THE LEGEND OF SENSEI TSINELAS

A high school senior in Portland, Oregon, tries to prove that his new boss is a superhero in order to gain popularity at school.

Victor Dela Cruz is a self-proclaimed nerd whose life revolves around superheroes. Bullied by the members of the football team, Victor is ashamed of being Filipino American, believing that brown skin is his kryptonite in his primarily white environment. He’s avoided focusing on his culture, so he doesn’t know where to begin with a family heritage project for school. That’s when Victor’s boss at the Filipino food truck where he works, a man he calls Sir, demonstrates an impressive feat of heroism in protecting a woman from an armed mugger using only his tsinelas, or slippers. This leads Victor to believe Sir is “the people’s vigilante” who’s responsible for fighting crime around the city. Victor’s grandmother and sister encourage him to write about his deceased parents for his assignment, but he’s determined to prove that Sir is an actual superhero and win his peers’ vote for the best project. Victor goes through a moving journey of self-discovery, learning to accept his true self and take pride in his Filipino heritage. Tanamor thoughtfully touches on assimilation, loss, grief, and feelings of being an outsider. Victor often imagines himself or others as having superpowers and altering the outcomes of various encounters. Detailed descriptions make this is a true ode to Portland and Filipino cuisine and culture.

An endearing story of identity and cultural pride.