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A review by likeboadicea
Yaqui Delgado Wants to Kick Your Ass by Meg Medina
2.0
Yaqui Delgado Wants to Kick Your Ass deals with a topic that seems to grow more and more relevant with each passing generation: bullying and the consequences of it. Its unbelievably sad how frequently now the news features stories on kids who have taken their lives because of bullying and not feeling accepted. While I myself have never experienced bullying of this extreme, I thought this novel did an excellent job portraying the situation realistically, especially in how Piddy refused to turn to any authority figures for help in her plight. High schoolers rarely want to involve adults in situations such as this, both because they don't want to look weak to their peers, but also because they are trying to prove to themselves that they are grown up and can handle their problems on their own.
Medina seamlessly weaves in the conflict of diversity and the struggles of being Latina with the 'main' focus of bullying. The bits of Spanish throughout the novel were beautifully in character for our protagonist, and even though I don't speak any of the language, I think that it further solidifies Piddy's connection to her family and her heritage in an authentic manner. I enjoy how Piddy's heritage is an important element in the novel (it might even be linked to why Yaqui hates her so much), but I did not get the sense that it the biggest element. To me, its a story of a Latina girl who gets bullied, not a story about a girl who gets bullied because she's Latina. There's a big difference between those two.
I thought the author did a wonderfully bringing her characters to life, from Joey to Lila, but I was particularly fascinated by the mystery surrounding Yaqui's character (who's important enough to get her name in the title) throughout the novel. I kept expecting her to play a bigger role in the story, that the reader might learn what made her so hard, or what the precise reasoning was for her distaste for Piddy. I was a little disappointed that her character remained a faraway figure for a majority of the story. But I was very happy that Piddy has a hopefully next chapter to her life! Its an important message to send to young adults that bullying can, indeed, be overcome.
Medina seamlessly weaves in the conflict of diversity and the struggles of being Latina with the 'main' focus of bullying. The bits of Spanish throughout the novel were beautifully in character for our protagonist, and even though I don't speak any of the language, I think that it further solidifies Piddy's connection to her family and her heritage in an authentic manner. I enjoy how Piddy's heritage is an important element in the novel (it might even be linked to why Yaqui hates her so much), but I did not get the sense that it the biggest element. To me, its a story of a Latina girl who gets bullied, not a story about a girl who gets bullied because she's Latina. There's a big difference between those two.
I thought the author did a wonderfully bringing her characters to life, from Joey to Lila, but I was particularly fascinated by the mystery surrounding Yaqui's character (who's important enough to get her name in the title) throughout the novel. I kept expecting her to play a bigger role in the story, that the reader might learn what made her so hard, or what the precise reasoning was for her distaste for Piddy. I was a little disappointed that her character remained a faraway figure for a majority of the story. But I was very happy that Piddy has a hopefully next chapter to her life! Its an important message to send to young adults that bullying can, indeed, be overcome.