Matt De La Pena's Mexican WhiteBoy

This book is by far my favorite book that I have read this summer. I think one of the main reasons I enjoyed it so much was because the main character reminds me of my cousin. He is Hispanic and obsessed with baseball. There really isn't a whole lot else that they share in common, but for some reason I kept relating this book to him. This was a very powerful story, and I felt as though I was living in the same neighborhood as these characters and going to the same parties and baseball games as they were. I really want to recommend this book to my cousin, but I am a little wary because of the strong language used in this book. My cousin is only 11, and I am sure his mother would not approve! But, I am definitely going to keep this book in mind for when he is older, I can definitely see him relating to this book and enjoying it just as much as I did. This book seemed so authentic because of the imagery and the Spanish words mixed in with the text. Even though I didn't know what the words meant, I could use context clues to understand what they were talking about.