Wanted

March 1, 2012
A young bookie finds herself on the wrong side of the odds. For 17-year-old bookie Michal Garcia, life used to be simple: She recorded bets, collected and distributed cash and splurged on expensive clothes. But she never bet herself. She connects with a rebellious classmate, Josh Ellison, after he observes Michal taking revenge on a client who failed to pay up, and he begins encouraging her to take more risks. When a family friend dies, leaving behind many debts, Michal and Josh enact their own wealth redistribution system to help the family, charitable organizations and themselves. As they become bolder in their law-breaking, Michal finds herself trapped. Ayarbe's laudable interest in exploring issues of social justice in her novel is compromised by didactic dialogue, forced romance and a dull narrative. Approaching the hot-button topic of immigration through generic soundbites, for instance, doesn't add any depth or insight to the discussion, especially when voiced by unlikable characters. Michal's friend Moch embodies gang-member stereotypes, while Michal is as uninteresting as she imagines herself to be, never standing out even in her own narration. Ayarbe's attempts at chemistry between Josh and Michal never come to fruition, creating awkward gaps where emotional connections should occur. A bad bet all around. (Fiction. 14 & up)

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June 1, 2012

Gr 9 Up-Michal Garcia is a bookie who just wants to get through her senior year and out of Carson City, NV. Her parents are dead, her grandmother spends more time on causes than on family, and her only friend has joined a gang. But when a new rich kid takes an interest in her, she realizes that she can no longer be a spectator in her own life. Mike makes a bet for herself-and wins. Soon she is placing more bets for more money, and she and Josh start stealing from the houses of the rich to give to the poor. The excitement mounts quickly: gang and racial violence escalate, Josh and Mike find bigger and more dangerous targets, and the stakes ramp ever higher. High on the thrill of big money, Mike quickly finds herself in over her head and her life on the line. Throughout, issues of immigration, racism, classism, and violence are explored. Mike's six-word "memoirs" for her creative writing class and passages from Dostoyevsky's The Gambler are woven throughout. Teens will be drawn in by the action, but the larger issues will linger after the last page is read.-Jennifer Rothschild, Prince George's County Memorial Library System, Oxon Hill, MD

Copyright 2012 Library Journal, LLC Used with permission.

May 1, 2012
Grades 9-12 Michal, already accepted with a full ride to the University of Washington, still runs Sanctuary, the cover for her gambling business. It's highbrow, however, with Mike (as she is known to almost everyone) reading portions of The Gambler before each session, offering incentives to attract more interesting bets, and carefully calculating her odds on sophisticated spreadsheets. She prides herself on being a spectator to all the highs and lows her fellow classmates experience, until attractive new boy Josh Ellison entices her to play the game. It's a metaphor for living life rather than sitting safely on the sidelines, and Michal bites. Furthermore, Josh talks Mike into avenging her surrogate mother's death through an improbable Robin Hood scheme of robbing rich community members to provide money for local charitable causes. This is a well-written, suspenseful, even violent book made more troubling by the authenticity and likability of its characters. Readers will ache as they read this page-turner, knowing full well that nothing good can come from these teens' decisions. It's the law of unintended consequences regrettably working overtime.(Reprinted with permission of Booklist, copyright 2012, American Library Association.)