Shame The Stars by Guadalupe Garcia McCall

Shame the Stars is the story of two families set in Texas in 1915 during the Mexican revolution. The prologue sets the context for the story with the events that occurred at Easter, 1913 between the two families.

Don Avecedo and Dona Jovita del Toro and their sixteen-year-old son Joaquin are hosting their good friends, Don Rodrigo and Dona Serafina Villa and their sixteen-year-old daughter, Dulcena at Las Moras. Las Moras is a 600 acre ranch that has been in the del Toro family since 1775, before Tejas became Texas. Joaquin and Dulcena's childhood friendship is blossoming into love which they hide from their parents.

Meanwhile on the back porch, Don Acevedo reads a poem, Tejano that was published in Don Rodrigo's newspaper, El Sureno. The poem challenges the tejanos for ignoring what's happening around them, how the Anglo immigrants are taking their land- their heritage, their birthright. Don Acevedo is critical of Don Rodrigo's decision to publish the poem, concerned that he might cause trouble between the people of Morado County and the Texan Rangers.  However, Dona Jovita feels that most people in the town of Monteseco know how the tejanos (Mexican-Americans) are being treated. And Don Rodrigo believes that as a journalist he must speak out against the prejudices towards the tejanos. But Don Acevedo is so outraged he tells Don Rodrigo that if their friendship is to continue he wants never to see one of his newspapers in his home again. The two part on bad terms, with Don Rodrigo hopeful that one day his friend Don Acevedo will understand.

The novel then fast-foward ahead two years to 1915. Joaquin will be heading off to Michigan Agricultural College in the fall, as his parents attempt to break his attachment to Dulcena Villa while Dulcena has been pulled out of school and is being tutored privately by Madame Josette from Paris. Don Rodrigo was forced to pull her from school because of constant threats and acts of vandalism to his print shop. Joaquin feels he cannot leave his home at this dangerous time when Texas Mexicans who have been here long before it became part of the United States, are fighting to keep their homes. These tejano rebels have been attacking the ranches of the Anglo immigrants and in retaliation the Texas Rangers have been "accosting and killing innocent tejanos".

In the morning, before Don Acevedo and Joaquin are finished their desayuno, ranch hand Manuel arrives to tell them that Captain Elliot Munro has come to talk to one of the ranch workers, nineteen-year-old Gerardo Gutierrez. Munro believes Gerardo was part of a group of tejano rebels who met up with a group of Mexican revolutionaries who crossed into Texas to burn the sugar mill. Don Acevedo is skeptical of Gerardo's involvement but Munro states he was overheard talking about the mill and also La Estrella, the local heroine of the rebels. Munro arrests Gerardo, leading him away on his horse, handcuffed.

That night Joaquin attends Lupita's quinceanera at the dance hall in the town square. It is a themed party with a masque ball, perfect for Joaquin and Dulcena to be together without their identities being discovered. After telling his parents about the party, Joaquin rides into Monteseco with Mateo and Fito. At the party Joaquin is able to dance with Dulcena only once as her parents are in attendance. Dulcena insists that Joaquin meet her at their secret spot near the Arroyo Morado at midnight. Little do they know this clandestine meeting will create much trouble for their families.

Dulcena reveals to Joaquin that she has learned that several of his father's workers are conspiring with the rebels, something Joaquin does not believe. When he reassures Dulcena that they have the protection of Munro, Dulcena tells Joaquin that Munro has no friends. Their rendezvous is interrupted by a group of rebels led by Carlos who lets them go when he discovers Joaquin's identity. However on their way home they encounter more trouble when two Morado County sheriff's deputies accost them and one, Slate attacks Dulcena with the intention of raping and murdering her. Although Joaquin and Dulcena fight back, it is Tomas and their friends Mateo and Fito who arrive in time. Tomas lets Slater and Davis go telling Joaquin they have no authority over them and that they will have to talk to Munro and hope he acts. At Las Moras later that night, the parents of Joaquin and Dulcena along with Tomas and Captain Munro meet in the del Toro's sala (living room). Munro refuses to punish Slater and Davis, telling the del Toro and Villa families that it will ruin Dulcena's reputation. This only serves to enrage both families. Munro wants Sheriff Nolan to deal with Slater and Davis which means that nothing will be done. Tomas believes not punishing them will only further embolden them. The meeting ends unresolved with both sides angry.

