description: "Fourteen-year-old Manny Hernandez lives in a housing project in southern California. He and his other Mexican-American neighbors sleep in houses made of sheetrock and tin. They sit in yards worn down to dust, and hope that somehow luck will come their way. Poverty isn't the only problem in Manny's life. His father thinks Manny is as worthless as a penny. His crazy mother thinks she can scrub away or slap away his worries. Each day Manny hopes that Bobby and Stinky, the sadistic brothers across the parking lot. won't beat him up. Manny could join a neighborhood gang, but he's determined to make his own life worth something more."
language: English
title: Parrot in the Oven
titlecomplete: Parrot in the Oven
genres: Fiction, Realistic Fiction, Coming Of Age, Cultural, Middle Grade, Young Adult, School, Teen, Family, Novels
ratings_count: 2060
awards: awardedAt: 820483200000
name: National Book Award
category: Young People's Literature, awardedAt: 820483200000
name: Américas Award, awardedAt: 883641600000
name: Pura Belpré Award
category: Narrative
publisher: Recorded Books