Book Review: Estrella’s Quinceañera

Estrella’s Quinceañera
Written by Malín Alegría
Published by Simon & Schuster, 2006  
ISBN:   9780689878091
Ages: 12 and up

Description (from Goodreads):

For as long as Estrella Alvarez can remember, her mother has been planning to throw her an elaborate quinceañera for her fifteenth birthday — complete with a mariachi band, cheesy decorations, and a hideous dress. Just thinking about her quince makes Estrella cringe. But her mother insists that it’s tradition.

Estrella has other things on her mind, anyway — like dating Speedy. Does it matter that her new friends — and her parents — would never approve of a guy from el barrio? Estrella’s almost fifteen and wants to start making her own decisions. But is she ready to find out who she is — and who she really wants to be?

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Our Next Good Read. . .Estrella’s Quinceañera

Join us February 4th at bookworks from 5:00-7:00 pm to discuss our next book.  We are reading Estrella’s Quinceañera by Malín Alegría.

Meet Estrella: “For as long as Estrella Alvarez can remember, her mother has been planning to throw her an elaborate quinceañera for her fifteenth birthday — complete with a mariachi band, cheesy decorations, and a hideous dress. Just thinking about her quince makes Estrella cringe. But her mother insists that it’s tradition.

Estrella has other things on her mind, anyway — like dating Speedy. Does it matter that her new friends — and her parents — would never approve of a guy from el barrio? Estrella’s almost fifteen and wants to start making her own decisions. But is she ready to find out who she is — and who she really wants to be?”

We’re really excited to be reading this one–one of our book group members recommended it after she heard about it on NPR!  Be sure to get entered in our drawing for one of five free copies of the book!! All you have to do is comment on any blog post before January 17th!

We hope to see you on February 4th–which just happens to be my birthday, a pretty appropriate book, don’t you think? Even if I am just a tad older than 15. . .

Book Giveaway!! Estrella’s Quinceañera

We’re giving away 5 copies of Estrella’s Quinceañera written by Malín Alegría–our featured novel for February’s book group meeting!!  It looks like a great read. It’s appropriate for ages 12 and up. To be entered in the giveaway, just comment on any post on the blog by January 17th. Everyone who comments between December 14th and January 17th will be entered in the drawing.  It’s a great way to add to your personal teaching library! If your name is chosen, we’ll email you ASAP about mailing the book to you.

Good luck!

The Hurricane Dancers Giveaway Winners!!

Thanks so much to all of you who have visited our blog and shared your thoughts with us. Each month we have more readers entered in our drawing!! This month’s five lucky winners are. . . . Molly from Wrapped up in Books, Florence, Blanca, Monica from impressions of a princess, and the Unconventional Teacher!  I’ll be emailing you to find out where you would like us to ship the book, so be on the lookout for that!

Congratulations! Hope you enjoy the book!

Our next give away starts today and runs through January 17th!! This time we’re giving away 5 copies of Estrella’s Quinceañera written by Malín Alegria.  Just comment on any post between now and January 17th and you’re automatically entered in the drawing!

We’ll continue to do a drawing for 5 copies of each book we feature in our book group each month, so keep checking back and sharing with us throughout the year! AND check out the great blogs authored by some of our winners above.  They’ve got great book reviews, editorials, and other writing related to education. I’ve linked to their pages, so all you have to do is click!

Book review: Malín Alegría’s “Border Town: Crossing the Line”

We have our beach reads, so why shouldn’t our teens?

I was so excited to see this post from The Hispanic Reader on Malín Alegría’s new book.  While some may say a series modeled after the Sweet Valley High novels isn’t what we want our teens reading, I disagree.  While I never read much Sweet Valley High, I certainly tore through every single book in The Babysitters Club series.  To me, a teen reading is a teen reading–not facebooking, watching youtube, or gaming.  Not that I have anything against those things, but I’m always excited about a book that will get teens interested in reading as well.  It looks like this one may do just that.

Check out some of Malín Alegría’s other great books.  If you like her work, definitely check back later in the year–Our Vamos a Leer book group is highlighting another novel by Alegría, Estrella’s Quinceañera, this coming February, and we’ll be posting some great resources for using it in your classroom!

The Hispanic Reader

Malín Alegría provides something the book world badly needed – a great young adult novel depicting Latino life.

Border Town: Crossing the Line(Point/Scholastic) is the first in a series of books modeled after the popular 1980s series Sweet Valley High, which followed the lives of two high school sisters living in California. Border Town features Fabiola Garza and her sister, Alexis, as they attend high school in the small (and fictional) town of Dos Rios in the Rio Grande Valley of Texas.

Even though Alegría lives in California, she perfectly captures the Valley beyond the characters’ meals of menudo and pan dulce. Here’s a line when Fabiola runs into her old Sunday school teacher while she’s buying personal items: “This was exactly why she hated living in the Valley. You couldn’t do anything without running into someone you knew!” (I used to live in the Valley, and…

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