White Bread Competition [Paperback]

Jo Ann Yolanda Hernandez (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: January 1997

The picturesque city of San Antonio, Texas with its rich Mexican-American culture provides the ideal backdrop for the linked stories in this award-winning collection.

Editorial Reviews

From School Library Journal

Grade 8 Up-Luz Rios, 14, wins the spelling bee at South San High School and, with it, the opportunity to represent San Antonio in a national competition. The pride and joy that resound in the girl's extended Mexican-American family is short lived, however, when Luz is accused of having had possession of the list of words prior to the competition. A school-board meeting is called to determine whether the runner-up, an Anglo girl, should compete in her place. In what almost turns out to be a major miscarriage of justice, it is revealed that one of Luz's Latino friends made the false accusation. This confession comes at the conclusion of an improbably hysterical board meeting. Hernandez uses this plot to reveal the many forms that discrimination may take. The story is told through a series of vignettes, many of which are revealed through the perspectives of Luz and her younger sister, their mother Rosaura, and her mother, Aura. Hernandez is, in fact, at her best in telling Aura's story. This hard-working, cigarillo-chomping abuelita fears for her beloved granddaughter who is competing against white students. One of the zaniest moments in the book occurs when all of the aunties show up on the day of the national spelling bee to coif and curl, puff and powder Luz into a young woman they can be proud of when she steps up to spell. The text is liberally sprinkled with Spanish words; there is no glossary. The language is sometimes crude and the characters are often disagreeable. Still, the essence of Chicano culture is effectively portrayed and the book will find an audience with young readers.
Sylvia V. Meisner, Allen Middle School, Greensboro, NC
Copyright 1998 Reed Business Information, Inc.

From Library Journal

A collection of interrelated stories makes up this first published effort of Hernandez. While the major competition facing young Latina Luz is representing her school in an upcoming spelling bee, she faces several other contests that are actually far more important. Luz's younger sister, Justina, struggles with her own ambivalence regarding Luz's success, while Luz's grandmother Aura confronts her fears about how Luz's success will influence the future and perhaps further the loss of Mexican American traditions in their home, San Antonio, Texas. The most significant competitions, however, remain Luz's. She must simultaneously fight the racist reactions and obstructionist tactics of Anglos and the burden of representing her community, or "la Raza." Hernandez's technique for showing the internal dialog of Luz's mother, Rosaura, and her grandmother Aura in "Mixing the Ingredients" is somewhat confusing, but overall the book is a worthy first effort.?Faye A. Chadwell, Univ. of Oregon, Eugene
Copyright 1997 Reed Business Information, Inc.

See all Editorial Reviews

Product Details

• Reading level: Ages 12 and up
  
• Paperback: 208 pages
• Publisher: Pinata Books (January 1997)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 1558852107
• ISBN-13: 978-1558852105
• Product Dimensions: 8.5 x 5.5 x 0.6 inches
• Shipping Weight: 8 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.5 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (10 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #2,393,127 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

3 of 3 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars White Bread Competition, March 18, 2002

A Kid's Review

This review is from: White Bread Competition (Paperback)

Those of you who like to know real things that happen in different communities you should read htis book, this book is very descriptive, challenging and it even has spanish words in it.
I believe that the book White Bread Competition makes me understand that there are some challenging people but you should continue to work hard on what you want to do. I love this book it showed me how to encourage myself to do what I want to do and to do it the best way that I can. Listening to others opinions is still helpful but when they want you to quit it's too hard to say no to something that you really want. I recommend that this book will make you feel as of you are living the story.

3 of 3 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Not only for children!, April 7, 2000

By A Customer

This review is from: White Bread Competition (Turtleback School & Library Binding Edition) (School & Library Binding)

The first few chapters, along with the title, are a bit misleading. This wonderfully weaved tale teaches and entertains anyone from 8 to 80. Each reader will find a particular chapter that applies to him or her in some very specific way. A reader who says otherwise is a liar. Many of today's touchiest social subjects and taboos are addressed, but in an incredibly entertaining way. I would highly recommend this book to any of my friends.

3 of 3 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars A unique and compassionate book; fresh and vibrant., March 24, 1999

By 

Nancy Means Wright "Nancy" (Middlebury, Vermont, USA) - See all my reviews

This review is from: White Bread Competition (Paperback)

The novel relives in fresh vibrant prose the anguish for young Latinas of growing up in a white world. The story of Luz, who wins a spelling competition against all the odds: adolescent jealousy, adult malice, racial prejudice on the part of the school administration, is an inspirational one. It is to the author's credit that she doesn't overwork the racial theme; rather, she examines the live of her own people: generational conflicts,sibling rivalries, the roles of Chicana women; family obligations, traditions and prejudices. We enter the mind of an eccentric grandmother, the artist mother, a Mrs. Whitting who tries to hide her own "white trash" background. In one story ironing becomes a motif as mother and daughter "iron out" their differences and discover commonalities--and love. The Texas setting is vivid and detailed, and the characters wholly believable in their diversity. The white bread versus tortilla metaphor threads its way brilliantly through the book. I think both schoolchildren and adults will derive nourishment from this unique and compassionate book. "Familia," the author concludes, "They can make you crazy and they can give you what it takes to get ahead."