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A review by aylea
Cruzita and the Mariacheros by Ashley Granillo
emotional
hopeful
inspiring
reflective
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.5
Cruzita is going to be a pop star, but she needs her family’s troubles to get out of her way. She needs to go to her favorite theme park so she can enter the singing contest, but her Tio Chuy died recently, making her family need to pay more attention to the bakery he loved. Along with having to learn how to roll tortillas, she’s forced to take mariachi lessons even though she doesn’t know how to play violin and isn’t good at Spanish. As Cruz starts to make friends, she learns how to connect to her heritage and her culture.
The actual plot can sometimes be a little weak. Some of her changes seem to happen suddenly, and occasionally that abruptness takes away from the immersion. How has Cruz not noticed certain behaviors about her friend until now? Why does the contest move so quickly? But those plot questions aren’t supposed to be a primary part of the book, so I didn’t notice them until after reading it. The highlight is Cruz’s struggle with her identity.
This book is heartfelt and emotional. Cruz deals with wanting her own dreams and the needs of her family, and as a result, she’s sometimes selfish and short-sighted. Her big challenge is trying to figure out who she is with her heritage. Her family is Mexican, but she struggles with Spanish and making the treats her family does at the bakery. Her friends who don’t share her heritage don’t see those things as important, and she sometimes feels like her family’s insistence on honoring their culture is holding her back. Cruz is sometimes selfish and doesn’t care about how her actions affect others, which may be frustrating for some readers — but at the same time, it’s something many kids will go through. She is nuanced and relatable, even if she isn’t always likable.
I loved the author’s personal note at the back of the book, talking about her own struggles to identify with a culture as being Mexican American. She says there, “Even as I began to learn more about Mexican culture, some of my family members were not so inviting. They called me hurtful names and told me that my experiences with Mexican American culture were inauthentic. That because I never learned as a child, I could never learn as an adult. And I almost stopped writing this novel because I felt unworthy. I still didn’t feel like I belonged in my own big Mexican family. But I wanted that last summer with my grandparents. So I continued to write the novel anyway. Cruzita helped heal a lot of trauma I’d experienced. She helped me find my way back home again, to my grandparents, to my culture, and to the town that started my love for books—Pacoima. No one can take away who you are, not even your family. You are free to learn about yourself for years after you’ve “grown up.”Because the truth is, hijitos, we never stop growing. And you deserve to know every part of yourself. It may take some time to understand how all the parts fit into one person, but when you find yourself, you will love every bit of your journey even more.”
The author captures those feelings and her experiences in this book. It feels personal because it is personal for her. While not everything about the book is executed well, the difficulty of navigating how you belong in a culture comes across with flying colors. And as a result, this is the kind of story I hope to see more of in the future.
The actual plot can sometimes be a little weak. Some of her changes seem to happen suddenly, and occasionally that abruptness takes away from the immersion. How has Cruz not noticed certain behaviors about her friend until now? Why does the contest move so quickly? But those plot questions aren’t supposed to be a primary part of the book, so I didn’t notice them until after reading it. The highlight is Cruz’s struggle with her identity.
This book is heartfelt and emotional. Cruz deals with wanting her own dreams and the needs of her family, and as a result, she’s sometimes selfish and short-sighted. Her big challenge is trying to figure out who she is with her heritage. Her family is Mexican, but she struggles with Spanish and making the treats her family does at the bakery. Her friends who don’t share her heritage don’t see those things as important, and she sometimes feels like her family’s insistence on honoring their culture is holding her back. Cruz is sometimes selfish and doesn’t care about how her actions affect others, which may be frustrating for some readers — but at the same time, it’s something many kids will go through. She is nuanced and relatable, even if she isn’t always likable.
I loved the author’s personal note at the back of the book, talking about her own struggles to identify with a culture as being Mexican American. She says there, “Even as I began to learn more about Mexican culture, some of my family members were not so inviting. They called me hurtful names and told me that my experiences with Mexican American culture were inauthentic. That because I never learned as a child, I could never learn as an adult. And I almost stopped writing this novel because I felt unworthy. I still didn’t feel like I belonged in my own big Mexican family. But I wanted that last summer with my grandparents. So I continued to write the novel anyway. Cruzita helped heal a lot of trauma I’d experienced. She helped me find my way back home again, to my grandparents, to my culture, and to the town that started my love for books—Pacoima. No one can take away who you are, not even your family. You are free to learn about yourself for years after you’ve “grown up.”Because the truth is, hijitos, we never stop growing. And you deserve to know every part of yourself. It may take some time to understand how all the parts fit into one person, but when you find yourself, you will love every bit of your journey even more.”
The author captures those feelings and her experiences in this book. It feels personal because it is personal for her. While not everything about the book is executed well, the difficulty of navigating how you belong in a culture comes across with flying colors. And as a result, this is the kind of story I hope to see more of in the future.