Aida SalazarRezensionen

children's middlegrade fiction, novel in verse - 13 y.o. Elio Solis starts his 8th grade year at his STEM school with a major crush on Camelia--and she likes him back! But all of a sudden he has to navigate all the weird ups and downs of puberty as well as the toxic machismo that is expected of him; fortunately he has supportive adults (and even a nonbinary spiritual guide) who are there to help him through. CW/TW: cock-fighting (not emergency room visits that are unexpected and potentially triggering. Also, there is some (helpful) advice about masturbation--it's natural but keep it private, don't spend all your time doing it, and also don't hog the bathroom.

don't skip the author's note at the end --- I loved that the author wrote this in response to her sons' asking for books about boys going through puberty (I can't think of any either but agree that there are likely even fewer featuring Black/brown boys). I don't always like books written in verse, but I liked this and found it effective as well as very appealing to its target audience. I can't speak for how well it captures that tumultuous time for 8th grade boys, but the potentially toxic group chats Elio shares with his male friends and classmates are definitely a real problem and a lot of things in this book could be helpful to a lot of kids who maybe don't already have adults/mentors who can help guide them.

Elio incidentally has synesthetia -- visions of color that he associates with emotions; love presents itself in a brilliant rainbow of colors, especially ultraviolet. I like that he gets to learn about his culture but updated with the wisdom of his mom (and what his father has learned in loving and respecting his mom), and I like that Elio has a lot of choices to make that he doesn't always get right.

Gr 3–7—This novel in verse explores family separation, deportation, and detention at the U.S.-Mexico border
through the eyes of Betita Quintero. Betita loves to write, and it's through her words that readers experience the
abounding emotions of a fourth grade girl trying to understand her family's situation. Salazar trusts her readers with
complex issues, and while the story doesn't provide the closure they may expect, Betita finds hope and her own kind
of happiness in the end. A potent book with many opportunities for discussion.

Gr 2–5—A gripping, cinematically presented biography of a spirited heroine who always wanted pants so she could
ride like the men. When she took up the cause of religious freedom dressed as a boy, she became Juan, known as
Mexico's Joan of Arc. Dynamic, vibrant illustrations accompany a poetic text for a thrilling story about a remarkable
person.

A colorful telling of a fearless woman who denies conventions to fight for her beliefs.

This novel is a 2024 Lone Star novel. I don't entirely feel that the novel should be on the 2024 list. Lone Star novels are supposed to make kids WANT to read. They're to be engaging. We want students to enjoy reading. During the last few years, the list represents many diverse books. I have absolutely nothing against diverse books, but the students aren't reading books from the Lone Star list anymore because the books are not engaging. Some of them are flat out boring, which has created students who avoid the Lone Star list.

Is A Seed in the Sun a good book? Yes. Is it a page turner? No. It's a book teaching about the migrant labor movement. I learned a lot, but the book wasn't an amazing reading experience. It was perfectly fine and full of information. To be on a reading list, a book needs to be more than fine.

Lula arrives in California with her family to work in the fields only to discover that the Filipinos are striking for better wages and work conditions. Lula's parents see little reason to participate. Unfortunately, Lula's mother becomes so sick that she can no longer work in the fields, much less do anything in the home. This situation means that Lula and her older sister must stay home from school and take care of the small kids. Lula's sister has dreams of attending college and doing good in the world. Their father, however, sees girls as fulfilling only traditional roles. He will make the decisions; they will obey.

The Mexican workers finally join the Filipinos in the strike. Lula's dad finds Cesar Chavez captivating and believes what he says, choosing to also join the strike. This decision gives Lula's mother a chance to see a doctor, as the United Farm Workers offer health care for the strikers. In addition, Lula discovers el Teatro Campesino, the theatre group used to demonstrate what the strikes hope to accomplish for the workers. Lula would love to participate, but her voice no longer works. Something happened that has taken it away.

If one is interested in history, please enjoy reading this book. Overall, it's a very nice story about a young girl who disobeys her mother and father several times in order to advocate for herself and her family, hoping for a better future. The book was a nice way to learn more about the United Farm Workers and the benefits of the union.

Caldecott Honor 2024

5/5

Starred reviews from Kirkus, Publishers Weekly, and SLJ.

