Lucky Luna

June 1, 2018

Gr 4-6-The only lucky thing that has ever happened to Luna Ramos is having Mabel as a best friend. Luna has just found out that her cousin Claudia will be attending her school, and will even be in the same class. With so many other primas, why did she have to get stuck with Claudia, who cannot mind her own business and is always getting her in trouble both at school and at home? It's bad enough that Luna is struggling in Spanish class and is now forbidden from wearing her adorable collection of hats to school for locking Claudia in the bathroom at her cousin Mirasol's quinceañera. Now all the kids will see her white hair due to poliosis and call her a skunk! When Luna turns to her primas and abuela for advice, she ends up getting it all wrong and getting deeper into trouble. Lopez depicts a modern-day Latina who embraces her culture even if she is still learning about it and doesn't speak Spanish. VERDICT Readers will find themselves chuckling at the situations Luna gets herself into and smiling at a satisfying ending.-Martha Rico, El Paso ISD, TX

Copyright 2018 School Library Journal, LLC Used with permission.

June 15, 2018
From the day she was born, 10-year-old Texan Luna Ramos has never been without a hat--or without cousins. The hats cover a white swath of hair, poliosis, which her family believes was caused by a lunar eclipse. But after Luna locks her prima--and nemesis--Claudia in the restroom during another cousin's quinceañera celebration, Luna's mom prohibits the use of any hats for a month. This compassionless maternal edict doesn't result in the dread readers might expect from self-conscious Luna; instead she appears more inconvenienced than traumatized. "I hate being singled out. Do I have to deal with this for a whole month?" The roots of bossy Luna and tattletale Claudia's mutual hostility are, disappointingly, never satisfactorily divulged. Complicating their toxic relationship is the fact that Claudia has just been transferred to Luna's school and the plethora of primas weaving in and out of the narrative. They continuously contribute misinformation via what Luna calls the "Chisme Channel." Gossip is the coin of the land, and the feud doesn't lack for cash. Readers may have a hard time warming up to Luna. Her first-person, not-particularly-reliable narrative may have readers wishing they could spend some time out of her head--perhaps in Claudia's and in Luna's levelheaded Filipina-American best friend Mabel's, as well. The Mexican Spanish phrases and slang sprinkled throughout do add some pop.Not up to par with López's (Nothing up My Sleeve, 2016, etc.) previous titles. (Fiction. 8-12)

COPYRIGHT(2018) Kirkus Reviews, ALL RIGHTS RESERVED.