Confetti Girl - Softcover

Lopez, Diana

Softcover

ISBN 10: 0316029564 ISBN 13: 9780316029568

Publisher: Little, Brown Books for Young Readers, 2010

Synopsis

Apolonia "Lina" Flores is a sock enthusiast, a volleyball player, a science lover, and a girl who's just looking for answers. Even though her house is crammed full of books (her dad's a bibliophile), she's having trouble figuring out some very big questions, like why her dad seems to care about books more than her, why her best friend's divorced mom is obsessed with making cascarones (hollowed eggshells filled with colorful confetti), and, most of all, why her mom died last year. Like colors in cascarones, Lina's life is a rainbow of people, interests, and unexpected changes.

In her first novel for young readers, Diana López creates a clever and honest story about a young Latina girl navigating growing pains in her South Texan city.

About this title

About the Author

Diana (pronounced DEE-ANNA) López is a native of Corpus Christi, Texas. Her adult novel, Sofia's Saints, was published by Bilingual Review Press in 2002, and she is a contributing author to Hecho en Tejas: An Anthology of Texas Mexican Literature. Other works include short stories published in Chicago Quarterly Review, The Sycamore Review, and New Texas. She now teaches English at St. Philip's College in San Antonio. This is her first middle grade novel.

From School Library Journal

Grade 4-8–Lina attends middle school in Corpus Cristi, TX, has a crush on classmate Luís, loves science and sports, and has a sock obsession as a result of her pants never being long enough for her tall body. Her best friend, Vanessa Cantu, lives across the street with her mother, who is still bitter about a divorce that happened a few years earlier. Lina's mother died last year, and her father is still grieving but struggling to live up to his responsibilities. Dichos, Spanish sayings or proverbs, are translated at the top of every chapter. Spanish phrases are sprinkled throughout the text, reflecting Lina's bilingual community. The budding romance, and typical middle school events such as detention, lunchroom disasters, and reports, keep things moving. Lina is essentially a sunny, happy child and her sadness and anger are more blips on the radar than real angst. A subplot about Luís's stuttering seems extraneous. Quite typical in characters, plot, and style, this story is most notable for its casual introduction to Spanish language and culture, overtly accessible to all.–Carol A. Edwards, Denver Public Library
Copyright © Reed Business Information, a division of Reed Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

About this edition

• Publisher: Little, Brown Books for Young Readers
• Publication date: 2010
• ISBN 10: 0316029564
• ISBN 13: 9780316029568
• Binding: Paperback
• Number of pages: 208