*Love Sugar Magic* Review & Giveaway!!
Love Sugar Magic: A Dash of Trouble
by Anna Meriano
320 pages
Recommended for grades 4-7
Leonora (Leo) is a: pre-teen, Mexican-American, Texan, and 5th daughter. Oh, but that's not nearly all...she's also a bruja! Leo begins getting suspicious and grumpy at all the secret keeping going on between her sisters and mother. In preparation for Dia de los Muertos, Leo's sisters and mother are making big plans for working at the family bakery. Big plans that don't include Leo. And she's getting tired of it. The book kicks into action when Leo sneaks away from school to uncover the family secret.
Leo is the kind of character you want young girls to connect with. She is brave and loyal and ambitious. She is also nervous and sneaky and unprepared. She is genuine, and reminds us all that being a great person doesn't mean being great every step of the way.
I loved the mix of characters, and especially felt drawn to Leo's friend, Caroline, who had lost her mother to cancer before the book opened.
So, grab a copy, and grab a cookie.
Find the teacher's guide here.
Read more about the book at two other spots in this mini blog tour!
Nerdy Book Club 1/21
Maria's Melange 1/23
Author Anna Meriano herself wrote the Nerdy Book Club post which I just read before completing my post. She opens up to the vulnerability she felt over releasing her book at a time when other books and a blockbuster movie (Coco) are seemingly already "covering" the Mexican-American or Dia de los Muertos angle. Luckily she seemed to come around on her own. Which a good because I'd hate to call her out as being so, so, so wrong.
Coco is an awesome movie. See it if you haven't! With a movie like that out I know it is bringing new understandings and wonders to people all over. When one kid sees that movie he will want to learn more of, not be tired of, the setting, people, and customs. Another kid will see it and see some of themself in the story, also craving more of that reflection. So wipe away any last crumb of doubt, Anna, because there is room, plenty of room, for all the stories.
Enter for your chance to win a copy, courtesy of Walden Pond Press!
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Contest Closes Sunday, January 28th at 8PM EST
Luckily, Anna Meriano did put this book out into the world. There's always a need for books with characters that can give some readers a mirror and others a window.
ReplyDeleteThis looks like just my kind of middle grade book. I can't wait to read it and I will definitely grab a cookie when I do. Thanks for sharing.
ReplyDeleteYou have convinced me that I have to read this book! Thanks.
ReplyDeleteOh this does sound like an awesome book - reminded me just a tad of Raina Telgemeier's Ghosts - but you are right, there is more than enough space for stories, there is after all diversity even from within cultures (not just across).
ReplyDeleteI think students will love this one, but I kind of wanted to slap Leo because she was "nervous and sneaky and unprepared". Looking at it from the perspective of a young reader who wasn't sneaky and was prepared, I think it made the 12 year old me mad that >I< didn't have magic and she did! Still, visceral reactions mean good writing!
ReplyDeleteHaha!! Some things in life are SO unfair ;) ;)
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