It S Cinco De Mayo

It's Cinco de Mayo! Everyone is celebrating the holiday in their own way. A very simple history of the holiday is interspersed with the story of a young boy celebrating Cinco de Mayo with his family.

Marco loves the food, parades, and fun of Cinco de Mayo. This year he's one of the dancers. As he listens to the mariachi music, Marco thinks of the brave Mexicans at the first Cinco de Mayo. Find out the different things people do to celebrate this holiday!

A young Mexican American from California learns about her heritage and celebrates the holiday with her friends, family, and community.

Why is Cinco de Mayo—a holiday commemorating a Mexican victory over the French at Puebla in 1862—so widely celebrated in California and across the United States, when it is scarcely observed in Mexico? As David E. Hayes-Bautista explains, the holiday is not Mexican at all, but rather an American one, created by Latinos in California during the mid-nineteenth century. Hayes-Bautista shows how the meaning of Cinco de Mayo has shifted over time—it embodied immigrant nostalgia in the 1930s, U.S. patriotism during World War II, Chicano Power in the 1960s and 1970s, and commercial intentions in the 1980s and 1990s. Today, it continues to reflect the aspirations of a community that is engaged, empowered, and expanding.

The origins and traditions of these two special holidays are presented in this illustrated reference book with full-color photos for middle readers.

Corporal Cortez is tired of the horrible life that he is leading in the mountains of Queretaro, Mexico with the rest of the Mexican conservative troops. He is the smartest person in the group and realizes that the fight is over. The liberals have won in the Mexican Reform War. The liberal side led by President Benito Pablo Juárez García has the support of the United States of America in the Reform War against the Mexican conservatives. Cortez plans to surrender and take the offer of amnesty that President Benito Pablo Juárez García is offering the conservatives who lay down their arms. After signing the amnesty offer, he travels to Mexico City to look for a job. There he meets a lovely teen girl named Bendita who catches his eye. She will not marry him unless he can find a job to support her and her grandparents. Cortez cannot find a job other than being a soldier once again. He must leave Bendita behind while moving back to his parent’s home in a hacienda in Puebla. His friends Jovani and Quintin show up from their victorious triumph at the Battle of Puebla on 5-5-1862 known as the battle of cinco de mayo. Now they are part of the French lead army that is trying to wrestle control of Mexico from President Benito Pablo Juárez García. Cortez does not want his family or friends to know about his cowardly act. Now Cortez must fight alongside the French led forces in the Battle of Mexico City against the government of President Benito Pablo Juárez García. A twist of fate leads him to the position of general in the French armed forces and the honor of leading the men who will recuperate the stolen Mexican lands of the Mexican American War of 1846. Now he is in California fighting against the United States of America army on the side of Mexico the newest colony of France.

The defeat of President Benito Pablo Juárez García´s government arrives after a defeat on cinco de mayo in the Battle of Puebla. Now the whole family is worried about Pablo and Saul surviving. President Benito Pablo Juárez García has a new mission to get to Paso del Norte to try to secure weapons for his fight against the French and their leader President José de la Cruz Porfirio Díaz Mori. Eva witnesses the events that transpire in the hacienda as the important government representatives from both conservative and liberal sides show up to talk to her father Colonel Abraham. Eva is the smartest child of Colonel Abraham. She has to deal with the problems that occur on her father´s hacienda since her father does not make the best decisions in life. Colonel Abraham trusts Eva to help him out as he asks her for advice. Eva´s favorite pastime is spying on her parents conversations. Eva discovers the secrets that her father is hiding. Eva has a crush on one of her neighbors named Viernes. The problem is that Viernes does not seem to notice or care for her since he is in love with Dulce María. Her older sister Dulce María has all of the men in her life competing for her love. Eva cannot believe that Dulce María can be so lucky. Now she has to prepare for her older sister Dulce María´s wedding to Francisco. Dulce María´s best friend Flor is in love with Francisco and is giving Dulce María bad advice to get rid of her. Eva is trying her best to make sure that Dulce María will not go through with her threats of killing herself to avoid her forced marriage to Francisco. Will Viernes love Eva as much as she loves him? (Word Count 67,356)

María a 17yr old is in love with José the dashing captain of her two brother’s cavalry unit. Her father Abraham has made a deal with Francisco to marry María in exchange for the post of governor of Durango. The Mexican army is retreating north after a French invasion leads to a devastating French victory at Puebla. María decides to find a way to follow José who is retreating with President Juarez and avoid her wedding to Francisco. An adventure follows as they ride with President Juarez to secure Union weapons for Mexico in California. María disguises herself as a man taking the name of Captain Mario since women do not fight in wars. The French-Mexican forces are now on their tail as they flee from President Porfirio Diaz’s large army. María is having second thoughts about following José. War is a terrible horrific bloodbath and full of death. (Word Count 67, 548)