Beautifully written, the novel in verse focuses on the events of the 1965 farm workers strike in Delano, CA from the voice of a middle school aged daughter in a migrant farm family. Labor leaders like Dolores Huerta and Caesar Chavez show up in the book as do the Filipino leaders who initially started the strike and worked to build a coalition of multi-ethnic workers to the movement which became the United Farm Workers.
Lula deals with a mom made sick from pesticide, a dad who is angry and stuck to strict gender roles and his role as the leader of the family, a sister who wants desperately to go to college, an older brother who wants to pursue nursing, and her own work to get her voice back.
The chapters are short. Poetry striking. Use of Spanish is peppered throughout the text.½

An interesting story about immigration. I think it will help children and adults understand the myriad of steps and horrors that immigrants go through to get into the United States from Mexico.

worthy successor to Are You There God? It’s Me, Margaret set in present-day Oakland.

Eleven-year-old Celi, mixed black–Puerto Rican–Mexican, dreads the imminent arrival of her period, less because of the menstruation itself and more because her mother insists that Celi have a “moon ceremony,” in which the members of her mother’s “women’s circle” will mark the transition from childhood to womanhood. Meanwhile, her best friend is going through a different transition—from girl to xochihuah, “neither / female nor male but both.” While Celi is initially shocked by the adjustment, she loves Mar, as her best friend now prefers to be known, no less. But when other kids, including her crush, Iván, say cruel things about Mar, Celi is torn between the possibility of a first kiss and loyalty to her friend. Salazar’s verse novel is sensitive and fresh, featuring modern interpretations of pre-Columbian coming-of-age traditions that arise organically from the characters. Mar’s heritage is Mexican, and Iván is mixed, black and Mexican; Celi and Mar’s participation in a Puerto Rican performance group and their mothers’ shared, deeply felt Xicana identity allow Salazar to naturally explore cultural nuances not often seen in middle-grade fiction. Genderfluid Mar takes both that name and the masculine pronoun midway through the book, and Celi’s narration adjusts accordingly even if some of their peers’ attitudes do not.

An authentically middle school voice and diverse Latinx cast make this book a standout . (Verse fiction. 8-12)

-Kirkus Review

Twelve-year-old Mexican American Lula longs to speak out and stand up against oppression in 1960s Delano, California.

Lula lives with her migrant farmworker family in bedbug-infested barracks. Her older sister, Concha, loves school just like Lula does; big brother Rafa works the fields with Mamá and Papá while youngest siblings Gabi and Martín tag along. Papá drinks, has an unpredictable temper, and only shows love to the littlest ones. Lula dreams of being able to make Papá smile. When Mamá becomes gravely ill, she’s turned away from the emergency room due to lack of money. A local curandera thinks she’s been poisoned by pesticides used in the fields and treats her with herbs. At school, Lula befriends Leonor, a Filipina and Mexican American girl, and is inspired by her powerful voice and grit. Leonor’s family is involved with the Filipino strikers’ union, the Agricultural Workers Organizing Committee. The AWOC are recruiting the Mexican National Farm Worker’s Association, led by Dolores Huerta and Cesar Chávez, to join them in striking for better wages and conditions. This introspective novel with a well-developed sense of place features free verse in varied layouts that maintain visual interest. The character development is strong; as Papá is influenced by Chávez, who speaks of nonviolence, his behaviors change. Lula shows tenacity as her seeds of potential are nourished.

Compelling and atmospheric. (author’s note, further reading) (Verse historical fiction. 9-13)

-Kirkus Review

A great book about the struggles of immigrant families, especially immigrant children. I think this story can be a little dark for young children, I wouldn't recommend this book to anyone under the age of 13, but it has a message that is crucial for children to learn about. I think that it offers an amazing perspective for children to understand and shows our society just how much children know and how much strength they have to get through the hard things they live with or in.

Full review found here: https://booksbeyondbinaries.blog/2019/02/04/affirming-middle-grade-gems-spring-2...

I have to start with books written in prose pose a real problem for me when I'm rating them for a broad audience as not every person likes to read in this particular format. Despite that initial hesitation, I have to say that yes, it is beautiful, despite the horrors described. Yes, it uses imagery to make it more relatable to a child's imagination. You really get a feel for our little leading lady's hardships. You really feel the awful conditions they have to endure, and the strength of their voices when united as one. It really emphasizes how one little spark can ignite change.


