The Bullying Downward Spiral, Plus A Whole Lot More: Meg Medina’s Yaqui Delgado Wants to Kick Your Ass

I didn’t intend to read this book. It struck me as particularly middle grade, and while one or two of those occasionally sneak into my piles, this wasn’t going to be one of them. However, after speaking to a woman who apparently really has read every single YA book written, I was finally sold that I, at the very least, needed to give it a try. So I picked up Meg Medina’s Yaqui Delgado Want to Kick Your Ass and binge read it all in one sitting in just a few hours.

The first couple of chapters had me a little worried–the beginning definitely feels like a middle reader book. In fact, to be honest, throughout the book I couldn’t stop questioning YA v. Middle Reader. However, about a third of the way in, the story shifts a bit, and there are glimmers of YA shining through.

The story follows Piddy, the daughter of a single-parent Cuban immigrant mother, who is forced to begin her sophomore year at a different New York City high school when her mother decides they must move apartments. Having grown up in a military family, I often have trouble sympathizing with stories about kids who throw great big temper tantrums because their family’s moving–especially when they’re still close enough to visit with their friends regularly and when there’s a particularly compelling reason for the move, Especially today, when technology does allow for you to at least keep in contact. But I digress.

So Piddy’s mom decides that a move is necessary, which–though Piddy doesn’t complain about it exactly–seemed a bit unfair to me. The new apartment isn’t for a job, it’s not to get closer to her mother’s work or to be near family members or friends. It’s literally just a move that magically switches the school district Piddy’s in, resulting in Piddy’s doomed sophomore year. All in all, I thought she handled the move fairly gracefully; yes, she complains, but no, no giant, self-absorbed tantrums here.

But when school starts and a girl she doesn’t even know is broadcasting that she’s going to kick Piddy’s ass, well, let the games begin.

There are a lot of big issues being addressed in the book, which probably accounts for it’s award winning status. First, there’s the major one: bullying and both it’s psychological and physical impact on the victims. But even beyond that, it makes a statement as to the fact that students have options in these situations, and options that didn’t used to be available. I really thought that this was one of the defining features of the book, marking it as significantly unique from older bullying books. Second, there’s familial relations: while the nontraditional family is an increasingly common topic in YA and even children’s literature, this one is handled with grace. Third, the book does not shy away from the socioeconomic and race issues that are elephants in the room throughout the story. Indeed, these continue to come up periodically, a sort of steady but low tension thrumming ceaselessly in the background. Fourth, the issue of violence is another tension in the story–it’s there, it’s palpable, and at times it’s all-consuming. But the delicate weaving of psychological v. physical violence that the author puts together leaves the story considerably more tenable than others of the same ilk, that are usually much more extreme in the type and consistency of the bullying behaviors depicted.

Honestly, I really liked this book much more than I thought I would, though not for the same scintillating reasons that normally lead me to gush over YA Lit. It does a pretty sophisticated job of handling complex issues and invites the reader to grow up with Piddy. I would really have liked to have seen a bit more into Yaqui’s mind and background–there are several hints as to what that life might be like, but the author doesn’t really go there–and I’m still not entirely sure flushing out a bit more about some of the other characters wouldn’t have helped the development of the story as a whole as well as Piddy as a character. It’s this that I think really left me still feeling like it was more of a middle grade book, for some reason–perhaps because Piddy seems absolutely unable to see the bigger picture in terms of basically anything that she does.

At times, the story reminded me a bit of Jeremy Scott’s The Ables, at times like Felice Holman’s Slake’s Limbo, and at other times like something completely other. Perhaps that’s because it’s a genre I don’t read a lot of or perhaps it’s because it really felt intended for an age group I don’t often read books for. I really don’t know. But I do know that it’s a very urban, very modern take on school bullying. And definitely worth the short time it takes it read it–this is a major page turner!

A New Superhero’s Coming to Town: Jeremy Scott’s The Ables

One of the biggest critiques I’ve heard of YA lit–especially that involving dystopic/fantasy/superhero type writing (think Veronica Roth’s Divergent series or James Dashner’s The Maze Runner series) is what about those with disabilities? Now, I hear the arguments against already: depending on the world, the time, the setting, the plot line, the type of powers, etc, disabilities may be obsolete or else irrelevant altogether. But doesn’t a more diversified, realistically represented cast of characters present a truer-to-life depiction of what we know?

