Common Sense Note
Parent should know that teens drink here, but in Mexican culture a small amount of teen drinking is acceptable. There is some sexism and anti-Mexican racism.
Families can talk about some of the book's secondary themes such as the importance of education, maintaining ties to home and friends, and the centrality of family. Why, in this ever-changing world, should we hold on to culture and tradition? What do they do for us, and why are they important?
Common Sense Review
Reviewed By: Matt Berman
First-time novelist Canales has accomplished what few before her have managed: to create a realistic, but not didactic, portrait of life within a particular culture, in this case Mexican-American in Texas, that, while it will certainly resonate with others from that culture, has such appeal to non-Mexican readers they will wish it was their culture too. The details of foods, traditions, rituals, clothing are so warm and rich and loving, so integrated into the daily life and mindset of all the characters that it creates a yearning in the reader to experience it firsthand.
Unlike so many characters in other books, when Sofia steps out of her community into one very alien to her, a mostly white Protestant boarding school, she neither loses touch with her home and culture, nor feels an outsider in her new setting. While she certainly, and realistically, faces some prejudice in her new school, she also find support, close friends and a superb education. while remaining true to herself. This is a lovely, moving, warmhearted story that lingers long after the last page.
From The Book
Mama summoned her circle of comadres. They gathered in the living room, prayed a rosary, and then, while eating pan dulce and drinking cup after cup of hot coffee, they decided that Lucy was suffering from "Susto," shock, something no ordinary doctor could cure. Only a good curandero could do that!
Then each comadre reviewed her solar system of friends and family to find the best curandera in their universe.
Plot Summary:
A fictionalized memoir of growing up in the warm embrace of the Mexican-American barrio of McAllen, Texas. For Sofia the center of her life is her extended family and her comadres, the girls who will become her lifelong ... well, friends seems too pale a word for this intense, mutually supportive relationship.
But Sofia has dreams beyond the barrio, and a pivotal event in her childhood gives her the drive to achieve them. When she wins a scholarship to an Episcopal boarding school hundreds of miles away her family is reluctant to let her go, but determined to keep her tied firmly to her roots when she does.
Related Books:
Growing Up Mexican-American:
Lupita Manana by Patricia Beatty
Walking Stars by Victor Villaseñor
Call Me Consuelo by Ofelia Dumas Lachtman
Spirits of the High Mesa by Floyd Martinez
The Maldonado Miracle by Theodore Taylor
Mama Had to Work on Christmas by Carolyn Marsden
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Sexual ContentReferences to kissing. |
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Social BehaviorSome sexism and anti-Mexican racism. |
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CommercialismVarious stores and candy brands mentioned. |
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Drug/Alcohol/TobaccoDrinking, some underage. |
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