Efrain's Secret

Starred review from March 15, 2010
Adult author Quintero (Divas Don't Yield
) delivers an in-your-face YA debut, a passionate polemic on racial politics in urban America. Couched in an explosive morality tale, the story is narrated by a driven high school senior in the South Bronx with the odds stacked against him (“...although I'm very smart, I'm too brown and too poor. In other words, I could never be smart enough”). To raise money for an Ivy League education, Efrain resorts to selling drugs (“I'm tired of being the good boy who never has anything to show for it.... Doing the right thing is supposed to be its own reward, but that's not enough to pay my tuition”). His efforts to justify his choice, understand his actions, and come to terms with myriad unforeseen consequences—especially after he gets caught—are felt on every page. Relevant SAT vocabulary words (like “pittance” and “apprehend”) begin each chapter, and seamlessly interwoven subplots, including Efrain's complex connection to his philandering father and his evolving relationship with Candace, a survivor of Hurricane Katrina, make the story that much more emotionally resonant. Ages 12–up.

Starred review from March 1, 2010
Grades 8-11 *Starred Review* To 17-year-old Latino valedictorian-to-be Efrain, the number 1650 is like a death sentence. With an SAT score like that, theres no way he is going to get into Harvard and escape the poverty that has so exhausted his single mother, estranged Dominican father, and South Bronx community at large. With a $32,000 tuition staring him in the face, Efrain turns to his old pal Nestor, a dropout drug peddler who hooks him up with a similar gig. Even the arrival of a new girl in school, a gutsy Katrina survivor named Candace, cant knock Efrain from his resolve to earn some serious cash. Theres nothing new here in terms of plotyou can see the hard life lessons and tragedy coming from way up the blockbut Quintero imbues her characters with unexpected grace and charm. Nestor, for example, is perceptive and funny, and the drug-dealing scenes are filled with realistic small talk and buffoonery rather the pulse-pounding terror seen in movies. Mostly, though, it is Quinteros effortless grasp of teen slang that gives her first-person story its heart. Dont front now like you werent stressing me, Efrain tells Nestor, and hiding behind the code is an entire lifetime of conflicted emotions.(Reprinted with permission of Booklist, copyright 2010, American Library Association.)