On Saturday morning when Joaquin and his father attempt to bail out Gerardo Gutierrez, they learn there is no bail and no visitors allowed. While his father goes to speak with Munro, Joaquin gets into a fight with Slater when he hears him disparaging Dulcena's good name. That night Joaquin discovers the secrets his parents have been keeping and their involvement with the rebels. As tensions in the town continue to rise, the del Toro and Villa families both suffer reprisals that endanger their lives, threaten to tear Dulcena and Joaquin apart and ultimately lead to a deadly confrontation with Munro and his deputies.

Discussion

This is another exceptional novel by Latina author, Guadalupe Garcia McCall. Shame the Stars has all the hallmarks of a great story: realistic, appealing characters, a unique setting, a blossoming forbidden romance and lots of action that leads to a thrilling climax.The events in the novel take place over the span of a month from August 20, 1915 to September 18, 1915, in the fictional town of Monteseco, Texas near the Mexican border during the Mexican revolution. Garcia McCall was inspired to write the novel after her son told her one night about a book written by Benjamin H. Johnson, Revolution in Texas: How a Forgotten Rebellion and Its Bloody Suppression Turned Mexicans into Americans. The book told the story of "tejanos (Mexican Americans) and Mexicans in Southern Texas in 1915 at the time of the Mexican Revolution." Garcia McCall was deeply moved about the murders of Mexican Americans during the rebellion of 1915 and awoke later that night with the story of Joaquin del Toro who lived at Rancho Las Moras forming in her mind. What began as a potential free verse project blossomed into a novel. Her research into this period and the writing of the novel took five years.

To understand the period the novel is set in, it is instructive to go back to the middle of the 1800's. The Treaty of Guadalupe Hidalgo in 1848 ended the Mexican-American War and made land in Upper California, New Mexico, Arizona, and parts of Colorado, Nevada and Utah. The Rio Grande became the boundary between Mexico and American territory in Texas. The area was Mexican culturally and it was populated predominantly by Mexicans who simply stayed in the area when it became part of America. There were some Anglo settlers who were also part of the cultural mix at this time, intermarrying and learning to speak Spanish. However at the turn of the 20th century, Anglo settlers considered the land near the Rio Grande as ideal for farming and ranching and they began moving into the area. Many Tejanos had been on their land for several generations but could not produce the paperwork to prove that they owned the land. This led to court challenges by the Anglo settlers who usually won and the Tejanos were displaced from their ancestral homes. Between 1900 and 1914, hundreds of thousands of acres of land was taken from Tejanos and given to Anglos in just two counties.

During this time political instability in Mexico fueled the problems in Texas. In 1910 the Mexican revolution began. The Rio Grande Valley was still predominantly populated by Mexican and Mexican-Americans, many of whom had family living in Mexico. At this time it was relatively easy to move between the two countries and as a result, Southern Texas saw many political refugees from Mexico arriving, bringing with them the political ideals of their homeland. But some were very radical and saw this time as ripe for returning parts of Texas and the southern United States back to Mexico. Plan de San Diego was crafted by radicals in Monterrey, Neuvo Leon and advocated a race war by Mexicans and blacks against the Anglo settlers with the aim of returning Texas land to Mexico. Raids occurred against some Anglo farmers and against railroad and telegraph lines. This and the publication of the Plan de San Diego in local newspapers made Anglo Texans anxious.  In response, the U. S. government sent in large numbers of Texas Rangers who enforced laws in favour of Anglo settlers and carried out many unlawful killings of Tejanos and Mexicans. Often the families were warned not to come collect the bodies of the dead meaning they were not given a proper burial and cause both suffering and further intimidation of surviving family.

The extensive research author Garcia McCall undertook is evident as her novel incorporates many of the injustices such as the forcing of tejanos off their land and extralegal killings - that is killings by law authorities without due process and outside of the law - into the story. For example, Joaquin's tio Carlos tells him how he lost his home. "I came home one night and found my wife crying because she didn't have the papers to prove we owned the land our house was built on in Hondo. They had been lost in a fire, years before, and her family had never replaced them. Without those documents, my wife and I had no way of proving the land was ours. No one would help us. Lawyers refused to take our case. County officials wanted United States paperwork, when the only paperwork we had before the fire was from Mexico, a hundred years ago when our ancestors were granted the land. And then the Rangers made sure my wife and I moved out...They hung my sixteen-year-old son in our backyard."

