With strangers and friends in both languages. Then we walk down uneven sidewalks, chatting We have breakfast in our favorite restorán.ĭad sips café de olla while I drink chocolate. That the frontera will be at the core of the collection is something the poet establishes in the first pages and reinforces throughout the text: In a way, the collection is a thinly veiled autobiography that offers a glimpse into life on the border, into families that are from, and belong, to both sides of that dividing line.

This is his vision, pulled from his blood. Between family, school, growing pains, and first love, They Call Me Güero touches on things all kids go through, but does so in a way that also appeals to adults.īowles writing is proud and unapologetic. A collection of poems about growing up near the border as a bilingual, bicultural kid, this book is a deep, nuanced, heartfelt, and culturally rich look at the life of a kid that mirrors the backgrounds of millions of US residents. David Bowles They Call Me Güero belongs to this special group. Recipient of awards from the American Library Association, Texas Institute of Letters and Texas Associated Press, David has written several books, including the Pura Belpré Honor Book The Smoking Mirror, Feathered Serpent, Dark Heart of Sky: Myths of Mexico, The Chupacabras of the Rio Grande (The Unicorn Rescue Society series), and the middle grade graphic novel Rise of the Halfling King (Tales of the Feathered Serpent #1).There are books that go beyond their intended audience and become necessary reading for everyone. Shelf Awareness 2018 Best Children's & Teen Books of the Year, Middle Gradeįavorites of 2019, Americas Society / Council of the AmericasĪ product of a Mexican-American family, David Bowles has lived most of his life in deep South Texas, where he teaches at the University of Texas Río Grande Valley. TIL Jean Flynn Award for Best Middle Grade Book 2018 Tomás Rivera Mexican American Children's Book Award Life is tough for a border kid, but Güero has figured out how to cope.Ĭlaudia Lewis Award for Excellence in Poetry, Bank Street 2019 Watch out for Joanna! She's tough as nails.īut trusting in his family's traditions, his accordion and his bookworm squad, he faces seventh grade with book smarts and a big heart. Sure, they get in trouble like anybody else, and like other middle-school boys, they discover girls. Güero is also a nerd-reader, gamer, musician-who runs with a squad of misfits like him, Los Bobbys. But make no mistake: our red-headed, freckled hero is puro mexicano, like Canelo Álvarez, the Mexican boxer. In Spanish, 'Güero' is a nickname for guys with pale skin, Latino or Anglo. He's starting 7th grade with a woke English teacher who knows how to make poetry cool. Twelve-year-old Güero is Mexican American, at home with Spanish or English and on both sides of the river.

They Call Me Güero by David Bowles