LIBRARY NEWS
O. Henry Welcomes Author Rebecca Balcarcel on Friday, February 28
at 2 pm in O. Henry Cafe.
We'll be selling copies of her novel from BookPeople!
Booklist Starred Review! (September 15, 2019
Grades 5-8. As Quijana begins seventh grade, she finds that her school and classmates aren’t the only things that have changed. Her father, who came to the U.S. from Guatemala, is putting more pressure on her to adopt his culture by speaking Spanish and playing guitar so that they can sing boleros—something made difficult by Quijana’s lack of fluency in Spanish. Meanwhile, her younger brother, Memito, is behaving differently and having difficulty with words, leaving her desperate to find a way to help him. And then her grandma, who has taught her so much about nature and adventure, suddenly grows ill. As the world changes around her, Quijana learns that nothing can stop time, and with the help of her caring friends, loving family, the wisdom of nature, and—of course—Don Quixote, she must find the strength to overcome her fears and discover her true self. With poetic, flowing prose that sometimes feels more like a song and characters so convincing that they seem real, Balcárcel’s stunning debut depicts the struggles of being raised with two cultures and the challenges of not being “authentic” enough—in this case, “not Guatemalan enough” or “not American enough.” A lovely, moving, and realistic view of the struggles and insecurities—as well as the beauty—that comes from being bicultural.
Grades 5-8. As Quijana begins seventh grade, she finds that her school and classmates aren’t the only things that have changed. Her father, who came to the U.S. from Guatemala, is putting more pressure on her to adopt his culture by speaking Spanish and playing guitar so that they can sing boleros—something made difficult by Quijana’s lack of fluency in Spanish. Meanwhile, her younger brother, Memito, is behaving differently and having difficulty with words, leaving her desperate to find a way to help him. And then her grandma, who has taught her so much about nature and adventure, suddenly grows ill. As the world changes around her, Quijana learns that nothing can stop time, and with the help of her caring friends, loving family, the wisdom of nature, and—of course—Don Quixote, she must find the strength to overcome her fears and discover her true self. With poetic, flowing prose that sometimes feels more like a song and characters so convincing that they seem real, Balcárcel’s stunning debut depicts the struggles of being raised with two cultures and the challenges of not being “authentic” enough—in this case, “not Guatemalan enough” or “not American enough.” A lovely, moving, and realistic view of the struggles and insecurities—as well as the beauty—that comes from being bicultural.