Under the Mesquite by Guadalupe Garcia McCall

Under the Mesquite by Guadalupe Garcia McCall

My rating: 5 of 5 stars


What a wonderful, intense novel in verse concerning Lupita’s close Mexican American family who must deal with her mother’s cancer and the heartache it brings. Lupita puts her life on hold to care for her siblings as they fervently wish their mother good health. With the loss of her mother, Lupita must learn to live with life’s limitations, star in the school play, and write her deepest thoughts and fears under the shade of the mesquite in her yard. A novel of affirmation and hope, the best choice for the 2012 Pura Belpré Award Winner!







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Chain Reaction by Simone Elkeles

Chain Reaction by Simone Elkeles

My rating: 3 of 5 stars


I enjoyed this third book in the Perfect Chemistry trilogy but the characterization of Luis Fuentes and Nikki Cruz seemed rushed. I didn't feel the depth of personality that developed slowly but surely with Alex and Brittany and Carlos and Kiera. There were not many adult figures that played a role model type role in the original two books and I would have liked to have seen more development of Officer Reyes instead of all three brothers believing he was trouble with no interest in their mother. Elkeles can still get the heat going with her descriptions of Luis and Nikki's yearnings or spurnings. Teens will enjoy this book, but it just didn't hit the mark of the first two with the human drama, drugs and gangs, it seemed too contrived, but I will be asking my students what they think as well.



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The Last Summer of the Death Warriors by Franciso X. Stork

The Last Summer Of The Death Warriors by Francisco X. Stork

My rating: 5 of 5 stars


Stork's book was just as good as Marcelo In The Real Worldbut in a very different way. Stork's writing is just so engrossing! When we meet Pancho, he is bent on finding the killer of his sister (even though the police said she wasn't murdered, it was natural causes) and going to live at St. Anthony's an orphanage and plot his revenge. But it is at St. Anthony's that he meets D.Q., a kid with cancer, who comandeers Pancho as his aide because DQ has brain cancer but DQ has plans to make Pancho and DQ "death warriors" and DQ is writing the manifesto while Pancho is tracking clues to his sister's killer. And along the way, Pancho's anger with his father's accidental death, his feeling somehow responsbile for his sister's death, is used by D.Q. to change him. D.Q. is such a strong character, even though he is suffering from cancer,but he is knowledgable, kind, not given to "whining---part of the Death Warrior Manifesto" and along with his love interest, Marisol, we see Pancho begin to grow as a person once hardened into a vulnerable young man with a future that does not include prison. I urger everyone to read this book, if you liked Marcelo, YOU WILL LOVE this book! Stork is one of my new favorite writers!



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