Judith Ortiz Cofer was a Puerto Rican poet, essayist, novelist, and educator whose writing spans poetry, short fiction, memoir, and young-adult literature. Her books for young readers include Call Me Maria and If I Could Fly.
Titles3
Editions6
Years covered2003–2011
Works on Favedom.com
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The Signe family is blessed with two daughters. Consuelo, the elder, is thought of as pensive and book-loving, the serious child-la niña seria-while Mili, her younger sister, is seen as vivacious, a ray of tropical sunshine. Two daughters: one dark, one light; one to offer comfort and consolation, the other to charm and delight. But, for all the joy both girls should bring, something is not right in this Puerto Rican family; a tragedia is developing, like a tumor, at its core. In this fierce, funny, and sometimes startling novel, we follow a young woman's quest to negotiate her own terms of survival within the confines of her culture and her family. magazine "Judith Ortiz Cofer has created a character who takes us by the hand on a journey of self-discovery. She reminds readers young and old never to forget our own responsibilities, and to enjoy life with all its joys and sorrows."--Bessy Reyna, MultiCultural Review
Print · Farrar, Straus, and Giroux · 2003 · English ISBN 9780605013285
Print · Beacon Press · 2004-03-30 · English ISBN 9780807083871
eBook · Open Road Integrated Media, Inc. · 2003-11-07 · English ISBN 9781466808324
A new novel from the award-winning author of AN ISLAND LIKE YOU, winner of the Pura Belpre Award. Maria is a girl caught between two worlds: Puerto Rico, where she was born, and New York, where she now lives in a basement apartment in the barrio. While her mother remains on the island, Maria lives with her father, the super of their building. As she struggles to lose her island accent, Maria does her best to find her place within the unfamiliar culture of the barrio. Finally, with the Spanglish of the barrio people ringing in her ears, she finds the poet within herself. In lush prose and spare, evocative poetry, Cofer weaves a powerful novel, bursting with life and hope.
Print · Scholastic Paperbacks · 2006-07-01 · English ISBN 9780439385787
If I Could Fly is a standalone novel based on characters introduced in Judith Ortiz Cofer's bestselling short story collection, An Island Like You: Stories of the Barrio, which won the inaugural Pura Belpré Award. Fifteen-year-old Doris is used to taking care of herself. Her musician parents have always spent more time singing in nightclubs than watching after her. But when her ailing mother goes home to Puerto Rico to get well and pursue a singing career there, and her father finds a new girlfriend, Doris is more alone than she's ever been. Disconnected from her family and her best friends, who are intertwined in terrifying relationships with a violent classmate, Doris finds refuge in taking care of homing pigeons on her apartment building's roof. As Doris tries to make sense of it all, she learns that, just like the pigeons, she might have to fly far distances before she finds out where she belongs.
Print · Farrar, Straus and Giroux (BYR) · 2011-05-24 · English ISBN 9780374335175
eBook · Open Road Integrated Media, Inc. · 2011-05-24 · English ISBN 9781466801806
