They Call Me Güero

Starred review from May 6, 2019
Growing up as a Mexican-American “border kid, a foot on either bank,” the 12-year-old narrator of Bowles’s skillful, moving novel-in-poems details his seventh-grade year. Güero, so called for his rusty-colored hair and pale, freckled skin, enjoys life with his large family in a home that “glows warm with love,” but at school, he’s taunted about his complexion and bullied by enormous classmate Snake Barrera. With humor and sensitivity, Bowles (The Hidden City) mixes family scenes—such as Fourth of July celebrations and older relatives’ frank, enraging accounts of discrimination—and junior high concerns, including Güero’s relief when he and his friends (“diverse nerds and geeks”) take refuge in the library and his astonishment when he learns that brave, tough Joanna likes him back. The selections employ an impressive range of poetic styles and rhythms to amplify meaning and emotion: Joanna gets an appropriately romantic sonnet; “Borderlands,” with its thin strip of lines, is almost a concrete poem; a marching beat and rhyming couplets in “Sundays” echo the repetitive sameness of a family’s weekend routine. An achievement of both artistic skill and emotional resonance, Bowles’s volume is both a richly rewarding tour through many borderlands, including adolescence itself, and a defiant celebration of identity: “no wall, no matter how tall, can stop your heritage.” Ages 10–14.

Starred review from October 1, 2018

Gr 5-8-Güero is a Mexican American border kid with nerdy tastes, pale skin, and red hair. Wishing he had been born with a darker complexion so no one would question his Mexican American heritage, Güero's family tell him to be grateful for the advantages his lighter hair and skin afford him and to use it to open doors for the rest of his family. And what a family it is! While Güero's wise, resourceful, and often hilarious family provides a buoy through the turbulent waters of seventh grade, so too, do influential educators and "Los Bobbys," Güero's liked-minded, bookish friends. The tuned-in school librarian fuels Güero's passion for reading with his diverse literature collection, and his transformational English teacher helps him discover his voice through poetry. Güero's voice carries this novel through a playful array of poetic forms, from sonnets to raps, free verse to haiku. A Spanish-to-English glossary at the back of the book aids the non-Spanish reader's understanding of the text, while it simultaneously, and perhaps more significantly, communicates the beauty of the language and of Güero's heritage. Readers come away with two worthy takeaways: firstly, that life is challenging for a child of immigrants on the southern U.S. border, and, secondly-triumphantly-a deep appreciation for the richness of Güero's culture. VERDICT Vibrant and unforgettable, this is a must-have for all middle grade collections. Pair with both fiction and nonfiction books on immigration, forced cultural assimilation, and stories about contemporary Mexican American life.-Melissa Williams, Berwick Academy, ME

Copyright 2018 School Library Journal, LLC Used with permission.

January 1, 2019
The dynamic complexity of the Rio Grande borderlands pulses in the poetry of twelve-year-old G]ero. His forty-nine poems in diverse forms explore family, friendship, young love, and racism, with the dexterously rich linguistic tradition of Mexican cuentos and dichos always central. Bowles confidently intersperses the voices of G]ero's many family members, using Texas Spanglish colloquialisms with specificity. A welcome contribution to the bildungsroman corpus of Chicana/o literature. Glos.

(Copyright 2019 by The Horn Book, Incorporated, Boston. All rights reserved.)

November 1, 2018
The dynamic complexity of the Rio Grande borderlands pulses in the poetry of twelve-year-old G�ero?a nickname commonly given to light-skinned, freckled Mexican and Chicano boys. Inspired by the words of his seventh-grade teacher, Ms. Wong, who declares poetry to be the clearest lens for viewing the world, G�ero sets out to record everything he sees around him. His forty-nine poems capture the heat and exhilaration of bottle rocket fights at the family Fourth of July barbeque; his close friendship with the Three Bobbys, a.k.a. The Bookworm Squad; and his uncomplicated young love for tough-girl Joanna. Central to G�ero's world is the dexterously rich linguistic tradition of Mexican cuentos and dichos, and readers hear vivid stories about, for example, la Mano Pachona, the dismembered and hairy hand, famous in the pantheon of supernatural lore (which here haunts the school toilets). The poems also touch on racism and how G�ero's family expects him to push right through them gates / ?Represent us, m'ijo, / all the ones they kept down. You are us. / We are you. Bowles confidently intersperses the voices of G�ero's many family members, using Texas Spanglish colloquialisms with specificity (back matter includes a generous glossary and pronunciation key), in diverse poetic forms, resulting in a welcome contribution to the bildungsroman corpus of Chicana/o literature. lettycia terrones

(Copyright 2018 by The Horn Book, Incorporated, Boston. All rights reserved.)

Starred review from October 1, 2018

Gr 5-8-G�ero is a Mexican American border kid with nerdy tastes, pale skin, and red hair. Wishing he had been born with a darker complexion so no one would question his Mexican American heritage, G�ero's family tell him to be grateful for the advantages his lighter hair and skin afford him and to use it to open doors for the rest of his family. And what a family it is! While G�ero's wise, resourceful, and often hilarious family provides a buoy through the turbulent waters of seventh grade, so too, do influential educators and "Los Bobbys," G�ero's liked-minded, bookish friends. The tuned-in school librarian fuels G�ero's passion for reading with his diverse literature collection, and his transformational English teacher helps him discover his voice through poetry. G�ero's voice carries this novel through a playful array of poetic forms, from sonnets to raps, free verse to haiku. A Spanish-to-English glossary at the back of the book aids the non-Spanish reader's understanding of the text, while it simultaneously, and perhaps more significantly, communicates the beauty of the language and of G�ero's heritage. Readers come away with two worthy takeaways: firstly, that life is challenging for a child of immigrants on the southern U.S. border, and, secondly-triumphantly-a deep appreciation for the richness of G�ero's culture. VERDICT Vibrant and unforgettable, this is a must-have for all middle grade collections. Pair with both fiction and nonfiction books on immigration, forced cultural assimilation, and stories about contemporary Mexican American life.-Melissa Williams, Berwick Academy, ME

Copyright 2018 School Library Journal, LLC Used with permission.