Evangeline Canonizado Buell’s recent memoir, Twenty-five Chickens and a Pig for a Bride, tells the story of growing up in a Filipino family in California.  Her captivating and personal vignettes tell of the challenges and struggles faced by her family and the immigrant community. Moving, and at times humorous, Buell’s memoir highlights the importance of family and the strength of the Filipino community. 

    Oscar Peñaranda, another San Francisco Bay Area author, recently published a new novel, Seasons by the Bay.  The stories included in this book span time and space, but are woven together in an effort to remind Filipino Americans (and perhaps some of us “adopted” Filipinos) about what it means to be Filipino.  Peñaranda, who was born in Leyte but moved to Vancouver at the age of 12, has been a long-time advocate for teaching Filipino history, language and culture in the school system. 

Buell is a founder and president emeritus of the East Bay Chapter of the Filipino American National Historical Society; Peñaranda was a founder and first president of the San Francisco Chapter. Both books can be purchased from T’Boli Publishing; www.tibolipub.com, phone: 415-337-5550.