Book Review: Cruzita and the Mariacheros by Ashley Granillo

Publisher’s description

Cruzita is going to be a pop star. All she has to do is win a singing contest at her favorite theme park and get famous. But she can’t go to the theme park this summer. Instead, she has to help out at her family’s bakery, which has been struggling ever since Tío Chuy died. Cruzita’s great-uncle poured his heart into the bakery—the family legacy—and now that he’s gone, nothing is the same.

When Cruzita’s not rolling uneven tortillas or trying to salvage rock-hard conchas, she has to take mariachi lessons, even though she doesn’t know how to play her great-grandpa’s violin and she’s not fluent in Spanish. At first, she’s convinced her whole summer will be a disaster. But as she discovers the heart and soul of mariachi music, she realizes that there’s more than one way to be a star―and more than one way to carry on a legacy.

Amanda’s thoughts

I don’t have to think very hard to say that I’m sure I’ve never read a book about a mariachi band before. How cool!

It’s the summer before seventh grade and Cruzita has big plans. She dreams of being a famous singer one day and is ready to enter a contest this summer that will put her on the path to stardom. But everything quickly falls apart when her parents, who don’t appreciate her back talk or her poor grade in Spanish, decide to ground her for the summer. In addition to grounding her, they take away all her music so she can really concentrate on helping the family. Harsh? Yes, super harsh. But Cruz accepts the punishment (because she has no choice) and buckles down to helping the family keep their panaderia open in the wake of her uncle’s death. It’s set up to be a summer that sucks.

But what a boring book it would be if that were so, right? She’s grounded, it’s all awful, she hates her life. Well, she is grounded, but everything else starts to reconfigure into an interesting summer. Her grandma hands her a violin and signs her up for mariachi classes, which is not exactly the music Cruz has been dreaming about becoming famous for, but, hey, it’s still music. There, she meets some really cool new friends who are actually nice to her (unlike her mostly absent for the summer best friend, Kelli, who is decidedly not nice) and finds a real connection to her heritage. Not only that, but together with her new friends she just might be able to come up with a way to restore the reputation of the bakery and help out with the financial burden. Not one second her summer is the one she had planned, but it all turns out to be a pretty life-changing time for her.

With rich character development and a fast pace, this book was a great read built around a world (mariachi) I knew nothing about. Just beware: know where your local panaderia is and be ready to get some treats to keep you company as you read!

Review copy (ARC) courtesy of the publisher

ISBN-13: 9798765608500
Publisher: Lerner Publishing Group
Publication date: 04/02/2024
Age Range: 10-14

Filed under: Book Reviews