A whirlwind of surprising similes and inventive turns of phrase
colorfully frame this grim, ultimately tender story, subtitled "Mi
Vida," about a young Chicano getting his priorities straight. It's
a tough year for the Hernandez family: Manny's father is jailed
after threatening his mother with a rifle, his older sister, Magda,
is seeing someone on the sly, and his brother, Nardo, has taken to
coming home drunk. Manny accidentally shoots at his little sister
while fooling around with his father's gun and later watches as
Magda miscarries on the bathroom floor. Still, he regards his
family with affection and relates the disasters, along with other
incidents away from home - not so much to deliver indictments as to
open a window on the values, dreams, and tribulations that shape
his life. Martinez's language is so lively it sometimes barrels
beyond his control, calling attention to itself with a steady
barrage of extravagant images ("blocks of fat sagged on her hips
like a belt of thick Bibles") and challenging metaphors ("Mom's
shrieks chased away the panicked air; Dad's voice was coarse paper
shredding to pieces"). There are also occasional (deliberate?)
misuses, as when Nardo makes "hairline escapes." The picture Manny
paints of his world is not a pretty one, but it is unusually
vibrant. (Kirkus Reviews)
Dad believed people were like money. You could be a thousand-dollar person or a hundred-dollar person'even a ten-, five-, or one-dollar person. Below that, everybody was just nickels and dimes. To my dad, we were pennies.
Fourteen-year-old Manny Hernandez wants to be more than just a penny. He wants to be a vato firme, the kind of guy people respect. But that's not easy when your father is abusive, your brother can't hold a job, and your mother scrubs the house as if she can was the trouble away.
In Manny's neighborhood, the way to get respect is to be in a gang. But Manny's not sure that joining a gang is the solution. Because, after all, it's his life'and he wants to be the one to decide what happens to it.
Winner of the 1996 National Book Award for Young People's Literature, Parrot in the Oven: mi vida is a fresh, original, and powerfully written account of one boy's coming-of-age in a difficult time.
For Manuel Hernandez, the year leading up to his test of courage, his initiation into a gang, is a time filled with the pain and tension, awkwardness and excitement of growing up in a mixed-up, crazy world. Manny’s dad is always calling him el perico, or parrot. It’s from a Mexican saying about a parrot that complains how hot it is in the shade while all along he’s sitting inside the oven and doesn’t know it. But Manny wants to be smarter than the parrot in the oven—he wants to find out what it means to be a vato firme, a guy to respect. From an exciting new voice in Chicano literature, this is a beautifully written, vivid portrait of one Mexican-American boy’s life.
1998 Pura Belpre Author Award
1996 Americas Award for Children’s and Young Adult Literature
1997 Books for the Teen Age (NY Public Library)
1996 National Book Award for Young People’s Literature
General
Is the information for this product incomplete, wrong or inappropriate?
Let us know about it.
Does this product have an incorrect or missing image?
Send us a new image.
Is this product missing categories?
Add more categories.
Review This Product
No reviews yet - be the first to create one!
Welcome to Loot.co.za!
Sign in / Register |Wishlists & Gift Vouchers |Help | Advanced search
(1)
