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Lila Quintero Weaver

Autor von My Year in the Middle

3+ Werke 224 Mitglieder 17 Rezensionen

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Beinhaltet den Namen: Weaver Quintero, Lila

Werke von Lila Quintero Weaver

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Tales from la Vida: A Latinx Comics Anthology (Latinographix) (2018) — Mitwirkender — 37 Exemplare

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Lila Quintero Weaver was born in Buenos Aires, Argentina, in 1955. At age five, she immigrated to the U.S. with her family and spent her school years in a small Alabama town where she absorbed the material that makes up her illustrated memoir. She is a graduate of the University of Alabama. Darkroom: A Memoir in Black & White is her first major publication. Lila was named a finalist for the Small Press Expo 2012 Ignatz Award for Promising New Talent and for the 2012 Cybils Award in the Graphic Novels category. The Children’s Literature & Reading Special Interest Group of the International Reading Association awarded Darkroom with a Notable Books for a Global Society designation.

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This was a really enjoyable reading experience. For one, I loved the illustration style of Weaver's panels, and I love that she went the Spiegelman route and gave us a lot of person background so we'd understand how to read her and her family's reactions to historical events. Four stars because I wish there had been more actual writing - the story had a lot of potential to branch out, especially when paired with such detailed illustrations. Missed opportunity there to give us a lot of depth.

In all, great read and I'd absolutely recommend it!
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BreePye | 9 weitere Rezensionen | Oct 6, 2023 |
It is spring 1970 in Alabama, and in spite of the racial tensions that come along with integration and the upcoming race for governor, sixth-grader Lu Olivera can’t stop thinking about running—or more importantly, the discovery that she can run.

It’s hotter than Hades the day Lu first runs in preparation for Field Day. She flies “like the blue blazes” and barely squeaks past classmate Belinda at the finish line for the win. As they mill about catching their breath and each other’s eyes, Belinda gives a nod of respect. Lu nods back, but not without a bit of trepidation upon reminding herself that “around here, black and white kids don’t mix. No siree bob.” You see, being from Argentina, Lu is one of the “middle” kids in the class. White kids sit on one side of the room, black kids, including Belinda, on the other, and those that are left occupy no man’s land. Readers will follow Lu through the spring of her sixth-grade year as she discovers not just the extent of her running ability, but how much gumption one tiny immigrant girl can have. It’s not always easy standing up for what is right, but sometimes, you just can’t stay in the middle. While Red Grove, Alabama, is a fictional town, the story is inspired by the author’s very real experiences growing up in Alabama. Young readers will relate to Lu as she navigates friendships, first love, and politics, cheering her on to the finish line.

An important and relevant story that will make kids stop and take a look at the world around them. (Historical fiction. 9-13)

-Kirkus Review
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CDJLibrary | 6 weitere Rezensionen | Jan 25, 2023 |
Excellent own voices fictionalized memoir set in Alabama in 1970, just after desegregation. The more the book goes on, the more Lu discovers that the middle is a very uncomfortable place to be. This is the year where she discovers her love of running, finds new friends and loses old ones, starts to think about boys and finds, in the end, that she needs to make a stand. It's an eventful 6th grade year. I like that most of her battles are social ones, and that while she is hesitant in deciding how to handle them, she learns a lot about being true to herself. The pacing is steady, and Lu's somewhat neutral social status (identifying as neither white nor black, with parents who view themselves as foreigners, outside the local politics) gives her an interesting perspective. The book is also chock-a-block with 1970s slang and music, something I think both kids and adults will find entertaining.

The one thing I wish had been handled differently -- Lu goes to a gubernatorial rally that ends up being full of anti-integration rhetoric. She very quickly realizes that she went there for the wrong reasons, and that she regrets going. When the fact that she went is found out and causes a ruction with her friend, she makes it clear that she hated being there, and later gives up a good grade on an extra credit assignment that talks about the rally, because she feels so bad about going. I think this whole situation is a missed opportunity -- to say hey, I made a mistake, but I learned from it. I listened to someone that I didn't think I would agree with, and I confirmed that I don't believe those things. I heard for myself what the opposition is saying, and I made up my own mind. -- none of those things (all of which happened) are things to feel guilty and ashamed about. That's what intelligent, critical thinkers do -- they go directly to the source and they make up their own minds. We're a country of people who have shut the door on listening to one another, and I simply wish that the positive effects of this experience had been teased out more.
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jennybeast | 6 weitere Rezensionen | Apr 14, 2022 |
The author recounts her childhood as an Argentinian immigrant in Marion, Alabama, in the 1960s, hitching her story onto the Civil Rights Movement by the happenstance that her family lived a block away from the protest that resulted in the murder of Jimmie Lee Jackson by an Alabama state trooper, a catalyst for the marches from Selma to Montgomery.

There is an interesting comparison/contrast of her experience as a person of Spanish and indigenous descent in the Deep South versus that of the Black people she knew, but there is also a bit of a muddle in her narrative. While often living in the blissfully ignorant fog of being a child, she does eventually strive to be an ally in the struggle, but admits that one Black acquaintance rebuked her for overstepping. She sometimes presents what she hoped her late father did in certain situations she did not witness, but also includes a less idealized moment when he got angry at her for endangering his teaching job when rumors flew about her fraternizing with a Black male classmate. (Since she was only nine in 1965, she relies on the memories of her older siblings as well as historical sources for large portions of the book.)

There are some heavy-handed attempts to use photography and home movies as literary devices in the prologue and epilogue that didn't really work for me, but the majority of the book is pretty straightforward. With only one to five panels per page, it is also a quick read despite its thickness.
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villemezbrown | 9 weitere Rezensionen | Jul 15, 2021 |

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