Shine On, Luz by Rebecca Balcarcel- ADVISABLE

 Shine On, Luz by Rebecca Balcarcel, 262 pages. Chronicle Books, 2022. $18

Content: G

BUYING ADVISORY: EL – ESSENTIAL; MS - ADVISABLE

AUDIENCE APPEAL: HIGH

Middle schooler Luz, an only child, loves playing soccer. Then she has a massive injury to her leg and knee and requires surgery, crutches, then a cane, and she knows she will never play soccer again. She is suffering from feelings of low self-worth and wonders what else she can do. She discovers programming and works really hard at it. Luz has a natural ability to see how things fit together and finds coding fun and enjoyable. Things are going so well again, when she finds out she has a half-sister in Guatemala that is coming to live with them. She even has to share her room with her new sister. Everybody loves happy and kind Solana. Luz is not so sure.

I loved the book. I could see how hard it would be for Luz to deal with all the changes in her life. I also could see the difficulties and frustrations Solana hides behind her smiles, language barriers, worries about being accepted by her new family, and she even worries that she will be arrested and deported. The author is Guatemalan American and sprinkles Spanish words into the text with plenty of context clues. A wonderful book and a "must read." The childish looking cover will make this a harder sell to middle school/junior high students.

Ellen-Anita, Librarian