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Grow Up Luchy Zapata

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by Alexandra Alessandri
First sentence: “It’s a well-known fact that Colombians living outside the motherland will find a way toward each other like magnets.”
Support your local independent bookstore: buy it there!
Review copy pilfered off the shelves at work.
Content: There is some bullying. It’s in the Middle Grade (grades 3-5) section of the bookstore.

Luchy and Cami have been friends their entire lives – it comes from being Colombian in Miami and having parents who are good friends. But, the summer before sixth grade, Cami goes to Colombia and comes back different: she’s into make-up and boys, and wants to “reinvent herself” now that they’re in middle school. Except Luchy likes things the way they are. She’s content with herself and where she is, and she doesn’t want things to change.

But what starts as a change becomes a huge rift, and things escalate until they get out of control. How does Luchy figure out how to navigate middle school without her best friend.

I was talking to a librarian of a K-8 school in a nearby town at the store the other day, and we were lamenting how many middle-grade books had characters who have crushes in them. It’s all fine and good to write characters with crushes, but sometimes, you just need to have a story about kids who are friends and not make it about relationships. Thankfully, Alessandri stuck to the friendship element of the story (Cami has crushes, but it wasn’t a big deal to the story) and doesn’t go down the “who likes who” road. I’m not saying there’s not a place for that; I’m just a little tired of reading books where that is a main element. I like that this one focused on Luchy’s struggle with her heritage – her parents didn’t speak Spanish at home and so she never learned, and she doesn’t really feel connected to Colombia – as well as her friendship with Cami. It’s a good portrayal of the struggle that sixth grade and middle school often is, and I’m glad Alessandri didn’t gloss over the friendship struggles that come along with that.

A really solid middle grade book.

Booked

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bookedby Kwame Alexander
Support your local independent bookstore: buy it there!
Review copy pilfered off the ARC shelves at work.
Release date: April 5, 2016
Content: There’s a wee bit of romance and some difficult situations with bullying and divorce. Give it to readers ages 10 and up. It will be in the middle grade (grades 3-5) section of the bookstore.

The thing that I admire most about The Crossover was the style of it all. The way the poetry flowed on the page, the way that Alexander captured the rhythm of his characters in the ebb and flow of the poetry.

And lest we think lightning only strikes once, Alexander gives us Booked, repeating much of what I loved about his first book.

Instead of basketball, this time Alexander immerses us in the world of competitive soccer. Nick and his best friend Coby are extremely good, playing not only in competitive leagues but also for fun on the weekend plus the FIFA video game. It’s their whole life. Except, for Nick, it’s not that simple. His parents are going through a rough patch, and they separate so his mother can go help train a horse for the Kentucky Derby. His dad is a linguist and insists that Nick read this dictionary that he wrote, something that Nick resents. And, he’s bullied by these twins at school. There are bright spots: his mother makes him take this etiquette class, but there’s this girl he kind of likes (and who kind of likes him back). And the librarian at school is WAY cool. So, maybe Nick can find a balance in his life after all.

Not only is the story complex and compelling, I again, adored the poetry. Alexander has a way of making something as “stuffy” as poetry accessible and cool, which is wonderful.  I loved how the voice and the form of the poems changed depending on the characters (Nick was ostensibly our narrator, but there were appearances from other characters as well). I loved the footnotes with definitions of some of the bigger words (including snarky asides).  It’s fun and engaging, and yet Alexander tackles tough subjects like bullying and divorce with grace and ease. It’s not just a smart way to get reluctant readers interested in books or unsure kids interested in poetry. It’s a fantastic book.