When her mother wants her to be part of the high society world in their native Puerto Rico, Teresa attends a private school but loses her best friend. All Teresa and her best friend and classmate Ana think about is winning the contest for the Junior Queen and Princess of their town in Ponce, Puerto Rico. But Tere’s mother has different ideas for her only daughter. She wants her to be part of La Sociedad, “high society,” and go to a fancy private school. At first Tere doesn’t want to leave her school friends to follow her mother’s dream. She knows her parents can’t afford the luxuries the rich girls take for granted. But when Tere gets into trouble and has a fight with Ana, she quickly changes her mind. Now she finds herself caught between two worlds.
- ISBN: 9780440416609
- Author: Bernier-Grand, Carmen T.
- Published: 2001 , Yearling
- Themes: Discrimination, Friend, island, prejudice, School, sense of belonging, social class
- Descriptors: Caribbean, Historical Fiction, Intermediate (ages 9-14), Puerto Rico
- No. of pages: 192
We might think of the Carribbean as one or many small Islands very close to each other. Well, there are many islands in the Carribbean that I have not visited, although we are very close to each other. Is very dificult to think of the Caribbean as one, many languages and cultures (social and political) interact. Even the islands that share the same language, that is, Puerto Rico, Dominican Republic, and Cuba have their idiosyncracy.
A lovely written adolescent novel from an insider-outsider perspective. Set in Puerto Rico, interesting the author takes the reader to a different time, maybe 1960’s. My experience reading the book evoked in me a recollection of my mother’s stories when she was groing up in a small town-Central part of Puerto Rico. Going back to thinking of the Caribbean the author takes us to the description of a town, a celebration (sweet 15) that was among certain social class-wealthy people; which is shared across Spanish speaking islands such as Cuba and the Dominican Republic.