Common Sense Media Review
By Lucinda Dyer
,
based on child development research. How do we rate?
Vibrant novel in verse shows anti-Latino racism in '40s L.A.
Parents Need to Know
Why Age 12+?
Any Positive Content?
Where to Read
Parent and Kid Reviews
What's the Story?
As JAZZ OWLS opens in the summer of 1942, 16-year-old Marisela and her 14-year-old sister, Lorena, are working in a cannery by day and spending their nights jitterbugging with sailors at a USO. Respectable girls, they're accompanied each night by Ray, their younger zoot suit-wearing brother. With an older brother serving in the military, their Mexican American family feels as patriotic as any other family in Los Angeles, even though many in the community (including some police and newspaper reporters) see them as "invading foreigners." In the summer of 1943, tensions boil over, as servicemen begin beating up any Mexican American boy or man wearing a zoot suit in what the newspapers would call the Zoot Suit Riots. The riots are a turning point for Marisela, Lorena, and Ray, as each of them takes on challenges they might have previously thought impossible. Marisela becomes a union organizer at the cannery, Lorena goes to work as a "Rosie the Riveter" on a production line making bombers, and Ray returns to high school and begins working part-time in a bomb making factory. A brief epilogue lets readers know what happens to each of them after the close of the war.
Is It Any Good?
This story of family, racial strife, and the meaning of patriotism is told in vibrant free verse set to the beat of swing bands and Latino rhythms. The multiple points of view and fast-paced storyline of Jazz Owls may be a bit of a challenge for some readers, particularly if they're not already familiar with zoot suits, ducktail haircuts, USO dances, or Rosie the Riveter.
Talk to Your Kids About ...
Families can talk about how Jazz Owls explores the meaning of patriotism. What makes a family "patriotic"? Is it where they were born, having a family member in the military, or something that's harder to describe?
Why do you think white sailors in the novel view Mexican American girls so differently from their brothers?
Jazz Owls shows that people often judged Mexican American young men by how they dressed. If they wore zoot suits, they were troublemakers. Do students in your school ever dress in ways that make people prejudge them?
Book Details
- Author :
- Illustrator : Rudy Gutierrez
- Genre : Historical Fiction
- Topics : Book Characters , Family Stories ( Siblings ) , History
- Book type : Fiction
- Publisher : Atheneum
- Publication date : May 8, 2018
- Publisher's recommended age(s) : 12 - 18
- Number of pages : 192
- Available on : Nook, Hardback, Apple Books, Kindle
- Last updated : September 30, 2025
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