Winner of the 2014 Pura Belpré Author Award
In Meg Medina’s compelling new novel, a Latina teen is targeted by a bully at her new school — and must discover resources she never knew she had.
One morning before school, some girl tells Piddy Sanchez that Yaqui Delgado hates her and wants to kick her ass. Piddy doesn’t even know who Yaqui is, never mind what she’s done to piss her off. Word is that Yaqui thinks Piddy is stuck-up, shakes her stuff when she walks, and isn’t Latin enough with her white skin, good grades, and no accent. And Yaqui isn’t kidding around, so Piddy better watch her back. At first Piddy is more concerned with trying to find out more about the father she’s never met and how to balance honors courses with her weekend job at the neighborhood hair salon. But as the harassment escalates, avoiding Yaqui and her gang starts to take over Piddy’s life. Is there any way for Piddy to survive without closing herself off or running away? In an all-too-realistic novel, Meg Medina portrays a sympathetic heroine who is forced to decide who she really is.
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9 of 9 people found the following review helpful.
KICK A** BOOK! I LOVE IT!
By BeatleBangs1964
This excellent novel features Piddy Sanchez, a Latina girl who starts high school in a different area thanks to her single mother's determination to get her into a good school. Sadly, Piddy unwittingly incurs the wrath of Yaqui Delgado, a fierce bully. Yaqui sends her emissary Vanesa to warn Piddy of her impending a** kicking. Yaqui sadly believes that Piddy struts her stuff and is "not Latina enough," and is on the make for Yaqui's boyfriend. This is later disproved as Piddy doesn't even know Yaqui or her boyfriend and would not recognize him if he walked right in front of her.This is a very serious topic. Racial pride is one thing. Race is a matter of inherited bloodlines. Race is not about acting or talking a certain way or playing the part of a stereotype. Race is something a person is born into and is not acquired. How a person talks and acts is secondary. Sadly, there are many people who believe in inflicting racial stereotypical expectations and behaviors on members of their race. There is also the gross misperception that a person is not "(fill in the racial blank) enough" because they for whatever reason do not conform to the stereotype. What makes me personally angry is when others impose a dictum of behaviors on people simply because they belong to a certain group. Not everybody is willing to go along with these stereotypes.Another problem that rears its ugly head is the Jim Crow mentality. (Jim Crow is generally associated with the black population, but any laws discriminating against certain groups or group members who treat other members of their group badly based on race fall under the Jim Crow umbrella.) There is no such thing as "not black/Asian/Native/Latino/Latina/any group you can think of enough." Once again, behavior does NOT constitute a race! (On a related note, racism can best be described as letting race/ethnicity/religion/nationality dictate and determine how one treats people. An especially INSIDIOUS form racism can take is that of preference, e.g. making allowances for a certain group regardless of behavior simply because the individual or individuals belong to that group. In other words, applying a double standard).Piddy is the target of this insider racism. She becomes fearful of impending danger and feels terrorized and stalked. Yaqui steps up her terror campaign against Piddy. Yaqui's cruelty upsets Piddy to the point where she is afraid to come to school. She doesn't even want to go outside lest she encounter Yaqui or her friends.On the home front, Piddy's mother is a very strong woman like her best friend Lila. Lila has her own ideas about men and let's just say she holds the reins. Piddy's mother wants Piddy to "be a lady" and will stop at nothing to help her daughter move up the social ladder. The tête-à-tête Piddy and her mother have concern Piddy's father, whom she does not know. No pictures of him exist in their home and she knows virtually nothing about the man. Even so, Piddy sharpens her survival skills. She learns a lot at the Salón Corazón, a hair salon where she works part time. As anybody whose ever been in a salon knows, a salon is an excellent place to learn the latest local gossip. Piddy grows up a lot from learning about adult behavior including sexuality in that salon. Even so, that one safe place goes up in smoke when the Yaqui pack hunts her down at the salon. Where can Piddy turn? And to whom?Piddy is in danger and the danger comes from more than one source. A boy she meets could possibly be a dangerous person. So could other kids she thought she might be able to count on. Even so, there are devastating repercussions and the Yaq Pack is as ruthless as a pack of jackals or wolves.This is an excellent book that I would highly recommend. The close knit group of very strong women are a welcome cast of characters. Readers are treated to Latin culture and the dynamics among the characters is nothing short of brilliantly written and extremely plausible. A hard, wonderfully cutting edge book, it is one that will resonate in the minds of all fortunate enough to read it. It is, despite its edginess and wonderful title a Latin handshake.Martha Reeves and the Vandellas' 1964 "Nowhere to Run (Nowhere to Hide)" is definitely the soundtrack of this book.
