistral and Miguel Hernandez are placed side by side with younger writers such as Sandra Disneros, Victor Hernandez Cruz, Alberto Blanco, Ana Castillo and others.