Customer Reviews

The Tequila Worm

5 star:		(16)
4 star:		(2)
3 star:		(0)
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Sophia's early years are spent with her wonderful, supportive Mexican-American family and friends in South Texas. When she has the opportunity to attend an elite boarding school on scholarship, Sophia must make a decision that will affect her future and her family. Canales combines cultural details, vivid characters, and humerous and touching situations into a realistic and involving growing-up story that transcends culture and ethnicity.

Looking for a present for a friend's daughter, I came upon The Tequila Worm. The warm, evocative prose drew me into the story of Sofia and pulled me along so smoothly that I forgot about time. I remember having read a fascinating piece in the New York Times a year ago or so about quinceanera and its place in Latino culture. I enjoyed reading about Sofia's reaction to this sort of cotillion, her apprehension of enrolling in a WASPy boarding school far from home, and her idea of applying to Harvard. Sofia lives the American Dream, but without turning her back on family. Well, I'll have to get a new copy for my friend's daughter -- my copy stays with me, even though I am an adult. I will read it again someday.

Sofia Casas, the heroine of The Tequila Worm,is the best storyteller-heroine of a young adult book since Harriet the Spy. When the book begins, Sofia is growing up in the barrio of a border town in Texas, with magical rituals and wacky relatives (imagine being wrapped in a beige blanket to go trick or treating as a bean taco!). When the opportunity to attend a fancy Anglo boarding school comes along, Sofia is eager to leave her old world behind. Her quest to persuade her family to allow her to go, and then to earn the extra money, is simultaneously funny and deeply moving. And ultimately, she learns to keep hold of her traditional culture and become a "comadre" even as she moves into a new world.

Sometimes, The Tequila Worm made me laugh out loud. Sometimes it brought a lump to my throat. It's the kind of book you'll read again and again, and each time through, you'll notice something new about the exotic world it brings to life, and about the story teller's craft.

This relentlessly charming first-person novel brings readers into the tightly woven fabric of life in the Tejana world, full of celebrations and food, full of joy and delight. Great writing with a consistently authentic voice of the hopeful teenage heroine.

Sofia, a Mexican-American girl from the Rio Grande Valley town of McAllen, Texas, studies while her best friend dreams of her quinceanera. To achieve her dream of attending the private academy that has awarded her a scholarship, Sofia needs $400, five new dresses, and her mother's permission. Although each of these tasks seem individually insoluble to her, through their accomplishment, she learns the value of having good comadres-and being one.

The reader will follow the story of a young Sofia and cousin Berta from first communion, to Day of the Dead celebrations, and finally to Berta's quinceanera, after which Sofia exits for her private school and new experiences there. The charm, though is in the details of the quiet moments depicted with Sofia's family--telling stories from the storyteller's bag, cleaning pinto beans, and discussing the problems of the day at the sobremesa-and the excellent characterization. The reader can't help but smile at Tia Petra and her penchant for plastic, or at Sofia's bafflement of Berta's newfound enjoyment of sappy charro movies, but mild amusement is not the only emotion that will be provoked during the course of this read. Tequila Worm touches on the reality of death at various points of the story at different levels of reaction, and the reader should not be surprised to learn that this is a build-up to the climax and greatest lesson of the novel as a whole.

The loosely woven chapters of The Tequila Worm are chronological, but can stand alone with their individual lessons of life with family and friends in the small Texas town of McAllen. Canales shows off excellent story-telling skills in this almost-autobiography. Sofia and the other characters feel authentic, and fresh, presenting a neighborhood life that may rarely exist outside of fiction for many of the target audience of grades six to nine. Although holding special appeal for readers of Mexican-American descent, this book has the capacity to entertain and teach a lesson in understanding one's own self to many readers, regardless of their previous experience with Mexican traditions.

This charming novel by Stanford author Viola Canales is a book of stories about a family, a culture and a young girl who is smart enough to appreciate the richness of where she came from when she eventually goes away. In her barrio, Sofia is surrounded by a loving family and a community steeped in tradition. Though she does not want a quinceanera herself, she serves as the dama de honor for her cousin and best friend, Berta, when Berta turns 15. What Sofia really wants is to accept the scholarship she won to an Episcopal boarding school in Austin, 350 miles away. But to do that she needs her parents' permission, five decent dresses, and 400 dollars - each a seemingly insurmountable task. Readers will enjoy following Sofia along the way toward reaching her goal, and the culture shock that greets her at Saint Luke's. She also undoubtedly shocks some of her classmates when she and two friends take her papa's "definitive cure for homesickness": chewing and swallowing a squishy tequila worm. Sometimes humorous and always thoughtful, Canales has taken her own experience and expertly universalized it. Look to The Tequila Worm for a shining example of young adult literature at its best. (Review originally appeared in the Palo Alto Weekly.)

A fun and interesting account of gir's life growing up in the Rio Grande Valley. Viola's experiences remind me of my life in the Rio Grande Valley of Texas. All her short stories have an interesting tale to tell.

The Tequila Worm tells the story of a young and intelligent Mexican American schoolgirl, Sofia, growing up in McAllen, Texas. Sofia comes from a close family with many traditions- from making Easter cascarones to celebrating quinceañeras. Sofia is accepted to a boarding school in Austin, Texas, three hundred and fifty miles away from her home, but she struggles to leave her family even though she longs to go this new school.
I enjoyed this book very much. This book was both amusing and touching. For example, Sofia tells the story of Easter celebration with all her relatives. As part of the celebration they all find hidden cascarones (hollowed eggs that had been decorated and stuffed with things such as confetti) and smash them on each other's heads. Sofia saves a special egg for her cousin, Berta, which she has filled with flour. Berta also has a special egg for her cousin, an egg filled with mustard. Little does Berta know, but Sofia's younger sister Lucy also has a special egg.

As I kicked the air and swiped at the yellow gobs on my hair, face, and stinging eyes, I could hear Berta's big fat laugh.
Then- silence! There was Berta with real egg running down her hair and face, mixing with the flour. She was spitting and glaring at someone.
I turned to see Lucy smiling from ear to ear, no longer holding her secret egg. (Canales 25)

From this book I learned more about Mexican- American traditions and culture. Some aspects of Mexican- American culture that this book touches on are celebrating Día de los Muertos, quinceañeras (the American equivalent of a "Sweet Sixteen" only it is celebrated when a girl is fifteen), religion, and Mexican- American cuisine.
This is a terrific book, and I would definitely recommend it to anyone looking to get a glimpse at Mexican- American culture or just a good read. (Viola Canales uses simplistic language so it is not a very strenuous novel or difficult to read.)

This book helped me to understand two aspects of Mexican culture that had confused me for years, the Day of the Dead and quinceneras. I knew quite a bit about quinceneras prior to reading this book, but through Sofia's family interactions and self-reflection, I have a much clearer understanding of the social significance of them now. As someone who works with Mexican-American youth, the book was worth reading just for the insights it gave into these two important events.

This is the story of Sofia, a young Mexican-American girl growing up in a family rich in culture and traditions. The reader falls in love with Sofia's family and friends as they try to teach her about their customs. She does not always see the value of their traditions until she receives a scholarship to a boarding school and moves away. Leaving her home for this new place, she is met with a life much different from her own life in McAllen, Texas. She begins to realize that her family and their culture are a part of her and it warms her heart. The book is easy to read with short chapters and vivid characters. Put this one on your summer reading list for sure!