Yaqui Delgado Wants to Kick Your Ass by Meg Medina
This middle-grade novel by a my friend Meg Medina is excellent. If you know kids in high school, you should get this book for them. (Do NOT be put off by the title, which got the book removed from the reading list in one stuffy Virginia county; if you think kids don’t already talk that way, you haven’t been paying attention.)
The story is straight-forward: Piddy Sanchez moves to a new school and is confronted by a bully. At the same time, she’s faced with other challenges–her best friend has moved a way, she gets close to a boy, she’s fighting with her mother–and so she’s struggling to deal with the bully. But things escalate, as they tend to do, and eventually she has to act. Should she flee? Or stay and fight? And who can she count on?
Obviously, I’m not the target audience for this book, but it was an enjoyable read because the writing is flawless.
