Becoming Beatriz

Starred review from July 15, 2019
In a city where "cocaine is king," can a teenage gang leader dare to dream of another life? Newark, New Jersey. 1984. Beatriz Mendez and her older brother, Junito, lead the powerful Latin Diablos gang. Everything changes on Beatriz's 15th birthday when a Haitian gang leaves Junito for dead and Beatriz badly injured. A Like Vanessa (2018) spinoff, this page-turner opens dramatically with a visceral fight scene that introduces a fierce protagonist. Beatriz is a Spanglish-speaking Puerto Rican badass with "a blade tucked inside [her] cheek...to use on anybody who tries to step." In the aftermath of Junito's death, Beatriz struggles to maintain her standing as a Diabla, raise her grades (mostly D's and F's), and support her grief-stricken zombie of a mother. Though "dancing ain't gonna pay the bills," she allows her childhood dream of becoming a dancer to glimmer through her tough exterior each week when watching her favorite TV show, Fame. Told in the first person, this narrative is full of passion and humor, with flashbacks rooted in Beatriz's beloved salsa music. Realistic newsprint clips effectively add context. A friendship/romance with a new boy contributes depth while avoiding predictability. As Beatriz transcends her trauma and self-doubt--"No such thing as a gangbanger turned famous dancer"--readers experience a necessary portrayal of a young Afro-Latina woman who makes her own path, one that isn't straightforward, told in an extremely realistic voice. Inspiring and fresh. (historical notes) (Fiction. 12-18)

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August 1, 2019

Gr 8 Up-It is the mid-1980s and Beatriz worships the TV show Fame. Her mom brought Beatriz and her brother, Junito, to New Jersey from Puerto Rico to escape their abusive father who particularly targeted Junito for not being masculine enough. Beatriz dreams of dancing professionally like her inspiration, Debbie Allen, but when Junito is murdered by Haitian gang leaders, she steps up her involvement with the Diablos, their Newark gang. A Shakespearean twist brings the beautiful and nerdy Haitian Nasser into Beatriz's life. Nasser's multifaceted brilliance inevitably wins Beatriz's heart and leads her back to her passion and commitment to music. Family and school dynamics are spot-on as authority figures range from completely clueless to vitally aware. The language is improbably tame at times for a girl who conceals a razor blade in her cheek every day, but the accurate and immersive '80s music, fashion, and historical references outweigh these scattered lapses. Some of the Spanish dialogue is defined by context, but English monolingual readers may need to translate a few phrases or miss out on details. Similar to The Hate U Give, this book offers readers painful and intimate experiences with injustice through an intensely effective first-person narrative. VERDICT Compelling romance with insightful commentary on racial, cultural, and LGBTQ discrimination alongside the realistic depiction of gang dependency and its impact.-Elaine Fultz, Oakwood City Schools, Dayton, OH

Copyright 2019 School Library Journal, LLC Used with permission.

September 2, 2019
At 15, Puerto Rican Beatriz Mendez has been a Diabla for three years, but the death of her older brother, Junito, at the hands of a Haitian rival gang and the increased pressure to prove her loyalty lead her to question the criminal, often violent path she’s accepted as inevitable. Charles (Like Vanessa) creates a vivid sense of time and place in her second novel, set in Newark, N.J., in the 1980s. Beatriz’s talent for dance leads to the chance to audition for her favorite television show, Fame. This opportunity, along with the consequences of her brother’s untimely death, challenge her to make difficult choices about her present in order to become who she’s meant to be, regardless of expectations from her fellow Diablos, her tight-knit family, and larger society. Her growing friendship and attraction to Nasser, a new classmate of Haitian descent, and her kinship with Fame’s Debbie Allen are meaningful additions, providing outside perspectives into what Beatriz considers an inescapable, normal lifestyle. A memorable portrayal of an ambitious young woman whose growing belief in her own skill and worth allow her to reach beyond her current circumstances. Ages 12–up. Agent: Laura Perkins, Andrea Brown Literary Agency.

July 1, 2019
Grades 7-10 Beatriz, first introduced in Charles' Like Vanessa (2018), wanted to dance and become famous for it, until the day of her fifteenth birthday, when a rival gang drove by her family's bodega and murdered her brother, Junito. He'd been the head of the Diablos, and Beatriz a blossoming Diabla, though she still harbored her dreams of meeting Debbie Allen and making her Fame dreams come true. After her brother was taken from her, though, she stopped dancing. It takes her a year of floating along with the Diablos and trying to do what she thinks Junito would have wanted before she goes back to dreaming and, ultimately, becoming whom she was meant to be. Though the situations and story line are heavy, and the average modern reader might not easily relate to a gang in the '80s, Beatriz's often funny, descriptive first-person narrative is a welcoming avenue into her story. Readers with diverse backgrounds will feel at home with Beatriz's identities as Latina, Black, and American, and everyone will be cheering her on, right up until the satisfying, heartwarming end.(Reprinted with permission of Booklist, copyright 2019, American Library Association.)