About this item
Lupita, a budding actor and poet in a close-knit Mexican American immigrant family, comes of age as she struggles with adult responsibilities during her mothers long illness.As the oldest of eight siblings, Lupita is used to taking the lead-and staying busy behind the scenes to help keep everyone together. But when she discovers Mami has been diagnosed with cancer, Lupita is terrified by the possibility of losing her mother, the anchor of her close-knit Mexican American family. Suddenly Lupita must face a whole new set of challenges, with new roles to play, and no one is handing her the script.In the midst of juggling life as a high school student, testing her wings as an actress, and dealing with friends who dont always understand, Lupita desperately wants to support Mami in whatever way she can. While her father stays with Mami at an out-of-town clinic, Lupita takes charge of her siblings. As Lupita struggles to keep the family afloat, she escapes the chaos of home by writing in the shade of a mesquite tree. Overwhelmed by change and loss, she takes refuge in the healing power of words.Told with honest emotion in evocative free verse, Lupitas journey is both heart-wrenching and hopeful. Under the Mesquite is an empowering story about the testing of family bonds, the strength of a young woman navigating pain and hardship with surprising resilience, and the kind of love that cannot be uprooted.
About the Author
I was born in Piedras Negras, Coahuila, Mexico. My family immigrated to the United States when I was six years old. I grew up in Eagle Pass, a small, border town in South Texas. Eagle Pass is the setting of my debut novel in verse, Under the Mesquite, released in the fall of 2011 from Lee & Low Books. After high school, I went off to Alpine, in West Texas, to study to become a teacher. I have a BA in Theatre Arts and English from Sul Ross State University. There, I met my husband, Jim. We have three grown sons, James, Steven, and Jason. We've lived in Somerset for several years now. We love living the simple life in the country, where I get to be close to what I love, nature.