The novel is written from the point of view of a tejano, eighteen-year-old Joaquin de Toro whose father is "light-haired and fair-skinned like an Anglo" and whose mother is Mexican. To make the story more interesting, Garcia McCall incorporates some elements from the Romeo and Juliet story; a young couple in love whose family have a falling out resulting in them being forced apart, they secretly exchange letters through the hired help (some of which Garcia McCall includes in the novel), Joaquin climbs the jacaranda tree to her bedroom balcony and is passionately in love with her, and they attend a masque ball in order to meet up. All of this happens in the midst of intense conflict in their world. While Joaquin is passionate and somewhat hot-headed, he is growing into a man who acts on his beliefs. Dulcena, although sometimes appearing too modern for the period of the story, is shown to be an intelligent young woman who wants to be a reporter and travel the world. Shame the Stars is populated by realistic Mexican-American characters who are portrayed as intelligent and willing to fight the injustices being done to them.

The story follows the increasing conflict that affects both the del Toro and the Villa families both of whom are revealed to be heavily involved in supporting the cause of the tejano rebels. Eventually this leads to the climax of the story involving the confrontation between the del Toro's and Captain Munro that leads to a catastrophic loss for the del Toro family, but also results in a partial resolution of the situation in Morado County. Garcia-McCall includes a very helpful Cast of Characters at the front of the novel to help readers familiarize themselves quickly with the main characters and the many supporting characters in the novel.

Garcia McCall's novel was most timely considering the anti-Hispanic rhetoric of the American presidential campaign in 2016 when it was published.Shame the Starsinvites young readers to learn about a part of their country's history that is rarely taught and to understand the backstory to the prejudice that continues today in parts of the southern United States. To that end, she has included a detailed Author's Note at the back as well as a short booklist for teachers and mentors, and credits for the mostly nonfictional newspaper clippings that can be found throughout the novel.

The sequel to Shame the Stars is set in Monteseco sixteen years later and follows the repatriation of the del Toros back to Mexico. This is a novel I look forward to reading - I just hope I don't have to wait much longer!

Book Details:

Shame The Stars by Guadalupe Garcia McCall
New York: Tu Books, an imprint of Lee and Low Books, Inc.    2016
288 pp.

Under The Mesquite by Guadalupe Garcia McCall

Under The Mesquite is another fine young adult novel written by a newcomer and Mexican-American author, Guadalupe Garcia McCall. This exquisitely crafted novel in free verse tells the story of fourteen year old Lupita from Piedras Negras, Coahuila, Mexico. When she was six years old, Lupita's family left Mexico for the United States, moving to Eagle Pass, Texas. Lupita is the oldest in a family of eight children, six girls and two boys, the four youngest children having been born in the U.S.
The novel is divided into six parts each following Lupita and her family's life over the past eight years. 

Part One, The Weight of Words 

The premise of the novel is presented in this first part. It is fourteen-year-old Lupita's freshman year of high school in Eagle Pass, Texas. She knows her mother is keeping a secret and so Lupita searches her mother's purse in an attempt to learn that secret. 

Lupita was born in Piedras Negras, Coahuila, Mexico in a little blue house on Avenida Lopez Mateos. A year later her sister Analiza was born, and two years later Victoria, followed by her brother Paco. Lupita's family moved to Eagle Pass, Texas when she was six-years-old. Her papi planted a mulberry tree in their backyard, while Mami planted a garden of rosebushes in their front yard. It has been eight years since they left Mexico and there have been four more children added to their family: Tita, Juanita, Rosita, and Benito. However, growing in the rose garden now is a mesquite tree which Mami cannot seem to remove as it repeatedly returns. Lupita as the oldest, knows there is something different about Mami: she is distracted, worried, and at night she can hear her crying. Lupita notes that Mami's two closest friends, Lucia and Serafina visit and offer her mother sympathetic glances. It is when she is caught eavesdropping that Mami confirms what Lupita suspects - her mother has cancer. 

Lupita's best friend, Mireya tells her that this means Mami will die but Lupita insists that the eventual operation will help her. Mireya's blunt assertion leads Lupita to end their friendship. 

