Mexican WhiteBoy

Mexican WhiteBoy is a 2008 novel by Matt de la Peña.[1] De la Peña drew on his own adolescent passion for sports[2] in developing his main character Danny, a baseball enthusiast. The novel, which is set in National City, California, uses Spanglish and has a bicultural theme.

Plot

Danny Lopez, the protagonist, is an incredibly shy and introverted young teenager from San Diego who attends Leucadia Prep. It has a majority of white children and he feels different from them even though he has only a slightly darker skin tone. One summer he goes to stay with his cousin, Sofia.

Danny’s uncle, Ray, wants to beat up someone but Danny is afraid to tell him who. When his uncle leaves, Danny goes by car with Sofia and some friends to Del Mar Fair. In the car, Danny experiences his first drink of alcohol and at the fair, they feed some goats celery which causes Danny to remember his dad. He also sees a girl called Liberty which gives him a funny feeling. Later, Danny and Sofies' friends go to the theater and he sees Liberty again in the queue.

Another time Danny is playing a baseball game for money with a boy called Uno against two other boys, Carmello and JJ. Sofie and Danny's Uncle Tommy are close by and he overhears them talking about his dad abusing his mom. The boys keep raising the stakes until JJ grabs the hat with the money inside and runs off. Uno pursues and tackles him, but JJ's friends also get involved with the fight, beating up Uno and Danny. Then a boy from the Los Padres scouts comes to help them, which enables them to getaway.

Danny gets a phone call from his mother in San Francisco, who tells him how beautiful the city is but suddenly starts crying. She tells him that she wants to be a family again so will be getting him in a few days. So Uno and Danny decide to have one last baseball practice at Las Palmas.

That evening Uno and Sofia talk about their lives and how they would change if they were like Danny's. She tells him 'Anyways this girl climbs up the ladder really slow, right? But her parents let her do it all by herself. And the whole time she has this huge smile on her face. And when she gets to the top of the slide, she sits there for a sec, clapping her hands and laughing. Her parents hustle around to the bottom of the slide and she says ‘Here I come’, it's like she was saying it to the world' (pg. 212).

Uno takes Danny to his old school and they found Kyle a future baseball player who has been scouted. They have a baseball game, again for money, but Danny and Uno lose and after having a fight with the boys they head for home. At Sofia's house they talk about the future. As the story ends, Uno and Danny go to their favorite spot and throw some rocks where Danny realizes that even after all he's experienced, he's glad to be where he is today.

Reception

A New York Times reviewer described the author's characterization of Danny as "remarkably human," and his treatment of the themes of self-discovery as "never corny, sentimental or sappy."[3]

Additionally, the novel's use of Spanglish 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, "[the characters'] language starts to feel familiar and warm."[4] Rohrlick, for Kliatt, was also impressed with de la Peña's "terrific dialogue" and his use of "street slang".[5] Reviewers recommend the novel for "mixed race"[6] 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's 2010 Tucson Festival of Books.[7]

Controversy

On 1 January 2012, Mexican WhiteBoy was among a number of books banned in Tucson as part of an initiative to ban Mexican American Studies Department Programs in the Tucson Unified School District. State officials claimed the book contained critical race theory which they deemed as “promoting racial resentment.”[8] However 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 and 14th amendments. In August 2017, A. Wallace Tashima, a federal judge, ruled that on both counts the students and parents had had their rights violated.[9]

Awards
  • An ALA-YALSA Best Book for Young Adults (Top 10 Pick)
  • 2008 Bulletin of the Center for Children's Books Ribbon List
  • 2009 Notable Books for a Global Society
  • 2009-2010 Texas TAYSHAS Reading list
  • A Junior Library Guild Selection[10]
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See also

References
  2. Steinberg, David (14 September 2008). "Basketball fanatic didn't discover passion for books and writing until college". McClatchy-Tribune Regional News - Albuquerque Journal. Albuquerque, New Mexico: The America's Intelligence Wire. Retrieved 9 March 2011.
  4. Walton-Hadlock, Madeline (September 2008). "De La Pena, Matt. Mexican WhiteBoy". School Library Journal. 54 (9): 177. Retrieved 9 March 2011.
  5. Rohrlick, Paula (July 2008). "de la Pena, Matt. Mexican WhiteBoy". Kliatt. 42 (4): 11. Retrieved 9 March 2011.
  6. Rutan, Lynn (1 August 2008). "Mexican WhiteBoy". Booklist. American Library Association. 104 (22): 60. Retrieved 9 March 2011.
  7. "Festival of Books Offers Themed Programs for Families, Educators". UA News. The University of Arizona Office of University Communications. 8 March 2010. Retrieved 9 March 2011.
  8. Winerip, Michael (19 March 2012). "Racial Lens Used to Cull Curriculum in Arizona". The New York Times. The New York Times. Retrieved 4 December 2017.
  9. Strauss, Valerie (23 August 2017). "Arizona's ban on Mexican American studies was racist, U.S. court rules". Washington Post. Retrieved 4 December 2017.
  10. "Mexican WhiteBoy". MattdelaPena.com. Retrieved 9 March 2011.
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