{"product_id":"mexican-whiteboy-isbn-9780440239383","title":"Mexican WhiteBoy","description":"\u003cb\u003eNewbery Award-winning and \u003ci\u003eNew York Times\u003c\/i\u003e bestselling author Matt de la Peña's \u003ci\u003eMexican WhiteBoy\u003c\/i\u003e is a story of friendship, acceptance, and the struggle to find your identity in a world of definitions\u003c\/b\u003e.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eDanny is tall and skinny. Even though he’s not built, his arms are long enough to  give his pitch a power so fierce any college scout would sign him on the spot. Ninety-five mile an hour fastball, but the boy’s not even on a team. Every time he gets up on the mound, he loses it.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eBut at his private school, they don’t expect much else from him. Danny is brown. Half-Mexican brown. And growing up in San Diego that close to the border  means everyone else knows exactly who he is before he even opens his mouth. Before  they find out he can’t speak Spanish, and before they realize his mom has blond hair  and blue eyes, they’ve got him pegged. But it works the other way too. And Danny’s convinced it’s his whiteness that  sent his father back to Mexico. \u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eThat’s why he’s spending the summer with his  dad’s family. But to find himself, he may just have to face the demons he refuses  to see--the demons that are right in front of his face. And open up to a friendship he never saw coming.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eMatt de la Peña's critically acclaimed novel is an intimate and moving story that offers hope to those who least expect it.\u003cb\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\"[A] first-rate exploration of self-identity.\"\u003c\/b\u003e --\u003ci\u003eSLJ\u003c\/i\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\"\u003cb\u003eUnique in its gritty realism and honest portrayal of the complexities of life for inner-city teens\u003c\/b\u003e...de la Peña poignantly conveys the message that, despite obstacles, you must believe in yourself and shape your own future.\" --\u003ci\u003eThe Horn Book Magazine\u003c\/i\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\"\u003cb\u003eThe baseball scenes...sizzle like Danny's fastball.\u003c\/b\u003e Danny's struggle to find his place will speak strongly to all teens, but especially to those of mixed race.\" --\u003ci\u003eBooklist\u003c\/i\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003e\"De la Peña blends sports and street together in a satisfying search for personal identity.\"\u003c\/b\u003e --\u003ci\u003eKirkus Reviews\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003c\/i\u003e\"\u003cb\u003e\u003ci\u003eMexican WhiteBoy\u003c\/i\u003e...shows that no matter what obstacles you face, you can still reach your dreams with a positive attitude. \u003c\/b\u003eThis is more than a book about a baseball player--this is a book about life.\" --Curtis Granderson, New York Mets outfielder\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eAn ALA-YALSA Top Ten Best Book for Young Adults\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eA Junior Library Guild Selection\u003c\/b\u003e\"\u003cb\u003e[A] first-rate exploration of self-identity.\u003c\/b\u003e\"-\u003ci\u003eSLJ\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003c\/i\u003e\"\u003cb\u003eUnique in its gritty realism and honest portrayal of the complexities of life for inner-city teens\u003c\/b\u003e...De la Peña poignantly conveys the message that, despite obstacles, you must believe in yourself and shape your own future.\"-\u003ci\u003eThe Horn Book Magazine\u003cbr\u003e\u003c\/i\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\"\u003cb\u003eDe la Peña does an excellent job\u003c\/b\u003e...Readers  see themselves in Danny, Uno, and Sofia, whether or not they  share  their backgrounds. In the end, they find themselves wanting the   characters to succeed.\"-\u003ci\u003eVOYA\u003c\/i\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\"\u003cb\u003eThe baseball scenes...sizzle like Danny's fastball\u003c\/b\u003e...Danny's struggle to find his place will speak strongly to all teens, but especially to those of mixed race.\"-\u003ci\u003eBooklist\u003c\/i\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\"\u003cb\u003eDe la Peña blends sports and street together in a satisfying search for personal identity.\u003c\/b\u003e\"-\u003ci\u003eKirkus Reviews\u003cbr\u003e\u003c\/i\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\"\u003cb\u003eDeftly explores the subject of interracial mixing.\u003c\/b\u003e\"-\u003ci\u003eMulticultural Review\u003c\/i\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\"Matt  de la Peña has done the impossible; fired a perfect fastball on the low  inside corner and hit a towering home run at the same time. \u003cb\u003eA tough, funny, edgy, hopeful story about friendship under fire and love in its true sense.\u003c\/b\u003e\"-Chris Crutcher, author of \u003ci\u003eDeadline \u003c\/i\u003eand \u003ci\u003eWhale Talk\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003c\/i\u003e\"\u003cb\u003e\u003ci\u003eMexican WhiteBoy\u003c\/i\u003e...shows that no matter what obstacles you face, you can still reach your dreams with a positive attitude. \u003c\/b\u003eThis is more than a book about a baseball player--this is a book about life.