Yaqui Delgado Wants to Kick Your Ass

Grades 7 and up--

Yaqui Delgado Wants to Kick Your Ass is both the title and the first line of this intensely true and moving novel about Piddy Sanchez, her relentless bully and everything else in between.

Intended audience: Middle school and high school students of all races, religions, genders and socioeconomic situations. Note: I feel very confident with these specifics as I heard them from Meg Medina herself at the NCTE conference.

Audience to whom it may appeal: I think this book has the potential to read a vast audience of all people 12 and up. The age old tale of the bully who picks on those smaller and destroys everything in her/his way has been updated for a modern, technological age and this time it’s with girls. I found Piddy’s story to be extremely foreboding, yet brutally honest and accurate to my experience teaching young people.

Strengths: Meg Medina has done her research. The interactions between the characters are so realistic and relatable and the modern references are spot on. The characters are well constructed and interesting and the novel doesn’t resolve itself in a neat little bow, which I found refreshing.

Weaknesses: There were a few sexual references that I found took away from the overall style of the novel, and the prose is more straightforward than poetic, but these were well outweighed by strengths.

Special considerations: This book has great potential as a resource in an anti-bullying program as young as middle school. I think the fact that story revolves around a lower-class Latina, also provides great fodder for discussion about gender and cultural stereotypes.

VERDICT: Yes, your library should have this book. Yes, my library should have this book. Middle school and high school libraries should stock at least 5 copies of this book at any given time. A great opportunity for a small group of kids to read it together or a few teachers to check it out and do it as a read aloud. This is a story that needs to be told and this book is the perfect way to tell it.

Awards and Recognition:

• 2014 Pura Belpré Award
• 2014 International Latino Book Award, Best Young Adult Fiction/English
• 2014 Américas Award Commended Title
• 2013 Junior Library Guild 2013 Selection
• 2013 YALSA Best Fiction for Young Adults
• 2013 Kirkus Best Books for Teens
• 2013 School Library Journal Best Books