Customer Reviews

Confetti Girl

5 star:		(6)
4 star:		(3)
3 star:		(1)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

CONFETTI GIRL should be a big hit with the middle grade market. It takes a Latino backdrop and combines it with likeable characters experiencing the typical ups and downs of middle school life and puts it all in a fun, eye-catching cover.

Meet Apolonia (Lina) and her crazy sock collection. She sees herself as overly tall and gawky with skinny legs, an interest in science, and a sometimes annoying directness. Lina lives with her father, a high school English teacher. Several years earlier her mother died after she fell and cut her leg. The cut was not really serious, but the blood infection that followed was.

Life has been difficult, but Lina has her best friend, Vanessa, as support. In fact, they have supported each other since Lina's mother died and Vanessa's mother went through a nasty divorce. They have weathered the events fairly well, and now are hoping that their parents can begin to adjust and live more normal lives.

Mixed in with these personal tragedies are several other plot twists. Lina's grade in English is plummeting so she finds herself ineligible for sports, the one area where she shines. Vanessa has been acting strange anytime she is around Carlos. Lina has even caught them kissing. She knows part of her anger about this is due to jealousy, since she has liked a boy named Luis for quite some time, but their relationship doesn't seem to be progressing to the same level.

Author Diana Lopez is spot-on with her descriptions of budding middle school romance, merciless teasing, and parent/child misunderstandings. Young readers will find much to like about CONFETTI GIRL, including the added bonus of the Latino words of wisdom that begin each chapter and the Hispanic customs scattered throughout the story.

Reviewed by: Sally Kruger, aka "Readingjunky"

Apolonia Flores, nicknamed Lina, struggles with her father's concept that "books are your best friends" ("Los amigos mejores son libros"). That is not true in Lina's life, and she resents that her father, who shares the sorrow of her mother's death the previous year, buries himself in books, thus distancing himself not only from sadness but also from his daughter. Luckily, though, Lina has a lot going on in her life. For one thing, she has her hobby: socks. Her dresser is divided into drawers for her daily wear socks (organized by color and style), socks without partners, socks with holes, and "sock heaven" (outgrown and otherwise useless socks). Lina is creative with her socks, fashioning earmuffs, wallets and more from them.

Lina's very best friend, Vanessa, lives just across the street. Their relationship has gotten a bit more complicated lately. Lina doesn't care that Vanessa is gorgeous and she is not. But she does mind that Vanessa does everything first, and when Vanessa's relationship with her first boyfriend progresses rapidly, Lina is not always thrilled with her own standing in Vanessa's life.

Speaking of boyfriends, Lina has a love interest, too. The very nice Luis reciprocates her fascination with him. Luis is cute and smart. His stutter (usually) doesn't distract Lina one bit from his tremendous potential.

Vanessa's mother is another in a cast of well-drawn characters. Ms. Cantu's bitterness about her husband leaving her has manifested itself in a constant marathon of cascarone making. One of the many pleasures of CONFETTI GIRL is a plentiful array of fascinating bits about Lina's culture, and we learn that cascarones are decorated empty eggshells filled with confetti. Although most people make them for Easter, Ms. Cantu makes heaps of them year-round. Vanessa has decided that she and Lina will manipulate their parents into a love match, but Lina is decidedly reluctant about the whole caper. Will their carefully laid plans backfire?

Lina's school life is portrayed in a more balanced fashion than seen in many similar books. Sure, there is a mean person who targets Lina and Luis, but there are a number of compensations. Lina has her friends and the team sports she adores. She delights in what she learns in science class, although she struggles in English class (coincidentally, her father is an English teacher, leading to conflicts). In fact, Lina's problems with academics have serious consequences that lead her to play more of a role she calls being a Hollywood extra --- an insignificant character who is forgettable instead of the sports star and leader role she has enjoyed in the past. However, Lina's struggles in school also lead ultimately to her contemplation, resolution and redemption.

Lina is a likable and realistic main character to whom readers can easily relate. The plot maintains a nice pace, and while Lina has several problems and issues to work through, these subplots never overwhelm or confuse. Spanish proverbs open each chapter, along with their translations --- a delightful addition to a story filled with interesting tidbits of Latin culture. CONFETTI GIRL is a satisfying and enjoyable read.

--- Reviewed by Terry Miller Shannon

I LOVED this story. It was the cutest book I've read in a long time. I bought a copy of it for my Ipod and never once put it down. I loved everything from the dichos to the overload of cascarones. The character of Lina was beautiful written; a bit of an insight into a teenage girls mind. The idea of feeling like your losing your best friend to another person, to dealing with your first love. This books is amazing and I recommend it to anyone with Tween and/or teenage girl or even themselves.

