Tortilla Sun is set in a small pueblo town in New Mexico. The setting is rich. I could taste the tortillas that Izzy made with her grandmother, or shall I say I wish I could have tasted them. I could feel the hot sun and envision adventurous young teens Mateo and Izzy with temples wet with sweat and cheeks red from exertion after exploring.
Izzy is a writer, and the storytelling by Jennifer Cervantes is quite lyrical, so in addition to those who enjoy a story with some magical realism, a child who loves the written word — on the page or the stories that she creates — would probably identify with Izzy.
She’s spending the summer with her grandmother while her mother is working overseas. She learns a lot about her father, who died before she was born, and of course she learns a lot about herself too.
Because the pace is slow and the writing is so beautiful (and it’s relatively short — 224 pages in a fairly large font), this was a great book to read aloud. If you are out of the habit of reading aloud to your older children who can read independently, I recommend that you revisit the tradition. I hope you get as much enjoyment out of it as we do. I wrote more about why I read aloud to my tween at my blog Snapshot.
Read an excerpt of the book to find out more about it.
There is no objectionable mature content in this book, but death is a definite theme, so it’s best for kids 10 and up. It reads like a classic, like the kind of book I read when I was growing up, free of cell phones and kids who want to grow up too fast.
We have a copy to give away to one of you (U.S. and Canadian addresses are eligible). Leave a comment if you’d like to win. We’ll announce the winner on June 16.
THIS GIVEAWAY IS CLOSED.
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Jennifer Donovan blogs at Snapshot about life with her 6-year-old son and 11-year-old daughter.
Well written books work for all ages. Please enter Ilsa (my daughter) and I to win.
I love building up my children’s book collection with quality books like this one. Thanks for the review.
This book sounds lovely. I’d love a copy. 🙂
I would love a copy 🙂
I was just going to comment and say I enjoyed your review, but since you’re giving one away. 🙂 … We have so many books here. I gave all of the ones I had as a child and teen to my oldest daughter, and she’s already passed the ones down to the other children. We don’t have many tween books here, but that would be great to add to our collection.
Looks like a wonderful book, thanks.
I would love to win a copy of this book. I’d probably end up donating it to our library, due to our current budget crisis. I work as a children’s librarian at a public library. I lived in New Mexico for 2 years and absolutely loved it! This looks like a great book! 😀
Thanks so much, Jennifer for reviewing TORTILLA SUN and sharing it with your readers.
I am so glad you enjoyed it. As far as the tortillas, whipping up a batch of a dozen takes no time at all, truly. And it is so worth the small effort. 🙂
Jennifer
Jennifer–
You’re so welcome! I am a Texas girl (transplanted to Connecticut), so making real flour tortillas has always been a goal of mine. I’m going to do it soon — I promise. Thanks for the encouragement.
I would love to have this book for my great niece.
lkish77123 at gmail dot com
Would love to win this, sign me up….thanks
I love to read aloud to my kids, and this looks like a great one to have in our library!
Please count me in.
bgcchs(at)yahoo(dot)com
I would love to win a copy of this book. It sounds very interesting!
hope I win!
Sounds like a wonderful book I would love to enjoy and share.
This would be a great addition to our collection…thanks for the opportunity!
Well – with 3 girls (ages 9,11 and 13), and one even named Izzy – this is a natural for me. I’d love to read it to my girls!
Thank you 🙂
I haven’t read aloud to my older sons since last summer. We read the first Harry Potter together. My oldest continued on his own-reading all except the last one. This would be a great one for us to read this summer and get back into the habit!
Thank you for the contest! I’d love to enter!
I’d love to win!
I love anything to do with the Hispanic world and places I’ve lived in to share with the grandkids! Been to Mexico on missions or taking students more than 5 times.
Would love a copy of this book!! Our 6 kids have gone through there books quite quickly and with the economy its hard to buy new ones. Please concider us!!!
This sounds like a fabulous book to read to Caroline at night. That is the time I use to read for myself but outloud so she can enjoy the book too.