Gr 6 Up—Growing up in Mexicali, Mexico, twins Luis Fernando and Luisa Teresa attend seventh grade on opposite
sides of the border and learn to navigate the trials of middle school—peer pressure, friendships, and identitysearching. A nuanced look at family dynamics and connecting with culture with realistic tween dialogue and bright,
hand-drawn illustrations.

Twins Teresa and Fernando are growing apart as they choose different middle schools. Teresa elects a rigorous and competitive school in the US and Fernando decides to stay in Mexicali, making new friends who resent the US influence. Great depiction of sibling dynamics, school pressure, new friendships. I appreciated the genuine frustration and rejection of US culture over rich and beautiful Mexican culture. I appreciated how Fernando suddenly and accidentally slips into drug use and how Teresa has his back. It's also a sensitive portrayal of how young boys can get left to their own devices as they move into their teenage years and why that feels like abandonment. This book has a lot to say. ( )

When they begin middle school, twins Teresa and Fernando make different choices: Teresa chooses to cross the border every day to go to school in Calexico, while Fernando stays in familiar Mexicali. The twins' parents are loving but strict, and not the best listeners: they expect the kids to help with chores and errands, but they also expect good grades, even when Teresa, especially, doesn't have time to do her increased amount of homework in English. Meanwhile, Fernando makes a new friend at school, who introduces him to new music, strong anti-American sentiments, and weed. After a conflict with both twins pushed to the breaking point, they realize they are better allies than enemies.

See also: Twins by Varian Johnson

Quotes

"You're weirded out by anything different."
"That's not true." (Teresa y Fernando, 18)

Transborder studies, transborderism (author's note) ( )

Fernando and Teresa are twins living in Mexicali. They are close, but middle school marks a point of growing independence from each other. Teresa decides to attend a private middle school in Calexico in the U.S. while Fernando stays in town where things are more familiar. Teresa faces challenges such as the English language, the early-morning car pool commutes across the border, and a different school culture, but has a close circle of friends. Fer's friends ended up going to school in Calexico also so he ends up befriending Alex, an older boy with an edgy sense of cool that Fer emulates albeit hesitantly. A theme of tension runs throughout: Fer and Teresa's separate school lives and how that affects their relationship, the family's regular border crossing trips, parents vs kids, Alex's outspoken preference of Mexican culture over American, and the twins' multiple identities as they navigate their lives. Pimienta's renderings of the streets and locales of the border towns ring with authenticity; one can almost hear and smell the busy avenues and business districts. An affirming read for bicultural youth, this colorful graphic novel reveals the realities of border-town living. ( )

A solid premise for this one with once close twins suddenly in separate schools in separate countries, Fernando stays in Mexico while his sister, Teresa, chooses to make a daily trip into America, so you get the differences between this brother and sister and some cultural differences as well.

The majority of emotions here, Fernando’s loneliness and Teresa under academic pressure and her anxiety over the crossing the border, the siblings disappointments in one another and their disputes, were all conveyed really well.

Admittedly, I was surprised to see weed play a role in a middle-grade graphic novel, obviously there will be some who will find that objectionable no matter the context. These are decisions and peer pressures kids face at sometimes too young of an age, so I liked that it is a realistic element to the story, at the same time though it was kind of unrealistic that the parents are never really brought into the storyline since something occurs where it seemed like there should have been visible injuries yet it’s never addressed whether the parents saw those injuries and dug deeper into what went on or not. I’m also not sure how I feel about that situation somewhat easily resolving itself, I could sort of buy into that since this particular character wasn’t in that deep yet although I do have some doubts that the other character would have let up on their hold on that person just like that, it seemed like a situation that likely would have become very muddy for this kid. I don’t know, I imagine it’s a tricky thing in middle-grade fiction to know how far to go, how much the intended audience can/should be expected to handle at their age.

I really appreciated the art in this one, a number of wordless panels spoke volumes and I particularly loved anything that had a busy quality to it, stores and other backgrounds, a map, etc, the amount of tiny details were impressive and enjoyable to take in.

Lastly, if you’re someone who generally skips over notes at the back of a book, the ones here are well worth reading as the author delves into the inspiration for the story, provides an explanation for a word used in this graphic novel that will be controversial to some and acknowledges the two other prominent cultures in this real-life setting and why they were overlooked in this particular story. ( )