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A review by rebeccafromflorida
Yaqui Delgado Wants to Kick Your Ass by Meg Medina
4.0
When I was at ALAMW14 in January, I met author Meg Medina at the Library of Virginia booth. Shannon @ River City Reading had read her book, Yaqui Delgado Wants to Kick Your Ass (her review is here!!!), and mentioned she was a must-meet author.
Well, I was shocked when we started talking. It turns out that Meg Medina lived in the same smallish town where I grew up, and we overlapped by a sizable chunk of years. She even taught at my middle school (before I got there, though).
Yaqui Delgado Wants to Kick Your Ass via Love at First Book
Author Meg Medina, myself, & Katie @ Doing Dewey at ALAMW14
Anyway, after that, how could I not pick up her book???
Yaqui Delgado Wants to Kick Your Ass by Meg Medina is a fictional, young adult (not very much a book for adults, too!) story about Piddy, a new girl at a rough school.
Unfortunately for Piddy, a bully named Yaqui Delgado, is upset with her – so upset that she wants to beat her up. Why is Yaqui so angry? Piddy is apparently getting some attention for shaking her behind (which she didn’t even know she had or did!), and some of that attention is coming from Yaqui’s boyfriend, neither of whom has Piddy met.
Piddy, an A student at her old school, is consumed with fear. Her grades drop, she starts having a tough time with her friends and mother, and she starts skipping school.
Only when the situation gets physical, does Piddy finally find a little bit of courage to change the situation.
This book is one for everyone – mainly because it’s so REAL. Piddy is a fictional character, but she is a representation of many students in high schools, middle schools, and elementary schools across the country.
As I was reading it, I was trying to think of how to help solve Piddy’s problem – as a former teacher, as an eventual-parent . . . how can we help teens who are too terrified to speak up?
Don’t judge this book by its title – Yaqui Delgado Wants to Kick Your Ass is titled in a way to shock you a little. And it should, but not because of the title, but because similar phrases are being spoken in our schools and need to be stopped.
Well, I was shocked when we started talking. It turns out that Meg Medina lived in the same smallish town where I grew up, and we overlapped by a sizable chunk of years. She even taught at my middle school (before I got there, though).
Yaqui Delgado Wants to Kick Your Ass via Love at First Book
Author Meg Medina, myself, & Katie @ Doing Dewey at ALAMW14
Anyway, after that, how could I not pick up her book???
Yaqui Delgado Wants to Kick Your Ass by Meg Medina is a fictional, young adult (not very much a book for adults, too!) story about Piddy, a new girl at a rough school.
Unfortunately for Piddy, a bully named Yaqui Delgado, is upset with her – so upset that she wants to beat her up. Why is Yaqui so angry? Piddy is apparently getting some attention for shaking her behind (which she didn’t even know she had or did!), and some of that attention is coming from Yaqui’s boyfriend, neither of whom has Piddy met.
Piddy, an A student at her old school, is consumed with fear. Her grades drop, she starts having a tough time with her friends and mother, and she starts skipping school.
Only when the situation gets physical, does Piddy finally find a little bit of courage to change the situation.
This book is one for everyone – mainly because it’s so REAL. Piddy is a fictional character, but she is a representation of many students in high schools, middle schools, and elementary schools across the country.
As I was reading it, I was trying to think of how to help solve Piddy’s problem – as a former teacher, as an eventual-parent . . . how can we help teens who are too terrified to speak up?
Don’t judge this book by its title – Yaqui Delgado Wants to Kick Your Ass is titled in a way to shock you a little. And it should, but not because of the title, but because similar phrases are being spoken in our schools and need to be stopped.