Trino's Choice [Paperback]

Diane Gonzales Bertrand (Author)

Book Description

Age Level: 11 and up | Grade Level: 6 and up

Frustrated by his poor financial situation and hoping to impress a smart girl, seventh grader Trino falls in with a bad crowd led by an older teen with a vicious streak.

Editorial Reviews

From Booklist

Run or die, seventh-grader Trino thinks when he sees rat-faced Rosca and some other eighth-graders beating up the neighborhood convenience store owner, and they see him. Desperate, he ducks inside a dark bookshop, which he briefly considers robbing before some "school types," including the lovely Lisana, show up, interested in an upcoming poetry reading by a Latino poet who writes about the barrio. Although Trino and Lisana go to the same school, their lives seem worlds apart. Living in a Texas trailer park with his working mother, three younger stepbrothers, and freeloading drunk of an uncle, Trino hates his life and, frustrated, is drawn by Rosca's offer to hang out and maybe make some quick cash, which leads to tragedy. Although the story's pat last line reads like a heavy-handed, middle-school equivalent of riding off into the sunset, overall, this is a dramatic and realistic contemporary novel, in the tradition of Frank Bonham's Durango Street (1965) and Walter Dean Myers' Scorpions (1988), about a Latino boy struggling to grow into manhood and somehow make the right choices in the absence of adult guidance or even his own understanding of the serious consequences. Annie Ayres --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

Review

"Realistic characters and settings . . . Skillful descriptions . . . Conversations are genuine . . . Deserves a sequel." -- VOYA [Voice of Youth Advocates]:

"Tough, gritty . . . will keep readers turning the pages." --Sacramento [California] Bee:

See all Editorial Reviews

Product Details

• Reading level: Ages 11 and up
  
• Paperback: 124 pages
• Publisher: Arte Publico Pr; 1st edition (1999)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 1558852689
• ISBN-13: 978-1558852686
• Product Dimensions: 8.5 x 0.4 x 5.5 inches
• Shipping Weight: 5.6 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (7 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #723,251 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

More About the Author

Diane Gonzales Bertrand has written stories and poems since childhood, but never saw books that connected to her own Mexican-American heritage. Fifteen years ago she found Arte Publico Press, a Houston publisher who welcomed her familia-friendly adult novels like Sweet Fifteen, Lessons of the Game, and Close to the Heart. Then Diane wrote the children's novel Alicia's Treasure and two award-winning novels for middle school students Trino's Choice, and Trino's Time.
Diane's published picture books Sip, Slurp, Soup, Soup/ Caldo, Caldo, Caldo, Family, Familia, The Last Doll, Uncle Chente's Picnic, and The Empanadas that Abuela Made have all earned "Best Bilingual Book" Latino Literary Awards. Her collection of bilingual short stories, Upside Down and Backwards, earned Honorable Mention in the Paterson Prize for Young Adults. Other titles include Ricardo's Race/La carerra de Ricardo, We are Cousins/Somos Primos, a bilingual novel, The Ruiz Street Kids, winner of a 2009 Skipping Stones Award and a brand new book, The Party for Papa Luis, recently listed as a finalist for the 2010 Tejas Star Book Award. A new novel for teens, The F Factor, is now published. Upcoming titles are Adelita and the Veggie Cousins and Sofia and the Purple Dress.
Her picture books with Raven Tree Press include the award winning, My Pal Victor/mi amigo Victor, and her forthcoming book, The Park Our Town Built.
Diane is Writer-in-Residence at St. Mary's University in San Antonio, Texas. She also loves to visit schools as an author and talk about her books, her family, and the importance of writing down our stories.

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

2 of 2 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Trino's Choice, October 21, 2005

By 

N.A. Wallace (CHS) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Trino's Choice (Paperback)

Trino's Choice, by Diane Gonzales Bertrand, is a story about a young boy named Trino. Trino is in the 7th grade and lives in a trailer park and is struggling through his adolescent stages while facing many problems that will force him to choose between right and wrong.

The author catches the reader's attention is several different ways. Suspense, questioning, and love are just some of those ways. However the reader needs to relate to Trino's life and the poor, trailer park life. If the reader hasn't been able to relate, this book gives the reader a good idea of how many adolescent teens live, and the problems they face.

Overall, this book was at best mediocre. It lacked a major attention getter and was slow on getting a point across. However, Trino's Choice did show the reader how some teens really live and how life is not always as pleasant as it is portrayed.

2 of 2 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Trino's Choice, June 29, 2005

By 

Christy Prosser "Christy P" (oak forest, IL) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Trino's Choice (Paperback)

This book is an excellent read for young adults. It deals with the themes of person vs. person and person vs. self. This novel focuses on how Trino views his life and why he feels the way he does. He struggles with entering manhood with no guidance from a male role model and deciding whether to hang out with a school-type crowd or a rough crowd. Trino is a character that many children of this age level can identify with. He faces realistic conflicts between himself, friends, enemies and family members that young adults might be facing in their schools or at home. The author begins the book by Trino running away from someone who wants to kill him. This grabs the reader's attention because you don't know why he is trying to hide and who he is hiding from. The author draws her readers in and makes them want to know what is going to happen to Trino next. The Spanish dialogue that is incorporated into the text gives the reader a more realistic view of the novel because all the characters in this book are Latino. Trino is definitely a dynamic character because he experiences major changes in his life such as dealing with the death of a close friend, entering a new relationship with a girl, and entering manhood. This novel is highly recommended for teenagers because it focuses on issues that they are concerned about and can experience at this age.

4.0 out of 5 stars Trino's Choice is okay :), November 28, 2006

A Kid's Review

This review is from: Trino's Choice (Paperback)

The book Trino's Choice is a great book to read for children aged 12 and above. The story is centered on the main character Trino Olivares. Trino's family is facing serious financial problems and they are barely getting by on a daily basis. Trino's circumstances have forced him to grow earlier than his age and share his family's responsibility. His life gets worse after he witnesses Rosca and his small gang beat Mr. Epifaño, the owner of the neighborhood grocery store. He runs for his life when he meets Lisana, a fellow student. Trino is pushed in a situation where he has to decide between keeping his old friends who hung out with dangerous kids or being friends with Lisana and her group. Trino agrees not to tell the cops about Rosca's is crime. Rosca offers him money to join his gang. He is faced with with a difficult decision because his mother recently lost her job and the family needs the money, Trino considers the option. He must choose between taking the job Rosca has offered or staying away from trouble. On his way to meet Rosca about his new job, Trino witnesses another murder; his friend Zipper was shot.

There are some very important messages conveyed in this book, such as choosing between right and wrong, independance, issues related to identity, peer pressure, love, loneliness, and family problems. This book helps all children to learn and understand the complexity of taking decisions and the thought process required in making a choice. The language of the book will appeal to young readers as well as older ones.

This book teaches the reader that not all decisions should be based on the need for money and sometimes one has to go through a lot of trouble while doing the ethical thing. What will be Trino's choice? Read to find out.