Read This Book…

Sue loves drawing and comics, and wishes she could be spending her summer break on a camping trip with her friends instead of traveling to Honduras to visit her family with her parents and two sisters. Once in Honduras, she learns of a shocking betrayal: Despite telling her mom she doesn’t want a quinceañera, Mom secretly already sent out the invites and the event is happening. Sue begrudgingly agrees to it…in exchange for her mom letting her go camping when they get home. But Sue soon finds herself in over her head with the planning, and none of the ultra-feminine traditions really resonate. How is she supposed to survive all this party planning when none of it is her style?

I really enjoyed Sue’s story, and I could definitely relate to her feelings of feeling excluded or not listened to when she discovered that her mother had gone ahead with the party planning against her wishes. The author does a great job setting Sue up to be a really sympathetic reader to characters — you start out thinking, How dare her mom do that! But Fajardo slowly peels back the layers of the story and family dynamic so that readers see how important this tradition is to her extended family, and how it is especially important to her mom because they live so far away from Honduras. And Sue, with her special relationship with her abuela, also really wants to make them happy, even if she’s not the kind of girl who gets excited about a big party. While it’s not a case of magically changing her mind, Sue does understand the value of tradition and family connection, while also lending your own flair to these traditions. It’s a sweet and funny story about family, and learning to find your place in family tradition.