Bookverdict.com

Gr 9-Up No matter where he lives, 16-year-old Danny Lopez is an outsider. At his private high school in wealthy northern San Diego County, "nobody paid him any attention]because he was Mexican." It didn't matter that he was half white. But when he visits the Mexican side of his family in National City, just a dozen miles from the border, Danny feels "Albino almost" and ashamed. He doesn't even speak Spanish. Rather than learning to blend in, Danny disengages from both worlds, rarely speaking and running his mind in circles with quest...Log In or Sign Up to Read More

Danny lives in two worlds but doesn't belong anywhere. The kids at his private school never let him forget that he is half Mexican. His cousins are uneasy around him because he is too white; he doesn't speak Spanish or fit into their San Diego barrio culture. The one place Danny feels accepted is on the baseball field, where his ninety-five-mile-per-hour fastball gets everyone's atte...Log In or Sign Up to Read More

The one place Danny feels accepted is the baseball field. He imagines becoming a star, making his father proud enough to ...Log In or Sign Up to Read More

Though Mexican WhiteBoy will likely enjoy a broad readership, it is notable for its particular appeal to male teens. At the start of the novel, Danny and Uno conform to two archetypes of teenage boyhood: the wallflower and the braggart, respectively. As a result, boys may quickly identify with one or the other character. Danny feels stuck: “I’m a white boy among Mexicans, and a Mexican among white boys.” He defines himself by his ra...Log In or Sign Up to Read More