They call me Güero: a border kid's poems

Bluebonnet Award Master List 2020-2021Pura Belpré Author Honor Book, 2019ALSC Notable Children's Book, 2019Walter Award Honor Book, 2019

Twelve-year-old Güero is Mexican American, at home with Spanish or English and on both sides of the river. He's starting 7th grade with a woke English teacher who knows how to make poetry cool.

In Spanish, "Güero" is a nickname for guys with pale skin, Latino or Anglo. But make no mistake: our red-headed, freckled hero is puro mexicano, like Canelo Álvarez, the Mexican boxer. Güero is also a nerd--reader, gamer, musician--who runs with a squad of misfits like him, Los Bobbys. Sure, they get in trouble like anybody else, and like other middle-school boys, they discover girls. Watch out for Joanna! She's tough as nails.

But trusting in his family's traditions, his accordion and his bookworm squad, he faces seventh grade with book smarts and a big heart. Life is tough for a border kid, but Güero has figured out how to cope.

He writes poetry.

In Spanish, "Güero" is a nickname for guys with pale skin, Latino or Anglo. But make no mistake: our red-headed, freckled hero is puro mexicano, like Canelo Álvarez, the Mexican boxer. Güero is also a nerd--reader, gamer, musician--who runs with a squad of misfits like him, Los Bobbys. Sure, they get in trouble like anybody else, and like other middle-school boys, they discover girls. Watch out for Joanna! She's tough as nails.

But trusting in his family's traditions, his accordion and his bookworm squad, he faces seventh grade with book smarts and a big heart. Life is tough for a border kid, but Güero has figured out how to cope.

He writes poetry.

Claudia Lewis Award for Excellence in Poetry, Bank Street 2019NCTE 2019 Notable Verse NovelsTomás Rivera Mexican American Children's Book AwardTIL Jean Flynn Award for Best Middle Grade Book 2018Skipping Stones AwardÁmericas Award, Commended TitleSchool Library Journal's 2018 Best BooksShelf Awareness 2018 Best Children's & Teen Books of the Year, Middle GradeFavorites of 2019, Americas Society / Council of the Americas

A product of a Mexican-American family, David Bowles has lived most of his life in deep South Texas, where he teaches at the University of Texas Río Grande Valley. Recipient of awards from the American Library Association, Texas Institute of Letters and Texas Associated Press, David has written several books, including the Pura Belpré Honor Book The Smoking Mirror, Feathered Serpent, Dark Heart of Sky: Myths of Mexico, The Chupacabras of the Rio Grande (The Unicorn Rescue Society series), and the middle grade graphic novel Rise of the Halfling King (Tales of the Feathered Serpent #1).