Lupita prepares for her confirmation with a class at Sacred Heart Church led by Mother Magdalena. In the chapel during a break, Lupita begs Jesus for a miracle. Mami is having her operation to remove the cancer in her uterus. Lupita's faith has always been a source of strength in her life, soothing pain and fears, bu tnow she has doubts. She offers to dedicate her life to Jesus. "Just...please...don't let her die." During the second part of the confirmation lecture Lupita raises her hand when a nun asks if anyone is considering committing their life to doing God's work. However, Mami refuses to allow the nuns to take Lupita away, telling them she will go to college. This angers Lupita but Mami tells her she will thank her some day.

Part Two Remembering 

The story shifts back to Lupita's life Piedras Negras , in Coahuila, Mexico to when she was six-years-old and Mami is pregnant with her fifth baby. This set of poems tell of Lupita longing for the culture and landscape of Mexico and her family's visits to her Abuela Inez. Garcia McCall's lyrical poems convey the beauty and simplicity of life in Mexico, but also the difficulty learning a new language. At this time Papi worked in the United States and was never home. But when he did return on Friday nights, he would teach Lupita the letters of the alphabet, telling her "You have a talent for letters." Her papi tells Lupita that words will make her successful in the Los Estados Unidos. 

When they do move to the United States, at first Lupita misses los girasoles, the tall, unruly sunflowers that they had in the yard in Mexico. When Lupita and her family get homesick they would simply take the bus to the edge of Eagle Pass and walk across the International Bridge to the custom station in Piedras Negras. From the bridge they could look down on the waters of the Rio Grande. In Piedras Negras, they would stay with Mami's mother, Abuelita Inez who would make pinole which was roasted mequite meal seasoned with cinnamon and sugar.

Lupita's mother loved babies, who were "like pennies from heaven". To support their family, Papi worked in North Texas building houses. After the birth of each baby, Lupita's papi would open a bank account to place savings in for future Quinceanera parties or college tuition.

Part Three Crossing Borders

In the summer after Lupita's freshman year, Mami had a successful operation to remove the cancer. Papi quit his job to care for her as she had to stay in the hospital for six weeks, meaning most of their savings were gone. After her release, she must now return every other week for chemotherapy treatments. 

In the fall, Papi, Analiza, Victoria, Paco and Lupita cross the border to pray for Mami's recovery at Abuela Inez's church, Nuestra Senora de Guadalupe. Afterwards, Papi buys them los elotes calientitos, ears of roasted corn with butter and chili-powdered lime juice. Mami begins to recover, never losing her hair. She spends her time cooking and watching telenovelas with Lupita. Mr. Cortes, Lupita's drama teacher gives her a set of instructional CDs of voice lessons and tells her to use them to train her voice if she is serious about acting, so that she can lose her accent.

December 12th is the feast day of the Virgin of Guadalupe (Dia de Nuestra Senora de Guadalupe) and it is also Lupita's fifteenth birthday. There is no Quinceanera party because all their money has gone for Mami's chemotherapy, but Lupita is fine with this.  She doesn't want to dress up in a party dress and high heels. To replenish their savings, Papi has been working late constructing an overpass downtown. Although Mami looks tired, she insists she is fine. As Lupita begins to lose her Mexican accent, she is mocked by her friends Mireya and Sarita.

On spring break, Lupita and her family enjoy time in San Vincente, Coahuila, Mexico, swimming in the Rio Grande and taking in the sun. At the University Interscholastic League competition, Lupita wins first prize and a gold trophy in the Poetry Interpretation for her dramatic performance of "The Highwayman". Mireya and Sarita continue to mock Lupita about her changing accent. Mami is thrilled when Lupita arrives home with her trophy. 

Part Four Give Us This Day

In Lupita's junior year, Papi tells the family that Mami's cancer has returned, a year and half after her chemo and that this means more treatment. As she goes through the chemo, Mami continues to tend her rose garden which flourishes beneath the tall mesquite tree.  Papi finds a cancer clinic in Galveston, Texas that can offer more treatment to Mami but their family situation makes it seem impossible.  Lupita tells Papi she will stay in Eagle Pass to look after the family while Mami goes to Galveston and he works nearby in Houston. However, Lupita finds doing Mami's job of maintaining the family a challenge with only Victoria helping her. The younger children ignore Lupita and spend their time playing.

When she can, Lupita sits in the rose garden, beneath the mesquite tree and writes poems, pouring out what is in her heart. With her parents gone, life becomes a huge struggle for her and her siblings. They eventually run out of food as Papi hasn't been home in weeks. Fourteen-year-old Paco and his friends go out one night and return with bags of pomegranates, turtle doves and a bucket of perch. They are also helped by Papi's older brother, Tio Saul who brings a truck load of groceries and their neighbours also help.

