Independent Reading Suggested Books for Return to Sender
See our Independent Reading for Elementary Students Teacher Tool for guidance on how to use the suggested texts below.
Additional Texts by the Author
- A Gift of Gracias by Julia Alvarez (670L)
- Before We Were Free by Julia Alvarez (890L)
- Finding Miracles by Julia Alvarez (770L)
- The Secret Footprints by Julia Alvarez (890L)
- Tia Lola Stories series by Julia Alvarez (810-850L)
Informational Texts to Build Content Knowledge
- César Chávez by Ilan Stavans (1030L)
- La Causa by Dana Catharine de Ruiz and Richard Larios
- National Geographic Countries of the World: Mexico by Beth Gruber (1180L) **
- The Circuit: Stories from the Life of a Migrant Child by Francisco Jiménez (860L)
Texts with Connecting Topics and Themes
- Becoming Naomi León by Pam Muñoz Ryan (830L) *
- Esperanza Rising by Pam Muñoz Ryan (750L)
- Habibi by Naomi Shihab Nye (850L)
- My Name Is María Isabel by Alma Flor Ada (860L)
- Sylvia & Aki by Winifred Conkling (760L)
- The Only Road by Alexandra Diaz (830L)
- The Tequila Worm by Viola Canales (830L) **
- The Turtle of Oman by Naomi Shihab Nye (700L)
- What the Moon Saw by Laura Resau (750L) **
* lower Lexile or qualitative measures than core text.
** higher Lexile or qualitative measures than core text.
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