The Last Summer of the Death Warriors - Hardcover

Stork, Francisco X.

Hardcover

ISBN 10: 0545151333 ISBN 13: 9780545151337

Publisher: Arthur A. Levine Books, 2010

Synopsis

When Pancho arrives at St. Anthony's Home, he knows his time there will be short: If his plans succeed, he'll soon be arrested for the murder of his sister's killer. But then he's assigned to help D.Q., whose brain cancer has slowed neither his spirit nor his mouth. D.Q. tells Pancho all about his "Death Warrior's Manifesto," which will help him to live out his last days fully--ideally, he says, with the love of the beautiful Marisol. As Pancho tracks down his sister's murderer, he finds himself falling under the influence of D.Q. and Marisol, who is everything D.Q. said she would be;and he is inexorably drawn to a decision: to honor his sister and her death, or embrace the way of the Death Warrior and choose life.
Nuanced in its characters and surprising in its plot developments--both soulful and funny--Last Summer is a buddy novel of the highest kind: the story of a friendship that helps two young men become all they can be.

About this title

About the Author

Francisco X. Stork is the author of Marcelo in the Real World, winner of the Schneider Family Book Award for Teens and the Once Upon a World Award; The Last Summer of the Death Warriors, which was named to the YALSA Best Fiction for Teens list and won the Amelia Elizabeth Walden Award; Irises; and The Memory of Light, which received four starred reviews. He lives near Boston with his wife. You can find him on the web at www.franciscostork.com and @StorkFrancisco.

From AudioFile

At age 17, Pancho Sanchez is suddenly orphaned; his father is killed in an accident, and three months later his developmentally disabled sister dies mysteriously in a hotel room. Ryan Gesell presents a tough Pancho who swings from angry apathy to a fiery desire to avenge his sister's murder. Soon Pancho is enlisted to aid D.Q., a teen suffering from a rare kind of brain cancer. Gesell portrays D.Q. with a sureness and strength, especially when he speaks of his "Death Warrior Manifesto," a personal creed that urges embracing life. Gesell portrays the development of the boys' relationship as he expresses Pancho's returning humor, caring, and sensitivity and D.Q.'s weakening voice and growing dependency. Gesell's easy transitions between Hispanic and Anglo accents accent evoke the story's Albuquerque setting and its racial tensions. S.W. © AudioFile 2010, Portland, Maine

About this edition

• Publisher: Arthur A. Levine Books
• Publication date: 2010
• ISBN 10: 0545151333
• ISBN 13: 9780545151337
• Binding: Hardcover
• Edition number: 1
• Number of pages: 352