''Mexican WhiteBoy'' is a 2008 novel by
Matt de la Peña
Matthew de la Peña is an American writer of children's books who specializes in novels for young adults. He won the Newbery Medal in 2016 for his book ''Last Stop on Market Street''.
Biography
A San Diego, California, native, Matt de la Peña re ...
, published by
Delacorte Press
Dell Publishing Company, Inc. is an American publisher of books, magazines and comic books, that was founded in 1921 by George T. Delacorte Jr. with $10,000 (approx. $145,000 in 2021), two employees and one magazine title, ''I Confess'', and so ...
. De la Peña drew on his own adolescent passion for sports in developing his main character Danny, a
baseball
Baseball is a bat-and-ball sport played between two teams of nine players each, taking turns batting and fielding. The game occurs over the course of several plays, with each play generally beginning when a player on the fielding t ...
enthusiast. The novel, which is set in
National City, California
National City is a city located in the South Bay region of the San Diego metropolitan area, in southwestern San Diego County, California.
The population was 58,582 at the 2010 census, up from 54,260 at the 2000 census. National City is the ...
, uses
Spanglish
Spanglish (a portmanteau of the words "Spanish" and "English") is any language variety (such as a contact dialect, hybrid language, pidgin, or creole language) that results from conversationally combining Spanish and English. The term is mos ...
and has a
bicultural
Biculturalism in sociology describes the co-existence, to varying degrees, of two originally distinct cultures.
Official policy recognizing, fostering, or encouraging biculturalism typically emerges in countries that have emerged from a histo ...
theme.
Plot
Danny Lopez, the
protagonist, is a shy and introverted young teenager from
San Diego
San Diego ( , ; ) is a city on the Pacific Ocean coast of Southern California located immediately adjacent to the Mexico–United States border. With a 2020 population of 1,386,932, it is the eighth most populous city in the United State ...
who attends
Leucadia Prep. Danny is bi-ethnic, Mexican and white. He sometimes feels inadequate around both Mexican and white people because he is "a shade darker than the white kids" and "pale...a full shade lighter" than his Mexican family members. He also does not speak Spanish. The summer before his junior year, he goes to stay with his cousin Sofia and Uncle Tommy in
National City, while his mom and sister move to
San Francisco
San Francisco (; Spanish for " Saint Francis"), officially the City and County of San Francisco, is the commercial, financial, and cultural center of Northern California. The city proper is the fourth most populous in California and 17th ...
with his mom's new boyfriend. Throughout the summer, Danny becomes friends with Sofia's friends and the other kids in her neighborhood.
While hanging with Sofia's crew, Danny meets Uno, a biracial kid from the neighborhood. Uno is Black and Mexican, and struggles with some of the same identity issues as Danny. While playing a stickball derby in the neighborhood, Danny joins and proceeds to beat them at their own game. While playing, Danny sees a baseball scout he saw at
Leucadia Prep during baseball try-outs. On the last hit, Danny accidentally hits Uno's mentally disabled little brother Manny in the face. Combining this with the fact that Uno was already losing the game, he becomes very upset, leading him to punch Danny, knocking him down. Danny hits his head on the concrete and requires stitches.
A couple weeks later, Uno watches Danny practicing his pitching at a run-down field nearby. He joins Danny, eventually apologizing. Uno tells Danny that his dad invites him to come live with him and his wife and daughter in Oxnard, he just needs Uno to make $500 first. Uno devises a plan to where he and Danny can hustle some baseball players for money. They decide to hustle some local baseball player from San Diego high schools by challenging the hitters to get a
hit
Hit means to strike someone or something.
Hit or HIT may also refer to:
Arts, entertainment and media Fictional entities
* Hit, a fictional character from '' Dragon Ball Super''
* Homicide International Trust, or HIT, a fictional organization ...
off Danny's pitching. The first time they try this hustle, Danny gets nervous and chokes, losing Uno's money.
Danny gets a phone call from his mother in San Francisco, who tells him about the superficial beauty of the city and how she and Julia, his sister, are enjoying themselves with Randy, his mom's boyfriend. After some time, his mother begins to cry to him about how she feels lonely in San Francisco and misses Danny and their home in Leucadia. She shares that Randy is going to send him two tickets to the
San Diego Padres
The San Diego Padres are an American professional baseball team based in San Diego. The Padres compete in Major League Baseball (MLB) as a member club of the National League (NL) West division. Founded in 1969, the club has won two NL penn ...
game and she will get him at the end of the week.
