"But.," said David Levithan, "she is fat."

Julia isn't perfect.  But neither was her sister, who was seen as perfect before she died and even more so now that she has crossed over.  I am Not Your Perfect Mexican Daughter was a very good read.  I had been looking at buying it for a long time.  Grief and loss play big roles here and Erika L. Sánchez addresses them so well.  There is more though.  I mean, this book takes on a lot of issues, without being an "issue" book.  It's like life.  Changes, and coming of age and being a minority and poverty and immigration, and just well, this is all just done so well.  A great, great book.  One thing though...David Levithan would really, really not like Julia.  She often mentions that she is not thin.  There is even one scene in which she says that her shirt is a little tight around the arms but she LIKES THE WAY SHE LOOKS!  Oh, Mr. Levithan.  I am so sorry!

A Secret Secret

Bob Shea has a series, Ballet Cat, and I LOVE these books.  And the first one is my favorite.  Which has NOTHING to do with It's Not Like It's a Secret, other than they both have "secret" in the title and they were both great book. This is a story of first love, of parents of self-discovery, of stereotypes and prejudice and Japanese culture and Asian culture and LBGTQ life and straight life and high school and communication and confusion and Latino culture and faithfulness and American culture.  This is just one, really great book.  I could see that there could be a danger in it being about TOO many things, now that I have listed them, but really, it isn't.  It is just really realistic, because real life is about a lot of things going on at once, too.  Great, great book.

Must Be Hard

It has to be hard for Gustavo Arellano to read some of the letters written to his syndicated column Ask a Mexican.  The book of the same name was painful to listen to for a lot of reasons- NONE of them related to Arellano. Wait.  I can't figure out if Ask a Mexican is still going on.  I mean, it is still going on, but I guess Arellano isn't do it?  I am so confused!
Anyway--people ask the dumbest, rudest questions.  And I know that it is great to see these stupid idiots ask these questions and then see Arellano really make fun of them and point out how stupid they are, even though they are probably too stupid to realize that he is making fun of them, because this guy is really funny and smart.  But still, I mean, should people this stupid be allowed to ask the stupid things that they ask?  Yes, of course.  We all have the right to be wrong.  But really.  Blah!

Another Surprise!

I was so blessed to be in Chicago at ALA Midwinter when the Youth Media Awards were announced.  The room was filled with excitement.  As I mentioned before, I was just thrilled that The Crossover won the Newbery.
Gabi, a Girl in Pieces won the Morris Award.  After reading it, and being so cynical about awards since 1954, I was so surprised to find that it won!  This book is awesome.  It just awesome.  Gabi is a girl that you just love right from the start.  And there is so much in here.  Body issues, sexuality, race, drug abuse, rape, hope, love, tradition.  All just done so, so well.  Gabi feels like a real person.

"Build a bridge out of her!"

Patrick Jones is one of my "heroes in the field."  He is an amazingly talented man, with a heart for teens and libraries. Bridge.  I wrote about him here, when I read The Tear Collector, which was a terrific book.  I was blown away when he posted on my blog, because well, he is Patrick Jones!  And he's brilliant and he also seems super kind!  And he is just so cool!
When I saw Bridge on netgalley, I just had to request it.  Turns out that Bridge is part of a series called The Alternative.  I can't wait to read the other.  I am going to purchase all of these for the Library!  Hooray!