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Tortilla Sun

June 5, 2010 by Jennifer

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.

Check out our current giveaways. Subscribe to our feed. Follow us @5M4B on Twitter.

Jennifer Donovan blogs at Snapshot about life with her 6-year-old son and 11-year-old daughter.

Filed Under: Children's Books, Jennifer, Middle Grade Chapter Books

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Comments

  1. edj says

    June 5, 2010 at 8:48 am

    Well written books work for all ages. Please enter Ilsa (my daughter) and I to win.

  2. Alison S. says

    June 5, 2010 at 1:34 pm

    I love building up my children’s book collection with quality books like this one. Thanks for the review.

  3. Katy says

    June 5, 2010 at 4:36 pm

    This book sounds lovely. I’d love a copy. 🙂

  4. Joy Mills says

    June 5, 2010 at 4:59 pm

    I would love a copy 🙂

  5. Petula says

    June 5, 2010 at 5:42 pm

    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.

  6. katklaw777 says

    June 5, 2010 at 7:03 pm

    Looks like a wonderful book, thanks.

  7. Martha says

    June 5, 2010 at 7:27 pm

    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! 😀

  8. Jennifer Cervantes says

    June 5, 2010 at 9:10 pm

    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

  9. Jennifer (5 Minutes for Books) says

    June 5, 2010 at 9:44 pm

    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.

  10. Linda Kish says

    June 5, 2010 at 9:46 pm

    I would love to have this book for my great niece.

    lkish77123 at gmail dot com

  11. Michele Anne says

    June 5, 2010 at 10:31 pm

    Would love to win this, sign me up….thanks

  12. Page Turner (Heather) says

    June 5, 2010 at 11:18 pm

    I love to read aloud to my kids, and this looks like a great one to have in our library!

  13. Benita G. says

    June 6, 2010 at 3:18 pm

    Please count me in.

    bgcchs(at)yahoo(dot)com

  14. Sheri says

    June 6, 2010 at 9:03 pm

    I would love to win a copy of this book. It sounds very interesting!

  15. monica says

    June 7, 2010 at 10:23 am

    hope I win!

  16. Katie Schroeder says

    June 7, 2010 at 3:49 pm

    Sounds like a wonderful book I would love to enjoy and share.

  17. Erin P. says

    June 8, 2010 at 2:31 pm

    This would be a great addition to our collection…thanks for the opportunity!

  18. Susan says

    June 9, 2010 at 7:07 pm

    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 🙂

  19. Jen B. says

    June 10, 2010 at 9:09 pm

    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!

  20. Carrie at In the Hammock Blog says

    June 12, 2010 at 1:00 am

    Thank you for the contest! I’d love to enter!

  21. Carolyn says

    June 13, 2010 at 7:58 pm

    I’d love to win!

  22. riTa says

    June 15, 2010 at 11:51 am

    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.

  23. Nichole says

    June 15, 2010 at 1:47 pm

    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!!!

  24. Hailey says

    June 15, 2010 at 8:52 pm

    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.

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