At the game, Danny and Uno call for hot dog but Danny recognizes the hot dog slinger. The slinger slowly backs away while Danny then tells Uno he'll be back with hot dogs. As he pursues the hot dog slinger, they end up in a back room, where Danny asks why a baseball scout would be a hot dog concessions worker. The guy explains that he works there and is not a baseball scout. He shares with Danny that his dad saved his life while they were in prison together, and told him to keep an eye on Danny. Danny is completely shocked by this revelation. Once he gets back home, he begins cutting himself in the bathroom. Sofia yells for him to open the door as he tries to clean himself up. When he finally does, she sees the bloodied cut and bathroom sink. She consoles him, telling him it is not his fault his dad is in prison.
Before Danny goes back home, he and Uno attempt one last hustle, this time at Leucadia Prep, against Kyle Sorenson, one of the best baseball players Danny knows. While there, Kyle's teammates throw different racial slurs at Uno, raising tension between the two sides. Danny throws his best pitches, but after several foul balls, Kyle hits the ball into right field. Uno challenges them to double or nothing, and Kyle hits a home run. Following the tension between both sides, one of Kyle's teammates hits Uno. Danny rushes him and punches him twice. The entire group gets in a scuffle and someone grabs Danny. Danny tries to fight him, only for Kyle to stop him. Kyle praises Danny's pitching, then tells the two to leave.
Sofia throws a farewell dinner for Danny, and the group reflects on their summer. Sofia reveals she will be staying at Danny's house to improve her chances of going to college. Uno takes Danny back to the train tracks. Uno offers to take Danny to the prison where his dad is. The two stay at the train tracks and watch the sun rise.
Reception
A ''
New York Times
''The New York Times'' (''the Times'', ''NYT'', or the Gray Lady) is a daily newspaper based in New York City with a worldwide readership reported in 2020 to comprise a declining 840,000 paid print subscribers, and a growing 6 million paid ...
'' reviewer described de la Peña's characterization of Danny as "remarkably human", and his treatment of the themes of self-discovery as "never corny, sentimental or sappy."
The novel's use of
Spanglish
Spanglish (a portmanteau of the words "Spanish" and "English") is any language variety (such as a contact dialect, hybrid language, pidgin, or creole language) that results from conversationally combining Spanish and English. The term is mos ...
sets it apart from other young adult novels, making English-speaking "readers . . . feel like outsiders among the hard-edged kids of National City," a reviewer for ''The School Library Journal'' noted. However, with time, the reviewer added, "
he characters'language starts to feel familiar and warm." Rohrlick, for Kliatt, was also impressed with de la Peña's "terrific dialogue" and his use of "street slang". Reviewers recommend the novel for "
mixed race
Mixed race people are people of more than one race or ethnicity. A variety of terms have been used both historically and presently for mixed race people in a variety of contexts, including ''multiethnic'', ''polyethnic'', occasionally ''bi-ethn ...
" readers. The issues of biculturalism in ''Mexican WhiteBoy'' and other works were the subject of a conference presentation by the author at the
University of Arizona
The University of Arizona (Arizona, U of A, UArizona, or UA) is a public land-grant research university in Tucson, Arizona. Founded in 1885 by the 13th Arizona Territorial Legislature, it was the first university in the Arizona Territory.
T ...
's 2010 Tucson Festival of Books.
Controversy
On January 1, 2012, ''Mexican WhiteBoy'' was among a number of books banned in
Tucson
, "(at the) base of the black ill
, nicknames = "The Old Pueblo", "Optics Valley", "America's biggest small town"
, image_map =
, mapsize = 260px
, map_caption = Interactive map ...
as part of an initiative to ban
Mexican American Studies Department Programs in the
Tucson Unified School District
Tucson Unified School District (TUSD) is the largest school district of Tucson, Arizona, in terms of enrollment. Dr. Gabriel Trujillo is the superintendent, appointed on September 12, 2017 by the Governing Board. As of 2016, TUSD had more than ...
. State officials claimed the book contained "
critical race theory", which they deemed as "promoting racial resentment".
Some students and their parents sued the authorities, claiming that when the Tucson Unified School District banned the Mexican American studies program, they were violating their rights under the
First
First or 1st is the ordinal form of the number one (#1).
First or 1st may also refer to:
*World record, specifically the first instance of a particular achievement
Arts and media Music
* 1$T, American rapper, singer-songwriter, DJ, and rec ...
and
14th amendments. In August 2017,
A. Wallace Tashima
Atsushi Wallace Tashima (born June 24, 1934) is a Senior United States circuit judge of the United States Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit and a former United States District Judge of the United States District Court for the Central Distric ...
, a federal judge, ruled that on both counts, the students and parents had their rights violated.
Awards
*2009,
ALA-YALSA Best Book for Young Adults (Top 10 Pick)
*2009–2010, Texas TAYSHAS Reading list
*2011, Junior Library Guild Selection
*2012, Lincoln Award nominee
See also
References
External links
Reader's Guide from Random House
{{DEFAULTSORT:Mexican Whiteboy
American young adult novels
2008 American novels
Novels set in San Diego
Baseball novels
Novels about race and ethnicity