Driving in the US and its fun roadside attractions and creative billboards is abruptly displaced by the lack of friendly signs. Instead, warnings, traffic, and automatic weapons to be searched are unsettling. La Mordida's possession of goods from travelers is roadside armed robbery. Many characters lose their precious items to La Mordida's bite. The culture of the US is stripped away and replaced with that of Mexico's.
Each character is fleshed out in such tiny but special ways, shown in how they interact with each other and what necessary items are in the grocery store. Or how the narrator loves how his mother tries to relate to him by attempting to name all the characters Superman, because our narrator loves comics. Any reader is bound to find some aspect of each character in a way that they can relate to or admire in their qualities.
There are multiple life lessons sprinkled throughout Mexikid, but one that stuck out to me was this moment of kindness displayed by the father, and I took it literally as I am writing about it, just as Pedro is told to. Time and time again, Pedro's father is shown as a man with a strong and honorable reputation in hopes for providing his children with a role model.
Seventy-Six Dollars and Forty-Nine Cents by Kwame Alexander
Shout out to Macon, Georgia! Where I am from, and also Angel Carter's grandma. What are the chances of that?
In Flying Lessons by Soman Chainani, Nani is an icon of fashion and wisdom. She pushes Santosh to live beyond books and accolades. He's stuck in negative thinking, imagining rejection before it happens. Nani's lesson is clear: live a little, mess up, and be open to connection. Her line, “Sometimes it's hard to know whether you like someone or want to be them,“ hits hard. In the end, I think both Nani and Santosh are free.
Main Street by Jacqueline Woodson opens with the grief of an absent mother, a dismissive father, and the unique pain of a child. Like others we've read, it explores how broken families impact kids. Celeste's struggles with race and identity in a white-majority town add another layer. Unlike the hopeful tones in other stories, the ending felt vague and unsettling. Did anyone else feel a sense of foreboding?
The Beans and Rice Chronicles of Isaiah Dunn by Kelly J. Baptist shows how writing offers an escape from hardship, inspired by those we‘ve lost, like Isaiah‘s late father. In class, Isaiah‘s outburst reflects struggles at home more than peer conflict. The teacher‘s reprimand gives him a quiet moment in the hallway, which he craves. He‘s not a bad kid; he‘s seeking peace, a reminder for us as future educators.