Jeremy Scott’s The Ables dives right into a world in which almost all of the primary characters have a disability of some sort or another–whether they’re blind, deaf, have a learning disorder or a developmental one, they’ve been lumped together in a special ed class in the town of Freepoint, America. Though they generally don’t know it (at least not until they’ve had “the talk” with their parents), they’re all superheroes with an inherited superpower of some sort that they’re trying to learn how to use. Trying being the key operative here, as “special ed” is more to do with the fact that they have some attribute that conflicts with their ability to utilize their superpower than that they are, well, special ed.

As the school decides to have the equivalent to a very Harry Potter-esque Triwizard Tournament, in which the students create teams and try to rescue people from bad guys using their superpowers, the “special ed” kids want to have a go at it, too. And they make a darn good argument (with a little supporting help) for the fact that, together, they’re able to use their powers pretty effectively. And that, as a team, they function even better than most of the other individuals in their school.

Yes, you’re right: cue shenanigans. Between schoolwork, practicing for the tournament and eating an awful lot of pizza, the “special ed” team becomes, well, a team. And they have their own evil villain to fight–one that doesn’t come and go with the tournament, either.

What I Liked About the Book:

1. The author really does a great job of trying to imbue his characters with a sense of righteous indignation tempered with senses of humor and an underdog-will-win mentality. They’re not stupid: they know the odds are stacked against them, but capturing that great 12 year old mentality, they really want to give it a try anyway, and that mindset just jumps off the pages.

2. Great comic timing–especially “the talk” which, while drug out a bit longer than strictly necessary, sets the tone of awkward adolescence brilliantly.

3. There is a sense of fairness and humanity that the story addresses that I haven’t seen in a YA book since Rodman Philbrick’s Freak the Mighty. But this is a book that would appeal greatly to 12-13 year old boys, undoubtedly!

4. The book is savvy both to the idea of families and familial responsibility as well as to other responsibilities: school, chores and friends. It makes for a nice balance that, I think, more closely mirrors a realistic depiction of YA life than the stories in which the protagonists seem to have no responsibilities, no oversight, no nothing other than whatever they seem to want to do at any given moment.

5. There’s action, and the author doesn’t wimp out and play the mercy card at key moments.

What I Didn’t Love About the Book:

1. I think this is really a middle reader book, not YA, and while this isn’t necessarily a bad thing, it was certainly not what I was expecting going into it.

2. I listened to this on Audible, the version of which is narrated by the author. I didn’t enjoy his narration, however, and think he would have been very much better served to have hired a professional reader. He read so fast it reminded me of those Micro Man commercials from back in the day! It seriously felt like he performed the reading and someone decided that it was too long, so they decided that, instead of his rereading the book a bit faster, they’d just speed up the recording. And while this might not seem like an issue, let’s be clear: it’s distracting.

3. It was really, really predictable. Like, super predictable. As in, I would have given up, but the book had received such great reviews, I assumed I was wrong about it. But there was really no great mystery here.

4. Interestingly, the author uses the word “Custodian” as a name for the superheroes, leaning on the traditional definition rather than the more modern one which is synonymous with janitor. Of course, the boys, upon learning this term, proceed to rag on how much it sucks to have such a title because they’re not janitors and don’t want to be referred to as them. I thought this was pretty unfair and unnecessary for the plot line, and it was one of the few points that the author brought up somewhat repeatedly which struck me as being fairly hypocritical, in light of where the rest of the story was headed.

5. I was disappointed in how the character Donnie was portrayed in the book. I don’t want to spill the beans, but I invite you, dear reader, to take a gander and not come to the conclusion that it’s not really fair.

Overall:

The book was . . . okay. As a middle reader book, it’s great, and it’s nice to see a book with an all-male team of characters. On the other hand, it’s incredibly predictable and so not overly engaging as a YA book. I thought the premise was fantastic, but the execution could be improved upon.

Anyone else out there have any thoughts? Any enlightenment to share on this one?