Shut Up, This Is Serious

Starred review from October 23, 2023
High school seniors and best friends Belén and Leti, the daughters of working-class Mexican immigrants, live in Oakland, Calif. Tenacious and hardworking Leti dreams of attending UC Berkeley, but when she finds out she’s pregnant by her secret boyfriend Quentin, things get complicated. Leti fears the reaction of her racist parents, who don’t know that she’s dating a Black classmate. Belén, meanwhile, must navigate an unstable home life after her father abandons the family, leaving them in a precarious financial situation, while also contending with the fact that she might fail out of high school. As Leti and Belén confront their daunting circumstances, Belén reckons with the knowledge that “I know it isn’t even all my fault—but somehow, it’s all my responsibility to fix it,” in this stirring novel about dysfunctional family dynamics, intergenerational trauma, and toxic parenting. Itxa steadfastly approaches sensitive topics such as abuse, anxiety, depression, teen pregnancy, racism, and sex work via compassionately wrought prose. Belén and Leti’s affectionate friendship provides levity to the high-stress situations, and a charismatic supporting cast and sharp dialogue propel this unforgettable debut. Ages 14–up. Agent: Elizabeth Bewley, Sterling Lord Literistic.

Starred review from November 15, 2023
When everyone tells you who you are, how can you figure out who you want to be? Ever since Bel�n's pa left, nothing's been the same. Her depressed ma is hardly home, and all older sister Ava does is berate Bel�n and accuse her of being just like their father. In danger of flunking out of high school, Bel�n fears Ava is right about her. With her best friend, Leti, pregnant and going through serious family problems of her own, Bel�n seeks solace in a questionable relationship with a college student. And when she sees her father at a restaurant with a much younger woman, but he doesn't acknowledge her ("his eyes remain flat. Lifeless. Like he is looking at a stranger"), the tenuous hold she had on herself slips. Everyone, it seems, abandons her; will Bel�n also give up on herself? Despite the book's exploration of painful subjects, Bel�n's strong, tell-it-like-it-is voice and wry humor don't court readers' pity. The novel treats issues of misogyny, domestic violence, and racism as realities to be dealt with, not character-defining moments of transformation, and the story's tension is rooted in the question of whether Bel�n and Leti will break free from cycles of generational trauma and forge their own futures. This addictively readable novel is a loving portrait of growing up Mexican American and female in Oakland. A stunning debut from a powerful new voice. (Fiction. 14-18)

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Starred review from December 1, 2023
Grades 9-12 *Starred Review* It's the last year of high school, and Bel�n avoids her worries by focusing on three things: train hopping, books, and her best friend, Leti's, unexpected pregnancy. Recently abandoned by her father, who absconded with his wife's savings, Bel�n, her mom, and her older sister all fall into depression. With little guidance from her mother and sister, Bel�n spirals into delinquency at school, to the point of almost not being able to graduate. Friendships become strained as Bel�n attempts to convince Leti to tell her terrifyingly pious parents about the approaching due date and have them meet her Black boyfriend. Feeling alone and despondent, Bel�n drowns her sorrows by rushing into a relationship with a college student, losing her virginity, and questioning her worth. It will take a class assignment and unexpected support systems to ease emotions and help Bel�n find her way. Ixta's debut will leave many shedding tears over this emotionally captivating tale about a tough, first-generation Mexican American who does her best to navigate life. Many readers will resonate with common themes, such as racism, machismo, financial instability, friendship drama, and high-school pregnancies. This story is a poignant reminder for young adults that resiliency doesn't mean being a pro at bottling up emotions; rather, it's knowing when to ask for help.

COPYRIGHT(2023) Booklist, ALL RIGHTS RESERVED.

Starred review from January 1, 2024

Gr 9 Up-This novel explores the coming-of-age of two Latina girls during their senior year of high school in East Oakland. Both Leti and Bel�n navigate a terrain that is saturated in casual racism, belittlement, sexism, and daily toxicity, but for Bel�n, all of these plus her father's abandonment have sent her into an emotional tailspin. As related by Bel�n, everyone else's lives and upheavals function as distraction from the heaviness of her own depression. Ixta explores the shortcomings of underfunded public education and a higher education system that wants trauma porn to inform student applications. For Leti's college essay, she must divulge her teen pregnancy. But Ixta upends the notion that teen girls who get pregnant have thrown away their futures. Readers see that Leti, for all of her shrinking self-consciousness, is a fighter. This realistic novel lays bare the ways in which some of the most harmful damage a young girl can experience happens in the home. Bel�n witnesses the infidelity of her father and that of Leti's father, as well as the abuse visited upon Leti's body. Bel�n, the observant one, is belittled and treated with contempt for the behavior of the father. Yet she can still love deeply and begin the act of forgiving and healing. This novel explores the effects of family strife, the behaviors children learn from their own parents, and what catalysts spark their evolution and journey away from those damaging situations. VERDICT Readers will be inspired by Bel�n's path to healing but not before it makes them ugly cry.-Stephanie Creamer

Copyright 2024 School Library Journal, LLC Used with permission.

March 1, 2024
It's senior year, and while Belen's classmates are focused on college applications, she's flunking school and struggling to cope with a shattered home life. Since her pa walked out on their family, her ma has been withdrawn, crying and seemingly overlooking the past-due bills piling up. Belen's best friend, Leti, is a straitlaced student determined to get into UC Berkeley, but now Leti is pregnant and worried that her boyfriend, who is Black, will be rejected by her racist parents. As Belen sinks into her loneliness, she seeks affection from a college guy to distract herself from the pain of her father's abandonment and the constant comparisons to him from unsympathetic relatives. Misogyny, racism, religion, and unjust expectations for girls like Belen and Leti are explored within their Mexican culture with sharp rebukes and meaningful introspection about identity and breaking out of toxic familial and cultural cycles. A cast of secondary characters bolsters Belen's development, though few (other than Leti) are given sufficient airtime to feel fully realized. The Oakland, California, setting is brought to life through rides on the BART and visits to the frutero that illustrate the city's diversity. The protagonist's strong narrative voice, the realistic emotional tone, and thematic touchstones will hook fans of Sanchez's I Am Not Your Perfect Mexican Daughter (rev. 3/18). Jessica Agudelo

(Copyright 2024 by The Horn Book, Incorporated, Boston. All rights reserved.)

January 1, 2024
It's senior year, and while Belen's classmates are focused on college applications, she's flunking school and struggling to cope with a shattered home life. Since her pa walked out on their family, her ma has been withdrawn, crying and seemingly overlooking the past-due bills piling up. Belen's best friend, Leti, is a straitlaced student determined to get into UC Berkeley, but now Leti is pregnant and worried that her boyfriend, who is Black, will be rejected by her racist parents. As Belen sinks into her loneliness, she seeks affection from a college guy to distract herself from the pain of her father's abandonment and the constant comparisons to him from unsympathetic relatives. Misogyny, racism, religion, and unjust expectations for girls like Belen and Leti are explored within their Mexican culture with sharp rebukes and meaningful introspection about identity and breaking out of toxic familial and cultural cycles. A cast of secondary characters bolsters Belen's development, though few (other than Leti) are given sufficient airtime to feel fully realized. The Oakland, California, setting is brought to life through rides on the BART and visits to the frutero that illustrate the city's diversity. The protagonist's strong narrative voice, the realistic emotional tone, and thematic touchstones will hook fans of Sanchez's I Am Not Your Perfect Mexican Daughter (rev. 3/18).

(Copyright 2024 by The Horn Book, Incorporated, Boston. All rights reserved.)