The Epic Fail of Arturo Zamora by Pablo Cartaya

 

Arturo Zamora is looking forward to a simple summer of ice cream, friends, family, and working at his family's Cuban restaurant La Cocina de la Isla. Things become more complicated when Carmen, his mother's goddaughter, comes to visit, when his Abuela, who founded the family restaurant and is the community matriarch, becomes ill, and the family restaurant is imperiled when a developer comes to town and wants to takeover their property. Arturo needs to muster the courage to face his first love, and to stand up to a narcissistic developer whose self-interest is veiled by a concern for the community. Arturo finds the courage through his love of his Abuela, a box of letters left to him by his Abuelo, and the poetry of José Martí.

Pablo Cartaya has written a simple story, well suited to middle school, with complex overtones; gentrification, first love, courage, as well as devotion to family and community. The plot is linear and mostly dialogue, told in Arturo's voice. My favorite part of the book is when Arturo's Abuela gives him a box of letters and artifacts from his now deceased Abuelo. The letters are loving, wise and heartwarming; words that Arturo needs to face his conflicts. The prose is interspersed with Spanish, which adds to the color and character of the story. The Spanish is deftly interwoven with the text so the non-Spanish reader will understand the words. Intentional or not, the character of the developer seems vaguely similar to our current president!

Mark's Book Picks Score: 4

Reading Level: 5 • Interest Level: 5-8 • AR Points: 7 • Lexile Level: 750 • Publisher: Penguin • Pages: 236 • Copyright: 2018 • ISBN: 978-1-10-199725-3 • Available in Perma-Bound Binding