\"-Curtis Granderson, New York Mets outfielder\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eAn ALA-YALSA Top Ten Best Book for Young Adults\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eA Junior Library Guild Selection\u003c\/b\u003eMatt de la Peña is the first Mexican American author to win the Newbery   Medal. He attended the University of the Pacific on a basketball   scholarship and went on to earn a Master of Fine Arts in creative   writing at San Diego State University. He lives in Brooklyn, New York,   where he teaches creative writing. \u003ci\u003eMexican WhiteBoy\u003c\/i\u003e is his first novel. Look for his other books, \u003ci\u003eBall Don't Lie\u003c\/i\u003e, \u003ci\u003e\u003ci\u003eWe Were Here, \u003c\/i\u003eI Will Save You\u003c\/i\u003e, \u003ci\u003eThe Living\u003c\/i\u003e, which was named a Pura Belpré Honor Book, and \u003ci\u003eThe Hunted\u003c\/i\u003e, all available from Delacorte Press. You can also visit him at mattdelapena.com and follow @mattdelapena on Twitter.Dressed in a well-worn Billabong tee, camo cargo shorts and a pair of old-school slip-on Vans, Danny Lopez follows his favorite cousin, Sofia, as she rolls up on the cul-de-sac crowd with OG swagger.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eA bunch of heads call out to her, \"Hey, Sofe!\" \"Yo, girl!\" \"There she is!\" and wave.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eSofia waves back, pulls Danny by the arm toward a group of girls sitting on a blanket in an uneven semicircle. \"Oye putas,\" she says. \"Yo, this my cousin Danny I was telling you about. He's gonna be staying with me for the summer.\" She smiles big--proud, Danny thinks. \"Yo, cuz, these are my girls.\" She points them out and rattles off names: \"Carmen, Raquel, Angela, Bee, Juanita, Flaca and Guita.\"\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\"Hey,\" the girls singsong in unison.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eDanny nods with a shy smile, aims his eyes at the asphalt. He feels the heat of their stares and for a second he wishes he could morph into one of the ants zigzagging in and out of tiny crevices in the street. Their little lives, he thinks, totally off the radar.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eDanny's sixteen, a shade over six foot and only a year younger than Sofia, but unless he's on a pitching mound he feels like a boy. He's long and thin with skinny arms hanging down skinny thighs--his arm length the reason he can fire a fastball so hard. His shoulders are wide, but his muscles have yet to catch up. Sometimes when he sees himself in a mirror it looks like his shirt is propped up by an upside-down coat hanger. Not a human body. Doesn't even look real.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eAnd Danny's brown. Half-Mexican brown. A shade darker than all the white kids at his private high school, Leucadia Prep. Up there, Mexican people do under-the-table yard work and hide out in the hills because they're in San Diego illegally. Only other people on Leucadia's campus who share his shade are the lunch-line ladies, the gardeners, the custodians. But whenever Danny comes down here, to National City--where his dad grew up, where all his aunts and uncles and cousins still live--he feels pale. A full shade lighter. Albino almost.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eLess than.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\"And just so you know,\" Sofia adds, \"Danny ain't no big talker, all right? He's mad smart, gets nothin' but A's at the best private school in San Diego, but don't get your chones in a bunch if you can't never pull him into a convo.\" Sofia looks prettier than Danny remembers. Less of a tomboy. Her hair long now, makeup around her eyes.\u003cbr\u003eCarmen clears her throat, says: \"He don't need to talk to give me no deep-tissue massage.\" She gives Danny an exaggerated wink.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\"Ain't need no words for us to soak in a nice Jacuzzi bath together,\" Flaca says. She reaches out, puts her hand on one of Danny's Vans. \"We can just sit there, Papi. Backs against them jet thingies. Take turns sippin' a little white Zin and shit. How's that sound, beautiful?\"\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eDanny gives her a polite smile, but inside he's shrinking. He's trying to suck back into his shell, like a poked and prodded snail.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eBehind his back he grips his left wrist, digs his fingernails into the skin until a sharp pain floods his mind, makes him feel real.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eAngela and Bee comb Danny over with their almond-shaped eyes, devour his out-of-place surfer style like a pack of rabid dogs. Danny cringes at how different he must seem to his cousin's friends. They're all dark chocolate-colored, hair sprayed up, dressed in pro jerseys and Dickies, Timberlands. Gold and silver chains. Calligraphy-style tats. Danny's skin is too clean, too light, his clothes too soft.","brand":"Ember","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":46304156582117,"sku":"NP9780440239383","price":12.99,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":false}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/1842\/7735\/files\/9780440239383.jpg?v=1767732605","url":"https:\/\/k12savings.com\/es\/products\/mexican-whiteboy-isbn-9780440239383","provider":"K12savings","version":"1.0","type":"link"}