SOFI MENDOZA’S GUIDE TO GETTING LOST IN MEXICO

Getting caught for sneaking off with friends for the weekend might cause most teens to lose some privileges, but for Sofi Mendoza, it means she might lose her whole life. Traveling with her friends into Tijuana, Sofi plans to hook up with her high-school crush, but when her plans backfire, she just wants to go home and forget the trip full of too much sun, too much drinking and too much debauchery. She and her friends are stopped at the border for trying to sneak a Chihuahua across. Her friends receive a slap on the wrists, but when the border patrol discovers that Sofi is carrying false identification, she’s denied re-entry. Finding herself trapped, Sofi seeks out distant relatives in Mexico while her immigrant parents try to find a legal way for her to return. Only occasionally marred by less-than-stellar writing, this is a smart and engaging story about a hidden issue. (Fiction. YA)