This award winning novel in verse, paints vivid, authentic pictures of life in the borderlands from the perspective of 7th grader, comics-loving, video game-playing, poem-writing, Güero. Bowles’ novel fluctuates between masterfully written free verse observations of Güero’s family’s life, friends’ antics, classroom and hallway lessons and Güero’s end rhyme poems, ballads, sonnets and haikus. Fans of poet novelists Jaqueline Woodson, Jason Reynolds, Nikki Grimes, and Thanhha Lai won’t want to pass this up! Make sure to check out the Spanish glossary in the back of the book too.
Standout poems include: Border Kid, Checkpoint, Los Bobbys Or the Bookclub Squad, They Call Me Güero, La Mano Panchona, Christmas Concrete, Joanna Fegona, and Spanish Birds.
Best for grades 5 and up. Check it out on Hoopla here.