In this sequel to Zack Delacruz: Me and My Big Mouth (2015), Anderson returns to San Antonio's Davy Crockett Middle School for further ups and downs in the life of a hapless sixth-grader. Here, a few days before the school's "Fiesta-val" fund-raiser, Zack not only manages to rip open his pants in front of the entire lunchroom, he also inadvertently clobbers Abhijana, a magnetic but strangely standoffish new student. Further efforts to attract Abhi's attention lead to a first ride on a public bus, getting lost in a scary, run-down neighborhood, and dousing himself with pungent "attraction" cologne. Finally, Zack gets an enlightening lecture from a classmate about how Abhi is not deliberately ignoring him e's hard of hearing and reluctant to advertise the fact for fear of being categorized by her disability. The racially and ethnically diverse cast of students and teachers are given faces, thanks to portrait gallery endpapers, and readers will find many of their own anxieties addressed in Zack's mishaps and relieved in his eventual triumphs.