Showing results by author "Pablo Cartaya" in All Categories

Marcus Vega is six feet tall, 180 pounds, and the owner of a premature mustache. When you look like this and you're only in the eighth grade, you're both a threat and a target. After a fight at school leaves Marcus facing suspension, Marcus's mom decides it's time for a change of environment. She takes Marcus and his younger brother to Puerto Rico to spend a week with relatives they don't remember or have never met. But Marcus can't focus knowing that his father - who walked out of their lives 10 years ago - is somewhere on the island.

From a family restaurant to a hot-dog shaped car, from an empty road on a moonlight night to a classroom holiday celebration, this anthology of personal stories from award-winning and bestselling authors, shows that hope can live everywhere, even—or especially—during the darkest of times. No matter what happens: Hope wins.

In a future shaken by climate disasters, Yolanda Cicerón knows that nature is something to be feared. While life in the Valley is brutal and harsh, Yoly dreams of leaving her farm to live in Silo—the most advanced town for miles around. But first, Yoly will need to prove she belongs in a place where only the smartest and most useful are welcomed.

For Arturo, summertime in Miami means playing basketball until dark, sipping mango smoothies, and keeping cool under banyan trees. And maybe a few shifts as junior lunchtime dishwasher at Abuela's restaurant. Maybe. But this summer also includes Carmen, a cute poetry enthusiast who moves into Arturo's apartment complex and turns his stomach into a deep fryer. He almost doesn't notice the smarmy land developer who rolls into town and threatens to change it.

Emilia Torres has a wandering mind. It's hard for her to follow along at school, and sometimes she forgets to do what her mom or abuela asks. But she remembers what matters: a time when her family was whole and home made sense. When Dad returns from deployment, Emilia expects that her life will get back to normal. Instead, it unravels. Dad shuts himself in the back stall of their family's auto shop to work on an old car. Emilia peeks in on him daily, mesmerized by his welder. One day, Dad calls Emilia over.

Gonzalo Alberto Sánchez García has never considered himself the hero of his own story. He’s an observer, quietly snapshotting landscapes and drawing the creatures he imagines emerging from them. Forced to spend the summer with his estranged grandfather, Alberto William García—the very famous reclusive author—Gonzalo didn’t expect to learn that heroes and monsters are not only the stuff of fantasy.

Para Arturo, el verano en Miami significa jugar a baloncesto hasta el anochecer, beber batidos de mango y mantenerse fresco bajo la sombra de los árboles. Y tal vez también hacer algún turno como lavaplatos en el restaurante de su abuela. Tal vez. Pero este verano también incluye a Carmen, una chica que ama la poesía y que se muda a los apartamentos de Arturo y que convierte su estómago en una freidora. Hasta el punto de que casi no se da cuenta del promotor inmobiliario que llega a la ciudad y amenaza con cambiarla.

In these hilarious and thought-provoking stories from today’s top middle grade authors, fourteen young people are each coping with a recently discovered minor superpower. One can shape-shift—but only part of her body, and only on Mondays. Another can always tell when an avocado is perfectly ripe. One can even hear the thoughts of animals in the pet store—which can be about as heart-tugging as you might imagine.