Book Review: Becoming Maria

BECOMING MARIA: LOVE AND CHAOS IN THE SOUTH BRONX by Sonia Manzano is a touching memoir about a Puerto Rican-American girl growing up in New York City during the 1950s and 1960s.

Many readers will recognize Sonia Manzano as Maria from the children’s television program Sesame Street. This poignant story follows Sonia from her earliest memories through her college experiences. It concludes with her job interview for Sesame Street that made her famous with generations of children.

Manzano provides an authentic look at the daily life of a Latino family living in the Bronx during the 1950s-1960s. Readers experience the racial and social issues of the times through the eyes of a child trying to make sense of the world.

Librarians will enjoy reading this book themselves as well as sharing it with young adults. The fast-paced story will keep readers interested. This book would be a wonderful addition to your WeNeedDiverseBooks campaign.

For amazing photos and primary source documents from her life, visit the author’s website at http://soniamanzano.com/.

Published August 25, 2015 by Scholastic Press.

Book Review: The Tapper Twins Go to War (With Each Other)

THE TAPPER TWINS GO TO WAR (WITH EACH OTHER) by Geoff Rodkey is the first in a humorous middle grades series focusing on 12-year-old twins Claudia and Reese.

This silly, fast-paced story documents an epic sibling battle that begins when Reese calls Claudia “Princess Farts-A-Lot” in the middle of the school cafeteria. The war quickly escalates as Claudia retaliates with a dead fish in Reese’s backpack. Before long the battle moves to cyberspace and the world of MetaWorld.

Told as an oral history project, the Rodkey uses transcribed oral interviews, text messages, and chat logs to tell the story. Labelled drawings, maps, screen captures, and photographs are woven throughout the narrative providing additional evidence in the ongoing conflict.

Tween readers will enjoy the sibling banter and references to MetaWorld aka Minecraft and other popular online environments. Because Rodkey invents the social media service names like ClickChat, the books should remain more timeless than some others.

Fans of Diary of a Wimpy Kid and other satirical realistic fiction novels will enjoy this new addition to the rapidly growing tween humor collection. Keep your eye out for the second book in the series The Tapper Twins Tear Up New York coming in Fall 2015.

To learn more about the series and the characters, go to http://www.thetappertwins.com/. There’s even an Instagram photo blog featuring photos by the twins.

Published by Little, Brown: Hachette Book Group on April 7, 2015.