Path to the Stars

August 1, 2018
Acevedo debuts with an inspirational autobiography detailing how she bucked expectations while growing up in 1960s New Mexico.Though born in faraway South Dakota, where her father was completing his service in the U.S. Army, Sylvia grew up in the southern New Mexico town of Las Cruces. Growing up in a tightknit community of extended family, church family, and fellow Mexican-Americans, Sylvia soon discovered that her interests did not align with many of her peers'. While the cultural expectation for young women, especially Mexican-American women, was to marry and stay home to raise a family, Sylvia longed for adventures. She found a community and home away from home with the like-minded girls within her Girl Scout troop. The skills she acquired selling cookies and earning badges gave her confidence and self-efficacy as she moved through school taking honors courses, refusing home ec, playing drums in the band, and ultimately pursuing higher education in engineering. Acevedo's narration is frequently repetitive, and she breezes past the many instances of racism and sexism she experienced both within and outside of her home in a matter-of-fact tone. All's well that ends well, she seems to say. Though the redundancies cause hiccups in the narrative flow, and at times it feels like a long-form advertisement for Scouting, those seeking stories of female STEM trailblazers will find much to love here.Encouraging and uplifting. (Memoir. 8-12)

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September 1, 2018

Gr 5 Up-A gem of an autobiography. As a girl growing up in New Mexico in the 1950's, Acevedo recognized and confronted bias in many forms. She fought against the notions that girls should only become wives and mothers, and she strived to be a success in all aspects in her life: a focused student, a successful Girl Scout, a talented musician, and, above all, a young woman who never believed that her future was already written by someone else. Particularly touching is Acevedo's recollection of her mother's determination and dedication to her family: she acted as an advocate for her daughter's success even as she and Sylvia faced domestic abuse. The text is accessible, and the story of Acevedo's life touches upon a number of salient points for readers including racism, gender roles, and educational inequality. The importance of the Girl Scouts and of always being prepared resonates throughout. The author's experiences working as a rocket scientist are fascinating, though these recollections come at the very end of the book. VERDICT A great addition to memoir/biography collections.-Patricia Feriano, Montgomery County Public Schools, MD

Copyright 2018 School Library Journal, LLC Used with permission.

Starred review from July 1, 2018
Grades 5-8 *Starred Review* Determined from the start, Sylvia Acevedo was destined to be successful. In her memoir, the CEO of the Girl Scouts gives credit to scouting for preparing her for a career as a rocket scientist. Sylvia was born in South Dakota, but her parents, a Mexican American father and a Mexican immigrant mother, moved the family to New Mexico. Although not wealthy, young Sylvia was comfortable among her Spanish-speaking family. As her mother moves the family multiple times in search of more prosperous neighborhoods, Sylvia begins to feel like an outsider on many fronts. Not only different from her Anglo classmates, she dreams of using her love of math and science to go to college rather than become the housewife expected by her Latino community. When she joins a Brownie troop, however, she finds friendship and realizes her talents. While Acevedo engages readers with stories of perseverance (such as boycotting home economics in favor of math), she never sugarcoats her family's struggles, including her sister's disabilities from meningitis and her father's domestic abuse. Briefly touching on her college education and career in engineering, she focuses instead on formative events in her childhood and adolescence. In the process, this appealing page-turner helps fill the void of biographies on Latina women. Girls, boys, scouts, nonscouts?all will be inspired by Acevedo's story.(Reprinted with permission of Booklist, copyright 2018, American Library Association.)