Mexican White Boy Audiobook

 

My Thoughts:

Matt de la Peña has a way with Mexican American male characters who are searching for themselves, searching for their identity and where they belong. His books are easy to put in the hands of my males because he usually writes about sports. In this case, Danny is a baseball player and has the potential to be a great pitcher except for his self imposed walls that get in his way. In addition, de la Peña is a great author for males because he knows how to cut the heaviness with boy humor. 

As an audiobook, Henry Leyva, the narrator, understands the rhythm of de la Peña's characters. My husband and I started listening to this audiobook as we were doing a long drive and several times, the language was so good and the narrator was so authentic that we would repeat the line out loud together, as if we were just giving the punchline to an inside joke.  

Get this on Sora for your students.

From the Publisher:

Danny's tall and skinny. Even though he's not "built", his arms are long enough to give his pitch a power so fierce that any college scout would sign him on the spot. Ninety-five-mile-an-hour fastball, but the boy's not even on a team. Every time he gets up on the mound, he loses it. Ball ends up so far out of the strike zone it's laughable.

But at his private school, they don't expect much else from him. Danny's brown. Half-Mexican brown. And growing up in San Diego, that close to the border, means everyone knows exactly who he is before he even opens his mouth. Before they find out he can't speak Spanish, and before they realize his mom has blond hair and blue eyes, they've got him pegged. But it works the other way too. And Danny's convinced it's his whiteness that sent his father back to Mexico.

That's why he's spending the summer with his dad's family. Only, to find himself, he may just have to face the demons he refuses to see - the demons that are right in front of his face. And open up to a friendship he never saw coming.

Set in the alleys and on the ball fields of San Diego County, Mexican WhiteBoy is a story of friendship, acceptance, and the struggle to find your identity in a world of definitions.

Publication Information:

Author: Matt de la Peña

Narrator: Henry Leyva

Release date: September 10, 2013

Listening Length: 7 hours 20 minutes