6 of 6 people found the following review helpful.Strong Female Characters
By Ken C.
Talk about a provocative title! YAQUI DELGADO WANTS TO KICK YOUR ASS grabs teen readers' attention in a hurry. As you might infer, it is a book about bullying -- not "another" book about bullying, but "a" book about it. Meaning? I think it stands above the others I've read. Strong, strong characterization. And, in a book curiously devoid of male characters (spare two minor players), Medina's book speaks to the power of women, especially when they work together.The protagonist here is Piddy Sanchez, a Latina girl who lands in a new high school when her single mother tries to improve their living quarters. Piddy's arrival draws notice from the wrong person in a hurry. In fact, the first line of the book is the title of the book. The words come from Vanesa, a friend of Yaqui's. It takes another girl to explain the threat more clearly. The mysterious (but not for long!) Yaqui has decided that Piddy is stuck up, shakes her booty too much, and has eyes for her boyfriend. Of course, Piddy wouldn't know Yaqui's boyfriend if she fell over him, but that, apparently, is beside the point.From this simple beginning, a psychological net begins to close on the mind of Piddy. She begins to feel like prey, an innocent creature that can hear but not see the trouble that stalks her. Later, Yaqui appears with a bang (think Piddy's head, maybe), and the intimidation takes on a whole new dimension. Piddy is so traumatized that she fears going outside, never mind to school. She becomes the hunted, the haunted, and the hated through no fault of her own.As a bigger than life help to Piddy, there's Ma's best friend, Lila, who sells Avon products and keeps men guessing. Piddy's mother has personality in spades, too. She has strong ideas on what it means to be a lady, but she's keeping secrets about Piddy's missing father. In fact, she burned all of his pictures, and Piddy's burning to know more about him. The conflict between indignant daughter and harried mother serves as a neat sub-plot to the mayhem at school. Then there's Piddy's Saturday job. She works at Salón Corazón, a hair salon where the women come for styling and gossip. For a teen like Piddy, it's a great fly-on-the-wall place to learn about the ways of adults and the wiles of men, only Yaqui and her gang track her down one Saturday, turning her Saturday paradise into another trap where the enemy can find her.Ultimately, threats become actions and Piddy seeks succor in all kinds of places, including the arms of Joey Halper, a kid who grew up calling her Toad and now is a man -- or at least as much a man as a teenage boy can be. Medina does a masterful job as she shows what it's like to be a haunted, hunted girl desperate for love while hiding secrets of hate -- Yaqui's -- which she suffers silently until the violence leaves loud marks on her body. Then she has no choice but to share, and with it come the consequences. "Narcs" who rat on bullies know that they haven't seen anything yet. Will the same hold for Piddy?A story of strong Latina women, YAQUI DELGADO WANTS TO KICK YOUR ASS will charm you with its grit and honesty. It's hard not to cheer for Piddy and enjoy the sassy women who surround her, and Yaqui will be your favorite antagonist in quite some time. Yes, it may be a bit too edgy for most middle school readers, but it's a strong addition to any high school library -- school, classroom, or personal.
4 of 4 people found the following review helpful.Strong message, so worth the read
By Jennifer Miller
Summary:Piddy Sanchez is in a new school and almost immediately becomes the target of a bully, Yaqui. Somehow, Piddy has managed to be stuck up, not Latina enough, and after Yaqui's boyfriend just by walking through the hallway on her first day of school. How does that happen? At first, Piddy doesn't pay much attention to it, after all, she doesn't even know who Yaqui is. There are other pressing issues in Piddy's life. For instance, Piddy has no information about her father, no pictures, nothing. She also has to work on the weekends at a salon. Yaqui is more of an annoyance until the harassment begins to escalate. It gets to the point where Piddy can't leave the house without fear of interacting with Yaqui or one of her gang. The salon is not even a safe place for her. It seems like everyone is against her and she has no place to turn. How can Piddy manage to get through high school with this constant terror?My thoughts:This is such a powerful book. Piddy is a normal girl, but she comes to life in such a way that it feels like you know her. There were so many times that I wanted to help protect her. The isolation and fear were so strong that I wanted to step up to Yaqui (or one of the others) and tell them to back off. There are also several mini mysteries within this book. They make it interesting to find out what other things are happening in Piddy's world. Even though the subject matter is rather grim, there are some lighter points. Piddy's mother is a very strong woman. She likes to try and train Piddy to be a lady. Lila doesn't necessarily hold back her feelings, which are very funny sometimes. Also, the Salon is gossip central, so she learns a lot by working there. Honestly, the ending was very realistic. I'm impressed with Medina and will definitely read things from her again in the future.
