Yaqui Delgado Wants to Kick Your Ass by Meg Medina
ISBN: 9780763658595
Candlewick Press, Somerville, MA, 2013
Plot Summary: Piddy’s sophomore year of school is not going as expected. Her best friend Mitzi moved out of New York City, her mother has moved them to a new apartment which entails transferring to a new school where she has an enemy she doesn’t even know after being there for two weeks. Piddy doesn’t know why Yaqui Delgado wants to kick her ass, but the fear of attack is soon running Piddy’s life as the bullying starts to escalate from verbal threats to “fastball” with milk in the cafeteria and a sneak attacks in the hallways that end up with her beloved elephant necklace being stolen. To make matters worse Piddy doesn’t feel that Mitzi understands her anymore and learning the truth about what really made her father leave has created a rift between her and her mother. She returns to her old apartment complex to hide and reconnects with Joey Halper, the resident bad boy. If anyone can teach her how to run away from her problems it is him, but as their relationship deepens she will have to decide if she want to continue running with him or stay and fight for her dreams.
Critical Evaluation: The character of Piddy allows a lot of themes to be explored in this novel. Her vulnerability is tangible as she tries to deal with all of the emotions inflicted by the multiple changes going on in her life. The extra layer of her trying to figure out her place within the Latino community could have been explored further, but the brief mention of it provides the reader with the understanding that there is not necessarily unity within this group of people. Piddy herself is a target of stereotyping from her own group because she doesn’t look Latina enough which becomes something that she begins to envy which was never the case before the bullying started. This desire to fit in, but wanting to maintain a sense of individuality is the struggle of everyone in their youth.
The mood that Medina is able to capture engages the reader and further connects them with Piddy. She captures the essence of the feeling of the hairs standing on the back of your neck because you are always being watched; it creates a crushing dread in your heart. An example of this dread is when Yaqui shows up for Saturday detention. “She starts to come in, and every hair on my arm seems to bristle. The empty seat beside me suddenly feels like a monster magnet. I can’t breathe” (p. 118). The pacing will keep the reader engaged as the escalation of harassment leading to physical abuse if stepped up every few chapters with the in-between ones expanding upon the other plotlines and how they intertwine in Piddy’s mind.
Reader’s Annotation two sentence max: Piddy learns how seven little words can change her life when Vanessa tells her that “Yaqui Delgado wants to kick your ass.”
Author Biography: Author information retrieved from Meg Medina’s website. https://megmedina.com/about/
Meg Medina is an award-winning Cuban American author who writes picture books, middle grade, and YA fiction.
Her most recent young adult novel, Burn Baby Burn, has earned numerous distinctions including being long listed for the 2016 National Book Award and shortlisted for the Kirkus Prize. She is the 2016 recipient of the Pura Belpré honor medal for her picture book, Mango, Abuela and Me, and the 2014 Pura Belpré Award winner for her young adult novel, Yaqui Delgado Wants to Kick Your Ass, which was also the winner of the 2013 CYBILS Fiction award and the International Latino Book Award. Meg also earned the 2012 Ezra Jack Keats New Writers medal for her picture book Tía Isa Wants a Car.
Meg’s other books are The Girl Who Could Silence the Wind , a 2012 Bank Street Best Book and CBI Recommended Read in the UK; and Milagros: Girl from Away.
Meg’s work examines how cultures intersect, as seen through the eyes of young people. She brings to audiences stories that speak to both what is unique in Latino culture and to the qualities that are universal. Her favorite protagonists are strong girls.
In March 2014, she was recognized as one of the CNN 10 Visionary Women in America. In November 2014, she was named one of Latino Stories Top Ten Latino Authors to Watch. In 2017, she was named, along with Gigi Amateau, to the Southerners of the Year list by Southern Living Magazine. When she is not writing, Meg works on community projects that support girls, Latino youth and/or literacy. She lives with her family in Richmond, Virginia.
Genre: Realistic Fiction
Curriculum Ties: Social Issues, Cultural Diversity
Book Talking Ideas: At its heart Piddy’s story could be any of ours as we all know people who have been bullied or have been bullies or experienced it ourselves. Meg Medina captures that driving fear effortlessly with Piddy’s mood.
Reading Level/ Interest Age: 7th – 12th grades/ 13+
Challenge Issues: Language, Violence
Challenge Resources:
- Handout of the ALA’s Library Bill of Rights and Right to Read
- Know your library’s collection development policy and have a copy of it on hand. Being able to show how this book fits the necessary requirements for purchase will give you a leg to stand on.
- Have both positive and negative reviews from sources such as SLJ, VOYA, Booklist, Kirkus Review, Common Sense Media, Publishers Weekly, Hornbook, and Bulletin of the Center for Children’s Books.
- Be familiar with the material. If you have not read the book mention this in your conversation and ask for time to review it and invite the patron back for a more in-depth conversation once you have been able to look it over thoroughly.
- Be prepared to cite any awards the book has won.
- Have a rationale prepared on why the book enhances your library’s collection and be able to offer alternative titles on the same subject that might be less controversial.
- Stay calm while talking with the patient and practice active listening skills. The patron might calm down if they are allowed to air their grievance.
- Have a copy of the Request for Reconsideration of Library Materials form handy as a last resort and be able to explain the process to the patron.
Why I picked this book: The title may be an initial turn off for readers, it was a bit for me, but Piddy is a character that the reader will care deeply for if they give the book a chance. A lot of books about bullying end tragically or with it destroying the reader’s life. Medina’s novel shows young adults that it is possible to continue to pursue your dreams in the face of adversity and that bad choices do not have to ruin your life. This book will add diversity to the young adult collection and show how stereotypes are in all groups of people. It won the Pure Belpré Award in 2014 which reinforces that this book accurately depicts Latino cultural experience. Despite my initial lack of desire to read the book this was one of my favorite ones of the novels assigned for this class.
Kate Daigle's Mini Collection 