Ashley Jean Granillo

Cruzita and the Mariacheros is a fabulous story with great Mexican-American rep. It's written by a Mexican-American author, which made the story even better. I'm so glad that more diverse middle grade books are being made for younger readers as representation is important.

As an American of Mexican descent, I was given the honor of being a part of the Hear Our Voices tour for this novel.

I greatly related to Cruzita. I loved the use of Spanish words throughout the novel. She was a very show more likeable character.

This story was so relatable and enjoyable, I breezed through it incredibly quickly, only taking me about 2 hours time to get through. Her family was relatable, and in some ways reminds me of my own, particularly the family I have on my mother's side. The focus on family is incredibly relatable and was a big part of my culture growing up, and I'm sure many other Mexican-Americans can relate to that aspect as well.

I absolutely loved the mentions of Selena and saw it as a tribute of sorts to the Queen of Tejano. I grew up hearing Selena a lot as a kid, and I still listen to her now, so I loved how her music played such a big role throughout Cruzita's journey.

It was also interesting to notice the slight differences in how my family and I have always referred to certain things versus how Cruzita and her family refer to things. Most notably at a point where puerquitos are mentioned. I didn't know what they were until they were described. And that's only because that's not how I grew up referring to them. We've always called them marranitos. So it was very interesting learning a new way to refer to those pig-shaped cookies. For me at least, it was a nice example of a slightly different dialect of Spanish than I'm used to where I grew up and really shows how diverse the culture is, even if the narrative itself doesn't actually cover that specific topic.

Like Cruzita, I am also not fluent in Spanish. But not speaking Spanish doesn't take away anybody's heritage. Another aspect I really enjoyed was the fact that she played violin. I like the violin and intend to learn how to play one.

I wrote my creative content for this tour on my blog: Musings of an Arthritic Artist show less

Cruzita is of Mexican heritage but doesn't speak Spanish and gets poor grades in Spanish class. The family panaderia is foundering financially after Tio Chuy's death. Cruzita believes if she enters and wins the Rising Star contest at a local theme park, she can save the bakery from being sold. At the moment, she's spending her summer learning how to properly roll tortillas from her grandmother Mamá. Then Mamá signs her up for free violin lessons at a mariachi school. Cruzita is upset that show more she's being forced to take violin lessons, plus how can she sing in Spanish if she can't speak it?! This is a heartening exploration of finding one's own connection to culture and heritage. show less

⭐ Middle Grade Book | Identity | Coming-of-Age

Thank you to Lerner Publishing Group for this ARC in exchange for my honest review!

Choir Grrrl is a middle-grade novel that follows a young Latina musician as she tries to discover her own voice, both literally and personally. Although I initially expected a picture book, this story is aimed at older children and early teens, with themes centered around identity, pressure, and finding confidence.

The protagonist is a passionate fan of Paramore show more (especially Hayley Williams) and Olivia Rodrigo, and those influences shape her emo-rocker identity. However, much of her life feels dictated by others, her father, her sisters, her best friends, and the expectations placed on her, rather than her own choices.

As the title hints, she eventually joins a choir club, which becomes a new space for her to explore who she truly wants to be.

The story is written from a young perspective and is geared toward pre-teens and teens. While the voice is authentic to that age group, I personally didn’t feel strongly attached to the characters, likely because they’re so young and the writing reflects their youthful mindset.

Overall, Choir Grrrl is a coming-of-age story about music, self-expression, and embracing one's identity, best suited for middle-grade readers navigating their own path. show less

I received an ARC of this book from the publisher and LibraryThing (thank you!) in exchange for an honest review.

I’m actually kinda bummed that I couldn’t give his book a better rating, as I was so stoked to have been selected to receive an ARC of this book from LibraryThing. The subject matter is right up my alley, having been a total band groupie/geek in my late teen/early adult years. However, I had a hard time following the back and forth date structure of the book, and once I’d show more finally gotten characters straight, and where they fit into Aijae’s story, the book ended. I think had the chapters been in chronological order, while the story may have had to have been reworked to some degree, it would have made for a better reading & enjoyment experience overall.

One thing that didn’t actually bother me while I was reading the book, but I can definitely see as being an issue in the future, is the timeframe that the plot takes place over. I believe the earliest entry is around 2007, with the latest entry in 2012. With it being 2018 currently, I can relate to these dates in my life fairly easily, and remember what was going on during those years musically, but I think this will really date in the book in years to come. While it may appeal to young adults *now*, it may not appeal to them in five or ten years.

Some of the bands mentioned in the book were real, while some of them were made-up (for obvious reasons if you read the book... no spoilers). While this made for a good reading experience *now*, as I could relate these bands to a specific style of music that the main character enjoyed, I feel that this will also quickly date the book in years to come. For example, most young adults nowadays probably know/remember the band Taking Back Sunday, but if they no longer produce music, will people still recognize the name in five years? I’m not sure. I know that longevity of stories is something that authors absolutely strive for, so it was strange that there so many things in this book that could eventually make it unrecognizable and/or unappealing.

I thought the storyline itself was fairly powerful, and with a little better execution, this could have been a strong book with an important message for young females. While the main character looked down on her own actions, other characters strived to make her see that she did nothing wrong, and that double standards between males and females are never fair. Young women are constantly told to act a certain way or look a certain way, and this book absolutely touches on those subjects. Unfortunately the story did fall a little short for me in execution, but I enjoyed it well enough overall to keep my rating on the positive side.

Unrelated side note: I received an ARC, which is an uncorrected proof, so you expect these to include random typos & grammatical errors. However, the sheer number of errors in this ARC (completely missing words, wrong words, spelling & grammatical errors, etc.) made this hard to follow at times. I’m sure these issues will be corrected in the final book, so it did *not* affect my rating at all, but it is something that stood out as quite unusual. show less