Jazz Owls: A Novel of the Zoot Suit Riots

Parents need to know that Jazz Owls: A Novel of the Zoot Suit Riots is the latest novel from Margarita Engle, the national Young People's Poet Laureate. Set against a backdrop of the racial prejudices that inflamed Los Angeles during World War II and written in free verse, it's primarily told in the alternating voices of Mexican American siblings Marisela, Lorena, and Ray. Marisela and Lorena are "owls," girls who work all day and spend their nights dancing with sailors at a USO club. But while white servicemen might dance with Mexican American girls, their bigotry and racism still runs deep. One summer night in 1943, they go on a rampage (not graphically described) through L.A., beating up any Mexican American boy or man wearing a zoot suit -- a loose-fitting suit with wide legs and exaggerated shoulders. It's a story of the home front during World War II that's rarely told: one of families with fathers and sons serving overseas, who still find themselves "treated as invaders" by many in their community. For readers not familiar with zoot suits, ducktail haircuts, wartime USOs, or Rosie the Riveter, a quick Google image search might be a helpful first step before beginning the novel.