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ginnykaczmarek 's review for:
The First Rule of Punk
by Celia C. Pérez
Malu (short for Maria Luisa), starts a new school in Chicago with her mom, far from Dad back home in Miami. Half Mexican and half Irish, Malu looks like her long-haired, dark-eyed mom (who she calls Super Mexican because of her devotion to Mexican traditions) but feels more like her dad, the tattooed, black-clad owner of a record store. Her mom bugs her to act, dress, and eat like “la senorita,” but Malu prefers loud music, Ramones t-shirts, and vegetarian dishes (with no cilantro!).
To express herself, Malu makes zines out of magazine clippings, stickers, and her own words and poems, several of which appear throughout the book in a fun counterpoint to the story. A how-to for making your own zines appears at the end. (Bonus: Check out the awesome playlist on the author's website!)
Malu’s struggle to figure out who she is feels genuine. At school, she is called a “coconut”–brown on the outside, white on the inside–yet over the course of the book, she turns an insult into a point of pride when she forms a punk rock mariachi band. Awesome! She learns to incorporate her mom’s heritage with her dad’s interests into her own unique blend by following the First Rule of Punk: Be Yourself. Not always easy to do, but Malu’s story illustrates one way to figure out what that might mean for each reader.
To express herself, Malu makes zines out of magazine clippings, stickers, and her own words and poems, several of which appear throughout the book in a fun counterpoint to the story. A how-to for making your own zines appears at the end. (Bonus: Check out the awesome playlist on the author's website!)
Malu’s struggle to figure out who she is feels genuine. At school, she is called a “coconut”–brown on the outside, white on the inside–yet over the course of the book, she turns an insult into a point of pride when she forms a punk rock mariachi band. Awesome! She learns to incorporate her mom’s heritage with her dad’s interests into her own unique blend by following the First Rule of Punk: Be Yourself. Not always easy to do, but Malu’s story illustrates one way to figure out what that might mean for each reader.