Set in Mexico, this tear-inducing tale tells the story of an 11-year-old girl’s physical and mental recovery after falling out of a tree. “Your daughter broke her back and is paralyzed from the waist down,” the doctor coldly tells Lupe’s shocked, grieving parents. “There is nothing more to be done.” And so begins Lupe’s heart-wrenching journey from despair and helplessness to acceptance and competence. After nearly dying from an infected pressure sore, Lupe is sent to a residential rehabilitation center. In her first novel, Bang’s (Harley, p. 414, etc.) simple, matter-of-fact language allows the reader to see the real nitty-gritty of Lupe’s situation without being too graphic. “The pressure sore on Lupe’s back wasn’t pretty. It was full of pus and blood and it was oozing around the edges.” As Lupe begins to recover physically, her ferocious spirit—her family moniker is Tigrilla Loca, or Crazy Little Tiger—does too. Her initial act of self-directed behavior comes when she cleans and dresses an open sore on an injured donkey, utilizing the knowledge she gleaned from her own treatment. It’s a major turning point for Lupe, the first time she’s felt capable since her injury. Lupe is soon given the job of helping a severely disabled youngster and realizes that the ability to help someone else is a gift, not a gift she would have selected over having the use of her legs, but a gift nevertheless. Unsentimental yet moving, Bang’s story lets the reader see and feel what it might be like to be in Lupe’s shoes. (Fiction. 9-12)
Pub Date: Sept. 1, 2001
ISBN: 0-8050-6689-6
Page Count: 112
Publisher: Henry Holt
Review Posted Online: May 19, 2010
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Sept. 15, 2001
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
Though it lacks nuance, still a must-read.
Tyler is the son of generations of Vermont dairy farmers.
Mari is the Mexican-born daughter of undocumented migrant laborers whose mother has vanished in a perilous border crossing. When Tyler’s father is disabled in an accident, the only way the family can afford to keep the farm is by hiring Mari’s family. As Tyler and Mari’s friendship grows, the normal tensions of middle-school boy-girl friendships are complicated by philosophical and political truths. Tyler wonders how he can be a patriot while his family breaks the law. Mari worries about her vanished mother and lives in fear that she will be separated from her American-born sisters if la migra comes. Unashamedly didactic, Alvarez’s novel effectively complicates simple equivalencies between what’s illegal and what’s wrong. Mari’s experience is harrowing, with implied atrocities and immigration raids, but equally full of good people doing the best they can. The two children find hope despite the unhappily realistic conclusions to their troubles, in a story which sees the best in humanity alongside grim realities.
Though it lacks nuance, still a must-read. (Fiction. 9-11)Pub Date: Jan. 13, 2009
ISBN: 978-0-375-85838-3
Page Count: 240
Publisher: Knopf
Review Posted Online: June 24, 2010
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Nov. 15, 2008
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
Charming, poignant, and thoughtfully woven.
An aspiring scientist and a budding artist become friends and help each other with dream projects.
Unfolding in mid-1980s Sacramento, California, this story stars 12-year-olds Rosalind and Benjamin as first-person narrators in alternating chapters. Ro’s father, a fellow space buff, was killed by a drunk driver; the rocket they were working on together lies unfinished in her closet. As for Benji, not only has his best friend, Amir, moved away, but the comic book holding the clue for locating his dad is also missing. Along with their profound personal losses, the protagonists share a fixation with the universe’s intriguing potential: Ro decides to complete the rocket and hopes to launch mementos of her father into outer space while Benji’s conviction that aliens and UFOs are real compels his imagination and creativity as an artist. An accident in science class triggers a chain of events forcing Benji and Ro, who is new to the school, to interact and unintentionally learn each other’s secrets. They resolve to find Benji’s dad—a famous comic-book artist—and partner to finish Ro’s rocket for the science fair. Together, they overcome technical, scheduling, and geographical challenges. Readers will be drawn in by amusing and fantastical elements in the comic book theme, high emotional stakes that arouse sympathy, and well-drawn character development as the protagonists navigate life lessons around grief, patience, self-advocacy, and standing up for others. Ro is biracial (Chinese/White); Benji is White.
Charming, poignant, and thoughtfully woven. (Fiction. 9-12)Pub Date: Jan. 12, 2021
ISBN: 978-0-06-300888-5
Page Count: 304
Publisher: Quill Tree Books/HarperCollins
Review Posted Online: Oct. 26, 2020
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Nov. 15, 2020
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
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