CALL ME JUANITA

Johanna's the name-alike for Juanita and all throughout this amicable account of assimilation down Mexico way there's enough Spanish infiltrating through the easy to read narrative to help you learn the language, with Johanna. She's not happy about going and finds the life circumscribed--particularly by Rosa, next door, with her notions about caste and station. But Johanna ignores her and makes friends with Juanita, their maid's daughter, and she goes to school, and the neighboring pool's restrictions are finally eliminated when Juanita jumps in to save a life. . . . Food, sites and sights touch up but don't mute the message.