Starred Review From an early age, Sofia has watched the comadres in her close-knit barrio community, in a small Texas town, and she dreams of becoming someone who makes people into a family, as the comadres do. The secret, her young self observes, seems to lie in telling stories and being brave enough to eat a whole tequila worm. In this warm, entertaining debut novel, Canales follows Sofia from early childhood through her teen years, when she receives a scholarship to attend an exclusive boarding school. Each chapter centers on the vivid particulars of Mexican American traditions--celebrating the Day of the Dead, preparing for a cousin's quinceanera . The explanations of cultural traditions never feel too purposeful; they are always rooted in immediate, authentic family emotions, and in Canales' exuberant storytelling, which, like a good anecdote shared between friends, finds both humor and absurdity in sharply observed, painful situations--from weathering slurs and other blatant harassment to learning what it means to leave her community for a privileged, predominately white school. Readers of all backgrounds will easily connect with Sofia as she grows up, becomes a comadre , and helps rebuild the powerful, affectionate community that raised her.

Cole (Touching Spirit Bear), who learned to control his anger while exiled in Alaska, must now survive his Minneapolis high school. Mikaelsen's skill in writing about the wilderness doesn't extend to creating a convincing urban environment. His recap of the first book is clumsy, and the bullies (who, unconvincingly, use words like squeal and weenie) are two-dimensional.

Sofia, growing up in an urban Latino neighborhood in McAllen, Texas, has a chance to attend an expensive boarding school in Austin on scholarship. Like her father, Sofia lives the life of the mind, rich with story and possibility. How can she convince her mother to let her take this opportunity? By learning to dance and showing her that she can leave home and still learn to become a good comadre . Canales, the author of the story collection Orange Candy Slices and Other Secret Tales (2001), is a graduate of Harvard Law School, suggesting that Sofia's story at least closely parallels her own. She is an accomplished storyteller, though not yet, perhaps, a successful novelist. The episodic narrative has disconcerting leaps in time at the beginning, and a sense of completion, or a moral displayed, at several points throughout—all lacking the tension to carry the reader forward. This said, the characters and setting are so real to life that readers who connect with Sofia at the start will find many riches here, from a perspective that is still hard to find in youth literature. (Fiction. 10-14)

This tender first novel suffers somewhat from an awkward structure. Narrator Sofia, whose life story hews closely to the author's own Texas barrio-to–Harvard Law trajectory, begins by relating quotidian childhood experiences as vignettes. Three successive chapters go from first communion to dyeing Easter <EMPHASIS TYPE=""ITALIC"">cascarones to trick-or-treating. A quarter of the way into the novel, she is suddenly 14 and has been offered a scholarship to a boarding school in Austin, Tex., 350 miles from her home in McAllen. The loosely connected anecdotes then shift to a conventional narrative thread about convincing her parents to let her attend. What will keep readers enthralled are the details of Sofia's home life—from the <EMPHASIS TYPE=""ITALIC"">sobremesa, a "sacred time" after dinner in which the family reconnects through conversation, to the worm of the title, a critter soaked in mescal that acts as a "cure for homesickness" when eaten. Readers may well feel unprepared for both a death at novel's end and Sofia's out-of-the-blue neighborhood activism—but the characters are real and engaging, the vignettes funny and enlightening, and Sofia's lack of cynicism is refreshing. Ages 12-up. <EMPHASIS TYPE=""ITALIC"">(Sept.)

Gr 5-8 Sofia, 14, lives in McAllen, TX. What she lacks in material possessions, she makes up for in personality and intelligence. When she is called a taco head by a student at her school, she decides to kick that girl by getting better grades and being a better soccer player than her tormentor. As a result of this determination, Sofia is offered a scholarship to the elite Saint Lukes school in Austin. Now she must convince her family and herself that she is up to the challenge. Canales includes vivid descriptions of life in a Mexican-American community. Her prose is engaging and easy to read, making this novel a good choice for reluctant readers. The momentum slows a bit after Sofias arrival in Austin in contrast to the portion of the book set in McAllen. Still, the story is a good addition to most collections. Melissa Christy Buron, Epps Island Elementary, Houston, TX

Sofia, a Mexican American girl in Southern Texas, is raised in a world of stories, where one of the three wise men rides a ceramic elephant with a pink saddle and the world will end "when a nun-and I mean any nun-dies." She lives in the gap between two cultures, with a Mexican family seemingly from another planet and an American school where she does not want to be a "Taco Head." Sofia is a bright young woman, though, and is offered a scholarship to attend a prestigious boarding school far from home. Her family does not understand her desire to see the world beyond the barrio, but they let her leave with a promise to become a good comadre, "someone who makes people into a family." Moving to a white world of wealth and privilege, Sophia discovers that her family's stories and traditions have taught her about life and that nothing cures homesickness better than a tequila worm. Canales shows snapshots in the life of her protagonist from childhood squabbles to her return to the barrio as an adult. It combines wonderfully absurd humorous moments with serious issues like discrimination, family separation, and the death of a parent. Touching on elements of mysticism but never allowing conventions or symbols to detract from her characters, Canales creates a delightfully stirring first novel.-Angela Semifero.