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Chicken Beaks: Growing Up Hispanic

by Ben Romero

174 pages; quality trade paperback (softcover); catalogue #03-1050; ISBN 1-4120-0680-5; US$17.95, C$23.95, EUR14.95, £10.95

A heartwarming collection of humorous stories about growing up Hispanic in New Mexico during the late 50s and early 60s.

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about the book      about the author      sample excerpt      catalogue info

About the Book CHICKEN BEAKS: GROWING UP HISPANIC, tells a story about family, religion, and values. The setting is northern New Mexico during the late 1950's and early 60's. Told in first person, using dialogue sprinkled with Spanish, each event comes alive as told through the eyes of a child. Every chapter has an underlying lesson mixing humor, love and drama. Though Hispanic in flavor, the vignettes have universal appeal. Portions have appeared in Reminisce and Sun magazines. This book is written for older children and adults. Hispanics account for 35.3 million people in the United States, and census figures show a 60 percent growth in the last decade. Cultural similarities that exist among Hispanics include a strong commitment to traditional values such as family, religion and heritage. While the common language, Spanish, is regionalized, the need to learn English is a binding tie. Hispanics are notorious for learning to read by employing humor. That explains the high sales of comic books in Mexican and South American markets. Even so, there is a shortage of Hispanic writers. CHICKEN BEAKS: GROWING UP HISPANIC developed from the stories the author told his children about his life. What people are saying about CHICKEN BEAKS: GROWING UP HISPANIC "Many parents like myself, forget there were happy childhoods without Game Boys, cartoon networks and Beanie Babies. Fresno resident Ben Romero recounts such a childhood in "Chicken Beaks: Growing up Hispanic" The book is filled with stories about life in the village of Nambe, N.M., which had a populations of fewer than 300 when Romero was a child. "Romero could have titled his collection of stories "What Are You Doing?" That often was his mother's refrain after, just in the nick of time, finding her boys on the verge of doing something that could have caused serious injury." Mary Lou Aguirre, Fresno Bee

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About the Author Ben Romero was born and raised in Northern New Mexico, the fifth of seven children in an Hispanic, Catholic household. Romero is a part-time Adult Education teacher in an ESL program (English as a Second Language), and uses some of his writings as material for teaching. He has spent the past twenty-eight years working for the US Postal Service and serves as Customer Relations Coordinator for the Central San Joaquin Valley. He received a Bachelor of Arts Degree in Management with a minor in Spanish from Fresno Pacific University in 1995. Romero is active in the Catholic church, serving as CCD Instructor for teen-aged Confirmation candidates, and as a member of Holy Spirit Parish Men's Club. He is also a member of the Central California Hispanic Chamber of Commerce. Romero is married to Evelyn Romero, his wife of thirty-two years. They have five children and four grandchildren.

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Sample Excerpt

CHICKEN BEAKS

"Have one of these", Louie said.

"What are they?" I asked as I took what he offered.

"You crack them open with your teeth like piñon nuts. We have a bag full of them inside," he said.

"They're pretty good," I said. "Why aren't you having any?"

"I wouldn't eat those things," he said, "squishing his face."

"Why not?"

"They're chicken beaks."

"Chicken beaks!" I exclaimed. "What are you talking about?"

"Grandpa killed a bunch of chickens and cut off the beaks. He boiled them in saltwater and brought us a bag full of them."

"Na-ugh," I said. "What are the little green things inside, then?"

"Those are the chicken tongues. They turn green when you boil em."

"Yuck!" I said, spitting. "Mama!"

I ran inside the house yelling.

"Louie made me eat chicken beaks."

"¿Qué tonterias hablas (What craziness are you talking)?" she asked.

"Louie gave me some of those chicken beaks and tricked me into eating them."

"No són picos. Són pistachios (They're not beaks. They're pistachios)."

"Pistachios?" I asked. "Él dijo que eran picos de gallina (He said they were chicken beaks)."

Mom kept a straight face cracked open a pistachio, and said, "Cluck-cluck-cluck!"

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Catalogue Information

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