Overview

Bluebonnet Award Master List 2020-2021 Pura Belpre Author Honor Book, 2019 ALSC Notable Children's Book, 2019 Walter Award Honor Book, 2019 Twelve-year-old Guero is Mexican American, at home with Spanish or English and on both sides of the river. He's starting 7th grade with a woke English teacher who knows how to make poetry cool. In Spanish, Guero is a nickname for guys with pale skin, Latino or Anglo. But make no mistake: our red-headed, freckled hero is puro mexicano, like Canelo Alvarez, the Mexican boxer. Guero is also a nerd--reader, gamer, musician--who runs with a squad of misfits like him, Los Bobbys. Sure, they get in trouble like anybody else, and like other middle-school boys, they discover girls. Watch out for Joanna! She's tough as nails. But trusting in his family's traditions, his accordion and his bookworm squad, he faces seventh grade with book smarts and a big heart. Life is tough for a border kid, but Guero has figured out how to cope. He writes poetry. In Spanish, Guero is a nickname for guys with pale skin, Latino or Anglo. But make no mistake: our red-headed, freckled hero is puro mexicano, like Canelo Alvarez, the Mexican boxer. Guero is also a nerd--reader, gamer, musician--who runs with a squad of misfits like him, Los Bobbys. Sure, they get in trouble like anybody else, and like other middle-school boys, they discover girls. Watch out for Joanna! She's tough as nails. But trusting in his family's traditions, his accordion and his bookworm squad, he faces seventh grade with book smarts and a big heart. Life is tough for a border kid, but Guero has figured out how to cope. He writes poetry. Claudia Lewis Award for Excellence in Poetry, Bank Street 2019 NCTE 2019 Notable Verse Novels Tomas Rivera Mexican American Children's Book Award TIL Jean Flynn Award for Best Middle Grade Book 2018 Skipping Stones Award Americas Award, Commended Title School Library Journal's 2018 Best Books Shelf Awareness 2018 Best Children's & Teen Books of the Year, Middle Grade Favorites of 2019, Americas Society / Council of the Americas A product of a Mexican-American family, David Bowles has lived most of his life in deep South Texas, where he teaches at the University of Texas Rio Grande Valley. Recipient of awards from the American Library Association, Texas Institute of Letters and Texas Associated Press, David has written several books, including the Pura Belpre Honor Book The Smoking Mirror, Feathered Serpent, Dark Heart of Sky: Myths of Mexico, The Chupacabras of the Rio Grande (The Unicorn Rescue Society series), and the middle grade graphic novel Rise of the Halfling King (Tales of the Feathered Serpent #1).

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9781663607072

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Guero is a Mexican American border kid with nerdy tastes, pale skin, and red hair. Wishing he had been born with a darker complexion so no one would question his Mexican American heritage, Guero's family tell him to be grateful for the advantages his lighter hair and skin afford him and to use it to open doors for the rest of his family. Guero's voice carries this novel through a playful array of poetic forms, from sonnets to raps, free verse to haiku. VERDICT Vibrant and unforgettable, this is a must-have for all middle grade collections. Pair with both fiction and nonfiction books on immigration, forced cultural assimilation, and stories about contemporary Mexican American life. --School Library Journal (starred review) A variety of poetic forms distinguish the vignettes that paint a rich portrait of life on the border. --School Library Journal 2018 Best Books Snapchat, texting, woke teachers, K-pop/hip-hop, hybrid cars, and border troubles tie this story to today's times, but the rich characters who fill Guero's family, school, and neighborhood--Uncle Joe, Abuela Mimi, Joanna la Fregona, the three Bobbys, Bisabuela Luisa, and a dozen more--are the beating heart of this masterful novel-in-poems rooted in generations of culture, geography, and story. --Sylvia Vardell & Janet Wong, creators of The Poetry Friday Anthology series I love this book!--Margarita Engle, 2017-2019 National Young People's Poet Laureate In this slim verse novel, Bowles splendidly translates border life via loosely connected vignettes in an eclectic mix of poetic forms. Guero's voice brims with humor, wit, and bits of slang, and a diverse cast of characters offers hints of other cultures. The author, however, does inject some complex themes and topics for rich discussion, touching on immigration, prejudice, and even the narrator's nickname, 'guero, ' a term used to refer to light-skinned men and boys. Guero occasionally faces flak from a few schoolmates on account of his pale, freckled skin and copper hair, resulting in a revealing exchange with his dad: 'M'ijo, pale folks catch all the breaks / here and in Mexico, too. Not your fault. / Not fair. Just the way it's been for years.' A valuable, too-brief look at the borderlands.--Kirkus With They Call Me Guero, Bowles has added an important text to borderland writing that would have made the great Gloria Anzaldua proud. This is a collection that resonates with readers, and that given the current political landscape, demands to be read.--Pank THEY CALL ME GUEERO by David Bowles is a collection of poems which together form a loose narrative about a boy living in South Texas and occupying the physical but also social and emotional space that spans the US-Mexico border. The poems are short and ring clear with emotional and physical details that will strike a chord with any reader. There are many words in Spanish but none that would be a barrier to a reader who knows only English. The glossary in the back is more a courtesy than a necessity. Teachers will be delighted to find many poetic forms and devices used throughout which make it ideal for using in school. I also found it notable in that it doesn't shy away from the main character's spiritual practice. A gem from Cinco Puntos Press.--Rosanne Parry Blog Americas Book Award Commended TitleWhile Bowles includes heavy themes of immigration, the sting of racism toward Guero, so called for his pale skin, and the ever-present psychological awareness of being a broder kid, lighter moments prevail: the market, music lessons, the best buds' bookworm squad, and family celebrations. Bowles artfully conveys Mexican culture and infuses Spanish words throughout this connected collection of 49 poems, and readers will resonate with the narrator's navigation through seventh grade. An achievement of both artistic skill and emotional resonance, Bowles's volume is both a richly rewarding tour through many borderlands, including adolescence itself, and a defiant celebration of identity: no wall, no matter how tall, can stop your heritage. --Publishers Weekly, STARRED REVIEW They Call Me Guero: A Border Kid's Poems by David Bowles (a native of the South Texas borderlands, where he teaches at the University of Texas Rio Grande Valley) is a compendium of poetry for young readers ages 8-12 and will prove to be a prized and welcome addition to school and community library collections.--Midwest Book Review Bowles confidently intersperses the voices of Guero's many family members, using Texas Spanglish colloquialisms with specificity (back matter includes a generous glossary and pronunciation key), in diverse poetic forms, resulting in a welcome contribution to the bildungsroman corpus of Chicana/o literature. --Lettycia Terrones, Horn Book With a glossary of Spanish words and phrases in the back, They Call Me Guero makes itself accessible to all readers without ever moving away from celebrating and directly addressing Spanish-speaking children. --Sian Gaetano, Shelf Awareness, Starred Review This slim poetry collection becomes more relevant with each passing day.--Reading Style

Author Information

A product of a Mexican-American family, David Bowles has lived most of his life in deep South Texas, where he teaches at the University of Texas Rio Grande Valley. Recipient of awards from the American Library Association, Texas Institute of Letters and Texas Associated Press, David has written several books, including the Pura Belpre Honor Book The Smoking Mirror, Feathered Serpent, Dark Heart of Sky: Myths of Mexico, The Chupacabras of the Rio Grande (The Unicorn Rescue Society series), and the middle grade graphic novel Rise of the Halfling King (Tales of the Feathered Serpent #1).

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