Tortilla Sun
Grade 5–7—Twelve-year-old Izzy is dismayed to learn that her widowed mother will be finishing her studies in Costa Rica, and that she will spend the summer with her grandmother in New Mexico. Before she leaves, she uncovers a baseball that belonged to her father. It has a mysterious message scrawled across it, "Because…magic," and, like all things relating to her late husband, Izzy's mother won't explain. Nana warmly welcomes her granddaughter to her remote village, a place that seems frozen in time. Izzy meets Nana's friends and neighbors, learns to make tortillas, and watches her grandmother, acurandera, prepare folk remedies. She also begins to uncover the mystery surrounding her father's life and death. Cervantes's prose is lean and lightly spiced with evocative metaphor. Unfortunately, the plot feels all too familiar: the wise grandmother, the loving mother who refuses to speak of the past, and the melodramatic resolution. The characters are gracefully limned yet fail to rise above convention. This gentle family story may hold appeal for those who have enjoyed the works of Pam Muñoz Ryan and Toby Johnston.—Marilyn Taniguchi, Beverly Hills Public Library, CACopyright © Reed Business Information, a division of Reed Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.