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Summary
Summary
Because her mother wants her to be part of the world of high society in their native Puerto Rico, nine-year-old Teresa attends a private school but loses her best friend.
Summary:
Reviews (5)
School Library Journal Review
Gr 4-6-A story about growing up in the 1960s in class-conscious Puerto Rico. Tere's father owns an auto-repair shop and her mother is a dressmaker. Mami aspires to fit into high society and especially to have her daughter attend the prestigious private Academia school. Papi does not want Teresa associating with snobs and does not think that they can afford it. And Tere doesn't want to leave her best friend, Ana. But when Tere and Ana attend their teacher's wedding and Tere notices the darkness of the groom's skin, Ana helps open her friend's eyes to the fact that their teacher, most of their friends, and Ana herself are black. Tere is stunned. "I couldn't believe it! To me, for somebody to be black, she or he had to be really black and have full lips and a wide nose...." It is then that Tere begins to become aware of her mother's blatant racism. Then, caught in a foolish lie at school, she decides to transfer to the Academia. As she tries to make her way among the competitive, shallow girls there, she loses herself again and again until she and her mother both finally see truth and mend their friendships. Tere never does come off as a fourth grader; while sometimes naive, her character seems more like an adolescent. Yet there are strong characterizations here, of both children and adults, and the immersion into a different culture is thorough and effective.-Susan Oliver, Tampa-Hillsborough Public Library System, FL (c) Copyright 2010. Library Journals LLC, a wholly owned subsidiary of Media Source, Inc. No redistribution permitted.
Publisher's Weekly Review
With a mother born to la sociedad (high society) and a father who disdains it, Teresa struggles to understand the prejudices of 1960s Puerto Ric0. PW said, "The author's portrait of Teresa, caught between her parents' polarized views, is especially well realized." Ages 9-12. (Feb.) (c) Copyright PWxyz, LLC. All rights reserved
Horn Book Review
Puerto Rican fourth-grader Teresa's ambitious mother gets her admitted to an exclusive private school. Once there, Teresa neglects her best friend Ana, whose complexion is darker than her own, in favor of her lighter-skinned classmates--but then Teresa herself experiences discrimination. A belaboring of issues mars this novel of friendship, but the island setting is vividly described. From HORN BOOK Fall 1999, (c) Copyright 2010. The Horn Book, Inc., a wholly owned subsidiary of Media Source, Inc. No redistribution permitted.
Kirkus Review
The backdrop of 1961 Ponce, Puerto Rico, is authentic and atmospheric but not enough to overshadow the one-idea plot. Teresa Giraux's seamstress mother is obsessed with class and race: she plots to get her 10-year-old daughter into high society and is aloof and unintentionally cruel about the darker skin tone of Teresa's friends and classmates. At first, Tere is oblivious to her mother's prejudices, but when she transfers to an exclusive private school, the Academia, she takes on her mother's bigoted behavior. Tere drops her best friend, Ana, who is darker than she is, and does her best to fit in with the Academia girls, who tend to be lighter in complexion. Predictably, Tere eventually sees the error of her ways with the gentle guidance of her father, her new friend, Marisol, and her own unpleasant experiences with discrimination. Teresa's mother suddenly and unconvincingly changes her ways, too. The story is neither fresh nor involving, allowing the island atmosphere to take over; accurately portrayed are such details as the chirping tree frogs, bright red flamboyan trees, and the consuming excitement leading up to Carnival. (Fiction. 9-12)
Booklist Review
Gr. 4^-7. Set in Puerto Rico in 1961, this story features Teresa Giraux and her best friend, Ana, who are looking forward to their fourth-grade teacher's wedding and the Ponce junior queen competition--until Teresa's pride and temper fracture their friendship. A socially ambitious seamstress, Teresa's mother has never invited Ana on family outings because Ana is not only poorer, she's also darker. Aided by one of her wealthy clients, Teresa's mother enrolls Teresa in an exclusive academy. Then it is she and Teresa who feel the sting of discrimination when they're excluded from a fashionable country club. Realizing how poorly they've treated Ana and her family, they give Ana Teresa's beautiful gown for the beauty pageant, an attitude shift that is both heartwarming and believable. Despite awkward patches and a tendency to belabor societal differences, this first novel vividly re-creates its particular time and place. It also imparts a very clear message about intolerance. Paired with Eleanor Estes' The Hundred Dresses (1944), with its own lessons of prejudice and dignity, this could spark lively classroom discussion. --Linda Perkins