Four friends. One quince. Miami is heating up! Amigas Incorporated is officially open for business! Alicia, Jamie, Carmen and Gaz managed to throw an amazing quince for their new friend Sarita. But now that they are sophomores AND in the quince planning business, things are going to get more complicated. There is competition to deal with, not to mention pushy fifteen year olds and their overbearing mothers. Luckily, one of their own is having a quince. Carmen is turning fifteen and the rest of the friends are determined to throw her the best party ever. But in Miami, the heat is always on–and so is the drama. When the group agrees to be part of a reality show competition featuring young and upcoming party planners, Carmen begins to feel like her quinceanera is no longer in the spotlight. Will the friends find a way to balance everything? Or, will Amigas Inc go off the air?
United States
Materials from United States of America
Dark Water
Fifteen-year-old Pearl DeWitt and her mother live in Fallbrook, California, where it’s sunny 340 days of the year, and where her uncle owns a grove of 900 avocado trees. Uncle Hoyt hires migrant workers regularly, but Pearl doesn’t pay much attention to them . . . until Amiel. From the moment she sees him, Pearl is drawn to this boy who keeps to himself, fears being caught by la migra, and is mysteriously unable to talk. And after coming across Amiel’s makeshift hut near Agua Prieta Creek, Pearl falls into a precarious friendship—and a forbidden romance.Then the wildfires strike. Fallbrook—the town of marigolds and palms, blood oranges and sweet limes—is threatened by the Agua Prieta fire, and a mandatory evacuation order is issued. But Pearl knows that Amiel is in the direct path of the fire, with no one to warn him, no way to get out. Slipping away from safety and her family, Pearl moves toward the dark creek, where the smoke has become air, the air smoke. Laura McNeal has crafted a beautiful and haunting novel full of peril, desperation, and love.
See the review at WOW Review, Volume 3, Issue 4
The F Factor
Javier Avila has a feeling tenth grade is going to be interesting. Forget the fact that everybody says sophomore year is so dull even the teachers get bored, and that at St. Peters High School sophomores are considered nobodies. But not Javier, because hes chosen against his will to be the first anchorman for the schools new program to televise school announcements. Javier wants the Media Broadcasting elective on his schedule to be a mistake. Hes a busy honor student who has spent years trying to live up to his smart-guy reputation, and he doesn’t have time for a useless class. And besides, who would choose to look stupid in front of the whole school every morning? And to make matters worse, the unconventional media teacher pairs Javier with Pat Berlanga, a guy who’d rather nap than talk. Javier is afraid to fail publicly, especially when he works so hard to hide his flaws from his friends and family. When everybody watches Javier Avila on the screen, will they see the face of a fraud?
The Crossing
Thirteen-year-old Manny, a street kid fighting for survival in a Mexican border town, develops a strange friendship with an emotionally disturbed American soldier who decides to help him get across the border.
Zapato Power: Freddie Ramos Springs Into Action
In this sequel, Freddie has shoes that give him super speed. It’s hard to be a superhero and a regular kid at the same time, especially when your shoes give you even more power! Freddie needs an on/off switch for his super speed, so Mr. Vaslov, who created the shoes, decides to invent a remote control, but he gets more than he planned. When his young neighbor’s ball goes missing, Freddie uses his new powers to find it… and save Mr. Vaslov!
I Wanna Be Your Shoebox
Because Yumi RuÍz-Hirsch has grandparents from Japan, Cuba, and Brooklyn, her mother calls her a poster child for the twenty-first century. Yumi would laugh if only her life wasn’t getting as complicated as her heritage. All of a sudden she’s starting eighth grade with a girl who collects tinfoil and a boy who dresses like a squid. Her mom’s found a new boyfriend, and her punk-rock father still can’t sell a song. She’s losing her house; she’s losing her school orchestra. And worst of all she’s losing her grandfather Saul.Yumi wishes everything couldstay the same. But as she listens to Saul tell his story, she learns that nobody ever asks you if you’re ready for life to happen. It just happens. The choice is either to sit and watch or to join the dance.National Book Award finalist Cristina García’s first middle-grade novel celebrates the chaotic, crazy, and completely amazing patchwork that makes up our lives.
Paint the Wind
A photograph, a box filled with toy horses, and a fractured memory are all that Maya has left of her mother. Now, in Grandmother’s house in California, she lives like a captive, until a shocking event changes everything. A world away, in Wyoming, a wild Paint horse, called Artemisia, runs free. In a land where mountain lions and wranglers pose an ever-present threat, Artemisia must protect her new foal, until a devastating act separates them from their bond. Maya’s and Artemisia’s lives will ultimately intertwine. And together, they hold the key to each other’s survival.
Tortilla Sun
When twelve-year-old Izzy discovers a beat-up baseball marked with the words ‘Because magic’ while unpacking in yet another new apartment, she is determined to figure out what it means. What secrets does this old ball have to tell? Her mom certainly isn’t sharing any especially when it comes to Izzy’s father, who died before Izzy was born. But when she spends the summer in her Nana’s remote New Mexico village, Izzy discovers long-buried secrets that come alive in an enchanted landscape of watermelon mountains, whispering winds, and tortilla suns. Infused with the flavor of the southwest and sprinkled with just a pinch of magic, this heartfelt middle grade debut is as rich and satisfying as Nana’s homemade enchiladas.
Adios, Anna (Friends And Amigos)
Saying goodbye for the summer to her Spanish friend, Anna, who is going away on vacation, Sarah plans to use a special library book to learn Spanish, but her plans are thwarted when the book is inadvertently left locked in Anna’s house. Original.
The Hispanic Americans
Discusses the social and economic problems faced by twelve million Hispanic Americans who live and work in the United States today.