**copy received for review; opinions are my own - Read for Cybil's Middle Grade Fiction, Round Two

This book was hard for me to read, because it centers on the subject of menstruation, something that has long been a topic full of shame and secrecy. I applaud Salazar for creating a story that not only captures the extreme discomfort many women feel with the topic (in her young main character), but offers a different perspective, a celebration, that acknowledges the tie to the moon, and the sacred traditions of many indigenous cultures. I also love the thoughtful plotline that surrounds her best friend, a genderfluid character. Really, it's lovely book, well written, well-centered in modern teen life, and both kind and powerful.

Extremely well written, and tells a painful truth about the inhumane treatment of immigrants by the United States. Betita's family fled North and were accepted on an asylum visa, but then things went terribly wrong, and 9 YO Betita is detained with her pregnant mother after her father is deported. Some of the things that happen in this book -- they are held in cages, sleeping on concrete floors, no access to clear water, unsanitary conditions, rotting food, sexual abuse of another young girl, separation from parents. Several traumatic experiences, including the vicious beating of a young organizer, and the terrible fear for her mother when the baby arrives unexpectedly. It's an intense book. However, Betita's picture poems help her to tell her story and help to draw attention to the plight of the detainees, which ultimately frees them, and there are a great many loving adults who find ways to make the best of an appalling situation.

This book was heavy and impactful. A novel in verse filled with beautiful words describing horrible moments. I would highly recommend this book to any age that is interested in learning about this topic but there are quite a few triggers related to the treatment of people in detention centers (mainly from children and women perspectives). This book pulls at the heartstrings.

I listened to this book and at first, the narrator was good but the moment the story goes to the detention center the narrator hit a groove and was truly AMAZING.

The audiobook is about three hours and packs a punch. Have tissues ready and prepare to have your inner social justice warrior feel the call to make a difference in relation to the issues tackled in this book.

this is beautifully tragic. it's lyrical and lush, full of compassion and emotion. it's so sad and i hate that we have done and are doing this to so many people, both children and adults. so it's such an important story and she tells it so gorgeously, and so accessibly. this is a perfect example of what good literature can do, to engage humanity and increase understanding and compassion for other's stories and their suffering.

the symbol/metaphor of the migrants as cranes is woven perfectly throughout. this is stunning.

i think the print book has pictures and even though the audio is also beautifully read, i wish i had read the physical book to see those images and the line breaks of the poetry. it would likely get 5 stars from me in that format. (i'm not sure how i feel about it being a middle grade book, though. maybe young adult?)½

In this novel in verse, Celi Rivera lives in Oakland with her parents and younger brother. She loves to dance bomba to her best friend ("best echo") Magda's drums, she feels tingly around her crush Iván, and she does NOT want the moon ceremony her mother is planning for when Ceci has her first period. When Magda delicately comes out as nonbinary, Ceci promises to support her friend - but when Iván makes fun of Magda's (now Mar or Marco's) boyishness, Ceci doesn't defend him. She feels guilty, but she continues to see Iván - and her mother continues to plan the moon ceremony over Ceci's wishes. When Ceci's period does arrive, however, it's Marco who rescues her from embarrassment, and their mothers have a ceremony for them both - and despite Ceci's initial resistance, her feelings change.

An authentic, sensitive portrait of a character at a tender, transitional age, learning to embrace and feel pride in her cultural heritage (Ceci is Black-Puerto Rican-Mexican).

See also: Revenge of the Red Club

Quotes

Sometimes we do things
we don't mean
when we're hurt.
(Magda to Ceci, 53)

This is a coming of age novel that is written in verse. Celi Rivera is an 11 year old who is growing up in Oakland. He mother wants to throw her a celebration of her first period with a moon ceremony. Her mom wanted her to get this opportunity since she did not have her own moon ceremony.

Celi is 11 years old and lives in Oakland. She and her best friend Magda are active in a Puerto Rican bomba dance group. Celi’s mother tells her she is on the verge of experiencing her first moon (menstruation). She wants it to be a positive experience for Celi, and looks forward to celebrating her moon ceremony. Celi is mortified by her mother’s enthusiasm and would just as soon not talk about it. She would rather dance bomba and catch the eye of cute Iván from the capoeira class at the cultural center. But her attraction to Iván threatens her friendship with Magda, who is on the verge of making an important change of her own.

Please see my review on Amazon.com under C. Wong. Thank you.