Part Five Cut Like A Diamond

Just before Lupita's senior year, Mami comes home from the clinic, but she is so weak and frail that Papi must carry her into the house. Mami notices the mesquite and how it has grown. At Mami's request, Papi takes the entire family to Tio Rodrigo's ranch house in San Vincente. Mami is back home being cared for by her sisters Tia Maritza and Tia Belen. One afternoon after the family is home, Mami convinced she sees La Muerta, the skeleton of death outside their house and that she is going to die and cannot be comforted. 

At school Lupita shows no interest in applying for the lead in the school play and these leads Mr. Cortes to talk to her after class. Lupita breaks down and reveals what life is like for her at home: that her mother has reached the end of her cancer treatments and is dying. Lupita, seeing the distress of her younger siblings, has told her father it is better Mami dies in hospital so that the younger children do not remeber their mother in so much pain. As a way to deal with this, Mr. Cortes suggests that Lupita direct her pain into accting as a way to cope. 

"...True performers are able to turn

their most painful experiences

into art that other people

can connect with.

You do this exceptionally well..."

In hospital Lupita keeps a vigil by Mami who is heavily medicated. She cannot bear to leave her mother but eventually Papi arrives to stay with Mami. Lupita returns to school and works on her script until one night they learn that Mami has died. 

Part Six Words On the Wind

Before Mami's death and with her being too ill to tend to them, her rose bushes began to die and now are all gone. The mesquite tree however is flourishing and Lupita often sits against its trunk writing her poems. While she does attend prom at the end of her senior year, Lupita continues to struggle with the devastating loss of Mami. Mr. Cortes tells her,

" 'Lupita, no matter how much it rains,

the roads won't stay flooded.

Eventually everything dries out again,

It just takes awhile."

Lupita must move forward but with the painful loss of her mother she struggles to reclaim her life. It will be many months and a trip to Mexico before Lupita comes to realize that her mother would want her to be happy and to work towards the goals they both once talked about.

Discussion

Guadalupe Garcia McCall's novel, Under The Mesquite is a beautifully crafteed novel which portrays a teenager's struggle to cope with the life changing events of moving to another country, her mother's illness and death from cancer, and the transition to adulthood. Garcia McCall's poetry captures the beauty of family life in Mexico and the opportunities and struggles in America; learning a new language and the tragedy of Mami's illness and death. The novel explores many themes including the power and weight of words, the immigrant experience, identity, and the devastating effect of illnesses like on families.

The novel opens with a section titled, "The Weight of Words".  Lupita considers the weight of words both spoken and unspoken. She suspects that something is wrong with her Mami and eventually realizes that her mother is ill with cancer.  This knowledge is unspoken between them. Her mother will not speak the word because of what it means, hence the title, "The Weight of Words." 

"It's okay," I whisper

against her cheek. "I know."

My heart aches

because I have heard the word

that she keeps tucked away

behind closed doors.

The word "cancer" carries with it so many terrible connotations, but especially that of death. Lupita's friend Mireya expresses this weight out loud telling her that her mother will die, even with the operation.

" 'That doesn't mean she's

going to beat it,' Mireya says.

'People with cancer usually die.' "

These words are poison to Lupita and she wants to end their friendship.

As a new immigrant struggling to learn English, Lupita notes how this new language feels strange and difficult.

"And I doubted los girasoles

would understand me anymore,

because now I was speaking

a different language.

I swallowed consonants

and burdened vowels with a sound

so dense, the works fell straight

out of my mouth and hit the ground

before they could reach the river's edge."

Lupita's words begin to change as she loses her accent and she is mocked by Mireya who accuses her of talking "...like you're one of them...Sarita sneers. "You talk like you wanna be white." They accuse Lupita of thinking she is better than them. But when Lupita wins a trophy at the arts competition, Mireya relents and congratulates her. But Lupita tells her,

"Changing how I talk

doesn't change who I am,

I know where I come from, "

Lupita finds solace in the words she writes in her poems. But eventually these words weigh her down, preventing her from moving forward after Mami's death. In Mexico it is Lupita's abuelita who tells her that sometimes it is best to simply start over. 

"I sit on the grass,

reach for my journal,

and start to tear out pages.

