Following the pattern of their other collaborations, Hoyt-Goldsmith and Migdale (Celebrating Ramadan, 2001, etc.) invite the reader to join a family and a whole community as they celebrate an important occasion in the life of a 15-year-old Mexican-American girl. The engaging photo essay details all the stages in the quinceañera celebration that involves a religious ceremony and a gala dance. Aztec, Roman Catholic, and European traditions are interwoven in the rite of passage still celebrated in Mexico and Mexican-American communities alike. Although in earlier times, the 15th birthday was an occasion for a young woman to make a decision between a secular life and a life consecrated to religious duties, it is now a time for reflection about childhood and the adult life she will lead. A special Mass is held and a large party with a corte de honor of 14 young men and women is planned with the help of many friends and relatives. This court may be linked to the 19th century, when the Austrians Maximilian and Carlota ruled as emperor and empress of Mexico for a short time and imported European traditions, such as fancy dress balls. Today’s young people, in long dresses and tuxedos, perform complex dances reminiscent of the past before they start doing today’s dances. The crisp, clear photos show Cynthia, a California teenager, and her family as they begin to plan the celebration. Her young cousin Ariana and her family are also very involved with the plans and the close relationship between the two families is highlighted. With its mix of family celebration, explanations of cultural and religious traditions, and glimpse into the everyday life of the large Mexican-American community, this is a very attractive way to introduce a major American ethnic group. (glossary, index) (Nonfiction. 9-13)
Pub Date: Sept. 30, 2002
ISBN: 0-8234-1693-3
Page Count: 32
Publisher: Holiday House
Review Posted Online: May 19, 2010
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Sept. 1, 2002
A touching exploration of friendship, teamwork, and Mamba Mentality.
Together, neighbors and friends Isaac and Marco navigate the challenges of middle school, divorced parents, and basketball tryouts.
Brand-new sixth graders Isaac Castillo and Marco Honeyman are more like family than friends. Despite their apparent differences—Isaac’s a talented basketball player who struggles academically, while Marco’s a supershort straight-A student who prefers chess to contact sports—they have been inseparable besties since kindergarten. Isaac knows how to talk Marco through his panic attacks and discussions of his absent father, and Marco calmly listens to Isaac’s fears about his father’s not-so-secret alcohol abuse. After a misunderstanding leads Isaac’s former teammates to convince Marco he could be their middle school basketball team’s next Muggsy Bogues (the smallest player in NBA history), Marco and Isaac dedicate themselves to getting him a spot on the team, even though he’s never played before. The dual point-of-view story repudiates toxic masculinity and encourages collaboration and generosity. The quick-moving plot also spotlights the various ways preteens and their parents fall short of their goals only to end up stronger because of their resilience and grit. Both protagonists are Latinx: Isaac is Jewish and Mexican, and Marco is Mexican American. Cisneros’ touching sophomore novel is an ideal pick for sports fans and will reel in reluctant readers.
A touching exploration of friendship, teamwork, and Mamba Mentality. (author’s note) (Fiction. 9-13)Pub Date: March 15, 2022
ISBN: 978-0-06-288172-4
Page Count: 304
Publisher: Quill Tree Books/HarperCollins
Review Posted Online: Dec. 23, 2021
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Jan. 15, 2022
BOOK REVIEW
PERSPECTIVES
Narrow squeaks aplenty combine with bursts of lyrical prose for a satisfying adventure
A Prohibition-era child enlists a gifted pickpocket and a pair of budding circus performers in a clever ruse to save her ancestral home from being stolen by developers.
Rundell sets her iron-jawed protagonist on a seemingly impossible quest: to break into the ramshackle Hudson River castle from which her grieving grandfather has been abruptly evicted by unscrupulous con man Victor Sorrotore and recover a fabulously valuable hidden emerald. Laying out an elaborate scheme in a notebook that itself turns out to be an integral part of the ensuing caper, Vita, only slowed by a bout with polio years before, enlists a team of helpers. Silk, a light-fingered orphan, aspiring aerialist Samuel Kawadza, and Arkady, a Russian lad with a remarkable affinity for and with animals, all join her in a series of expeditions, mostly nocturnal, through and under Manhattan. The city never comes to life the way the human characters do (Vita, for instance, “had six kinds of smile, and five of them were real”) but often does have a tangible presence, and notwithstanding Vita’s encounter with a (rather anachronistically styled) “Latina” librarian, period attitudes toward race and class are convincingly drawn. Vita, Silk, and Arkady all present white; Samuel, a Shona immigrant from Southern Rhodesia, is the only primary character of color. Santoso’s vignettes of, mostly, animals and small items add occasional visual grace notes.
Narrow squeaks aplenty combine with bursts of lyrical prose for a satisfying adventure . (Historical fiction. 11-13)Pub Date: Aug. 27, 2019
ISBN: 978-1-4814-1948-2
Page Count: 272
Publisher: Simon & Schuster
Review Posted Online: May 25, 2019
Kirkus Reviews Issue: June 15, 2019
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