Under the Mesquite

Pura Belpré Author Award Winner, Association for Library Service to Children (ALSC)
Notable Children's Book, Association for Library Service to Children (ALSC)
Notable Books for a Global Society, International Literacy Association (ILA)
Amelia Elizabeth Walden Award Finalist, Assembly on Literature for Adolescents
William C. Morris Award for YA Debut Novel Finalist, American Library Association (ALA)
Best Teen Books, Kirkus Reviews
Lee Bennett Hopkins Promising Poet Award, International Literacy Association (ILA)

Lupita, a budding actor and poet in a close-knit Mexican American immigrant family, comes of age as she struggles with adult responsibilities during her mother's long illness.

As the oldest of eight siblings, Lupita is used to taking the lead-and staying busy behind the scenes to help keep everyone together. But when she discovers Mami has been diagnosed with cancer, Lupita is terrified by the possibility of losing her mother, the anchor of her close-knit Mexican American family. Suddenly Lupita must face a whole new set of challenges, with new roles to play, and no one is handing her the script.

In the midst of juggling life as a high school student, testing her wings as an actress, and dealing with friends who don't always understand, Lupita desperately wants to support Mami in whatever way she can. While her father stays with Mami at an out-of-town clinic, Lupita takes charge of her siblings. As Lupita struggles to keep the family afloat, she escapes the chaos of home by writing in the shade of a mesquite tree. Overwhelmed by change and loss, she takes refuge in the healing power of words.

Told with honest emotion in evocative free verse, Lupita's journey is both heart-wrenching and hopeful. Under the Mesquite is an empowering story about the testing of family bonds, the strength of a young woman navigating pain and hardship with surprising resilience, and the kind of love that cannot be uprooted.

ISBN-13: 9781600604294

Media Type: Hardcover

Publisher: Lee & Low Books

Publication Date: 04-01-2013

Pages: 240

Product Dimensions: 5.70(w) x 8.30(h) x 1.00(d)

Age Range: 12 - 17 Years

Guadalupe García McCall is the best-selling author of Summer of the Mariposas and won the Pura Belpré Award for her first novel, Under the Mesquite. She was born in Mexico and moved to Texas as a young girl, keeping close ties with family on both sides of the border. She is a full-time author and abuelita and lives with her husband in South Texas. Find her online at ggmccall.com.