From School Library Journal
Grade 6-9–Ten original short stories about Mexican-American teens in central California. The fundamental theme of "needing help" is the common thread among the stories, which range from the satirical to the peculiar to the humorous to the sad. Sometimes the "help" is administered in unusual fashion or never quite arrives at all, and each character is left to puzzle the complexity and edginess of life. One young man learns that sometimes a person is really telling the truth, despite evidence to the opposite. Another deals with having a girl mistake him for her boyfriend in a dark area at a dance and accidentally bestow upon him unexpected first kisses. One girl mourns the loss of her mother and tries to find evidence of the woman's spirit in every creak of the house. Another laments her inability to play golf, even against a frail old lady. Still another teen wishes desperately to turn around her family's terrible manners. These interesting characters placed in unique situations, and the thought-provoking endings, compensate for intermittent awkwardness in the telling. The occasional insertion of Spanish words is done skillfully so that even non-Spanish speakers will understand all aspects of the stories, which are similar in style and tone to Soto's
Petty Crimes (Harcourt, 1998).
–Diane P. Tuccillo, City of Mesa Library, AZ Copyright © Reed Business Information, a division of Reed Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.
--This text refers to the
Hardcover
edition.
Gr. 7-10. Working-class Latino teenagers cope with their families, hang out with offbeat friends and obnoxious acquaintances, yearn for dates, and deal with stray kisses in these 10 stories. The teens struggle to prove themselves, establish their own identities, and maintain self-respect in the midst of dilapidated schools, grimy neighborhoods, and hard-pressed single-parent households. The stories are sometimes funny, often poignant, and occasionally provocative. Spanish words and phrases, sprinkled throughout the stories, can usually be understood in context, but the appended glossary is helpful. The stories are laced with harsh, realistic observations and grungy, everyday details: "A dead bird with a string of ants crawling from its eyes lay near a burger wrapper." This naturalistic style gives the stories a hard, unpleasant edge, but it also makes them vividly believable.
Linda PerkinsCopyright © American Library Association. All rights reserved
--This text refers to the
Hardcover
edition.