I have nothing and everything in common with Lina. While the superficial differences exist, there is something about the teen years that calls to the teenager in us all, and we remember the love, the hate, the pain and the joy. This book slanted younger than my usual reads, but it drew me in to Lina's life and kept me there to find out what happens next. A girl who has a pair of socks for every mood, every holiday, and every occasion--it's a quirky sort of thing and I love that in a character. And maybe one day I will go see the whooping cranes on the water, and think about this book.

As a mother who screens everything her 11-year-old daughter reads, I loved "The Confetti Girl" by Diana Lopez for giving us a peep into a slice of American culture (Tex-Mex)that we would otherwise know little about. Even though we live in Southern California and have a number of Hispanic friends, much of what Diana Lopez talks about in "The Confetti Girl" is only what we hear by way of parking lot chit-chat or in stories from dairies written by girls living during the time of the siege of the Alamo (!): myself, I loved the inclusion of dichos in the chapter titles, the how-to in the making of cascarones in the start of the book, and the full listing of dichos at the end of the book. My only word of caution is to those who might be inspired to make wedding cascarones after reading this book: use bird seed instead of rice! Otherwise, the book is a lovely celebration of what it means to be an American girl of Hispanic heritage, and easily enjoyed by those who are not. In the words of said daughter:

"The book, `The Confetti Girl', by Diana Lopez is as colorful as the cascarones Lopez writes about.

"Apolonia `Lina' Flores is best friend to boy-crazy Vanessa; a science lover (although her dad thinks she likes English just because he does); a sock enthusiast; daughter of a widower and in love with Luis, a stuttering, cute, funny, smart boy who is very good at singing. Like cascarones, hollowed eggshells filled with a bright rainbow of confetti, Lina is many different colors in an eggshell. The book was very interesting in showing how Lina's life goes up and down through all her teenage troubles.

"My favorite part of the book was when Lina, Vanessa and Lina's dad got lost looking for whooping cranes for Lina's science project and Lina saved the day by making a compass out of a magnet and a paper clip. It was funny and, to me, really showed that Lina's love for science is genuine.

"I think that this book should be read by people of all ages. I give it five confetti-filled stars for Lina, the humor of her problems, the honesty of her thoughts, the sadness of her not having a mom and the cover."

Are you the type of person who holds on to a grudge for a long, long time, or are you a person who forgives and forgets? Lina, a hispanic American middle- schooler, learns to let go of her hard feelings towards her family and friends, in the book Confetti Girl by Diana Lopez. She becomes closer to her single father, and reunites with her best friend. Lena and the other characters have colorful, interesting personalities, which makes the book fun and exciting to read. For example, Lena has a book-loving dad, a boy-crazy best friend, and a crush who might not crush on her. However, I wish that the author had included definitions of all the Spanish words, not just the phrases at the beginning of and throughout each chapter. I would have given this book more stars if there was a stronger, more organized story line.

Meet Apolonia "Lina" Flores - a teenage sock collector with a knack for sports. Underneath, though, she's just a girl looking for answers. For instance, why is she stuck with her too-tall, too-skinny build when her best friend looks like a supermodel? Why does her dad, an English professor, care more about books than her? And, most of all, why did her mom have to die last year? But, as Lina's mother used to say, the sun always shines after the rain.

Plot------------------------------- 19/20

Enjoyable-ness------------------ 14/15

Continuity------------------------ 5/5

Main Character(s)-------------- 19/20

Likability-------------------------- 8/10

Personality Development-------10/10

Supporting Characters-------- 17/20

Likability-------------------------- 8/10

Personality Development------- 9/10

Setting---------------------------- N/A, not setting-based

Writing Style---------------------- 19/20

Realistic Dialogue----------------- 9/10

Word Choice------------------------ 10/10

Extra Credit------------------------ +5

Comments: Super-cute cover! :)

Total Grade------------------------- 98/100

Overall fun and easy read, yet far from shallow. The author was very understanding of the way teenagers talk and act. The characters are likable and relatable. Highly recommended to girls in the 4th grade and up.

See more book review "report cards" at [..]

I loved the book Confetti Girl. Apolonia Flores is looking for answers. She's having trouble figuring out some very big questions. Some of these problems are why her dad seems to care about books more than her, why her best friend's divorced mom is always making cascarones, and, mostly, why her mom died last year. She goes through her life, trying to get answers to these questions. Apolina goes back and forth betweeen her house, her best friend's house, and her school, Baker. Apolina's biggest conflict is why her mom died last year. Her dad always says dichos, Spanish proverbs, that her mom used to say. The way she resolves this conflict is talking to her dad about it and surronding herself with people she loves and great friends.

After you pick up this book, you will never want to put it down. As Lina tells her story, the only thing that you can do is relate to it. We all know middle school is hard, and it is fasinating just how perfectly Diana Lopez brings it all together. Not in a bad way either, more of am inspiring way.

ordered book for granddaughter and had it shipped to her. Shipping was timely and she loved the book.