Booklist Reviews
Mendez's gut-wrenching YA debut follows three narrators—Juan, JD, and Fabi—who are struggling to get by in El Paso, Texas. They each have a goal: Juan's best shot at college is a basketball scholarship, JD dreams of becoming a filmmaker, and Fabi, Juan's mother, just wants to make ends meet despite an unexpected pregnancy. But, as they know too well, the world is unforgiving, and troubles like sprained ankles, broken families, and lost jobs are heaped upon them. They begin to doubt if any of their hopes and dreams will ever come true, or if the lives of three brown people matter to anyone besides themselves. Mendez minces no words as he presents issues that are all too real for many Latin American communities. Although the characters are sometimes frustrating, Mendez's attention to raw detail in plot and diction is both painful and illuminating. With its shades of social justice, this will appeal to readers of Matt de la Peña and Jason Reynolds. Grades 10-12. Copyright 2019 Booklist Reviews.
Kirkus Reviews
Born on the poor side of El Paso, Juan and JD fight for their dreams, knowing the odds are stacked against them. Mendez (Twitching Heart, 2012) tells the touching story of two teenage buddies, their troubled families, and the injustices they endure as a result of being poor and brown. Juan wants to play college basketball. JD wants to be a filmmaker. But following a single bad decision at a party in a wealthy neighborhood, their dreams begin to fall like dominoes. In a setting of police profiling and violent streets, it becomes obvious that the pain in this community is intergenerational. The boys must cope with parental secrets—Juan's mother never told him who his father is, and JD's father makes him an accomplice in a dishonest affair. As they seek answers, readers see that the future is a tidal wave pushing them to the brink even as they act with courage and good intentions. Studying, working hard on the court, impressing coaches and teachers, the teens come to unde rstand that the world has labeled them failures no matter how hard they try. In this novel with a deep sense of place and realistic dialogue, characters who are vivid and fallible add deep psychological meaning to a heart-wrenching story. At once accessible and artful, this is an important book about Mexican teens holding onto hope and friendship in the midst of alcoholism, poverty, prejudice, and despair. (Fiction. 14-18) Copyright Kirkus 2019 Kirkus/BPI Communications. All rights reserved.
Publishers Weekly Reviews
This searing portrait of two Mexican-American families conveys the experiences of a group that is underrepresented in YA fiction. Juan, a high school senior living in El Paso, knows that his only hope for a future is basketball; when he sprains his ankle running from the police at a party, he worries that he's lost everything, particularly after spending the night in prison. But his coach offers him one last shot: rehab the ankle, pass a big algebra test, and he'll invite a college scout to see Juan play. Juan's best friend, JD, has his own problems: he discovers that his father is cheating, and when his mom throws his dad out, JD's family implodes. And Juan's mother, Fabi, the story's third narrator, learns that she's pregnant and can't decide what to do. Juan doesn't know who his father is, but when Fabi starts getting letters from an ex-boyfriend on death row, Juan becomes convinced that the writer is his dad. He and JD hatch a plan to visit, but past choices catch up with them, changing everything. Mendez brings Juan and his world to life with vivid, honest characters and events that shine a light on what it can mean to be Mexican-American and poor in America. Ages 14–up.
School Library Journal Reviews