I rip out all the sad, tortured

poems I've written

since Mami's funeral

and pile them on the ground

in front of me. I'm wondering

what to do with them

when, without warning,

as if deciding for me,

the wild wind kicks up again

and scatters the tattered

pages everywhere."

With this, Lupita is able "...to let Mami go." 

                                                                                                                                                             

The mesquite tree is a metaphor for Lupita and her new life in the United States. The mesquite tree is native to the southwestern United States and northern Mexico. It has sharp thorns and long, deep roots and is able to survive in harsh climates. Mami's rose garden symbolizes Lupita's family which she has carefully tended and is flourishing. Lupita is one such rose in that gardent. Then "A thorny mesquite has sprouted in the middle of her rose garden." Despite repeatedly pulling out the tree by its roots, it returns. This frustrates Mami to the point of tears but Papi tells her 

"Its in the tree's nature

to be stubborn. It's a survivor."

It is a foreshadowing that Mami's roses, her children will survive but in a different form.

The mesquite tree, once considered like a weed in Mami's garden of roses, becomes Lupita's source of strength and her confidant. 

"In the squint of morning,

before anyone else is awake,...

the mesquite is my confidant. 

I lean back against its sturdy trunk

and read aloud every word

imprinted en mi corazon.

The mesquite listens quietly..."

It never tells a soul what Lupita writes in her notebook.

When Mami arrives home from the Galveston clinic, weak and bed-ridden she notes the mesquite tree outside her window. 

" 'Look at it, all grown up,' says Mami,

mesmerized by the sight of

the mesquite swaying sensually

outside the bedroom window.

With heavy pruning and much-needed

guidance, the tree has become

a graceful and impressing presence

in Mami's beloved rose garden.
'Who'd have known it would be

so beautiful,' she marvels."

At this point, Lupita envies the mesquite tree "its undaunted spirit, its ability to turn even a disabling pruning into an unexpected opportunity to veer in a different direction."  At this point, Lupita doesn't yet recognize that she too will turn this "disabling" time into a strength later on.

During Mami's illness and by the time of her death, all of her beautiful rose bushes die, despite being watered by the family. The only thing that has survived in her garden is the mesquite tree,  now a sturdy, permanent thing. Papi is concerned that Lupita will be crushed by the death of her mother. But Lupita feels that will not happen. 

"No matter how bad things get,

I can always be found here,

planted firmly in what's left

of Mami's rose garden,

with a pen in my hand, 

leaning against this same sturdy trunk,

still writing poems

in the shade of the mesquite."

Like the mesquite, Lupita is now permantly rooted, strong and sturdy, enduring the disabling pruning of caring for their family during her mother's illness and losing her Mami.

However, after Mami's death Lupita struggles to move forward. When she is in Mexico staying with her abuelita, Garcia McCall again employs the mesquite imagery to show how the roots Lupita has put down through Mama's illness help her. 

"Like a shoot growing

from what remains -- a tiny piece

of buried mesquite root --

determination flourishes."

After letting go of all the pain from Mami's death, symbolically represented by throwing away her poetry of pain, Lupita begins over again as her abuelita suggested.

"Later I find a tall mesquite

to sit under;

and with my pen i hand,

I open my journal

to a blank page and begin

writing a whole new batch of poems,

poems filled with memories

and hope, because that's

what Mami would've wanted."

If there is one thing this novel very much highlights is just how devastating an serious illness like cancer can be to a family, disrupting life in every way possible. The financial cost of serious illness is especially well portrayed. Papi and Mami are well on their way to achieving a good life in los Estados Unidos when Mami takes ill. Papi is working hard and they are saving money for their children. All of that is lost in the struggle to cure Mami. Lupita as the oldest child is well aware of the toll on her father, the suffering of her mother and the changes in their lives. Yet despite the tragic outcome, the resilience of Papi, Lupita and her family are very evident. 

Under The Mesquite is a somewhat autobiographical novel that is loosely based on some of the experiences that the author, Guadalupe Garcia McCall had while growing up: she was born in Piedras Negras, moved to Eagle Pass, Texas when she was six-years-old,  lost her mother to cancer when she was seventeen and had to care for her younger siblings during her mother's illness. Garcia-McCall has succeeded in writing a novel is beautifully written and deeply authentic. She has included a detailed list at the back of Spanish names and phrases with their English translation. Highly recommended.

Book Details:
Under The Mesquite by Guadalupe Garcia McCall
New York: Lee & Low Books Inc. 2011
224pp.