Becoming Beatriz
  • Published: 15 February 2022
  • ISBN: 9781623541828
  • Imprint: Charlesbridge Children
  • Format: Paperback
  • Pages: 272
  • RRP: $37.00

Becoming Beatriz

Formats & editions
EBook
17 Sep 2019
Paperback
15 Feb 2022
Hardback
17 Sep 2019
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This companion novel to Like Vanessa, follows Beatriz who dreams of becoming a dancer like her idol--until tragedy on the day of her quinceañera changes everything.
 

"A compelling read about the quest for fame!"
      —Debbie Allen, star of Fame

"Redemption is a heartbeat away."
      —Guadalupe Garcia McCall, author of the Pura Belpre Award winner Under the Mesquite

Beatriz dreams of a life spent dancing--until tragedy on the day of her quinceañera changes everything.

Up until her fifteenth birthday, the most important thing in the world to Beatriz Mendez was her dream of becoming a professional dancer and getting herself and her family far from the gang life that defined their days--that and meeting her dance idol Debbie Allen on the set of her favorite TV show, Fame. But after the latest battle in a constant turf war leaves her brother, Junito, dead and her mother grieving, Beatriz has a new set of priorities. How is she supposed to feel the rhythm when her brother's gang needs running, when her mami can't brush her own teeth, and when the last thing she can remember of her old self is dancing with her brother, followed by running and gunshots? When the class brainiac reminds Beatriz of her love of the dance floor, her banished dreams sneak back in. Now the only question is: will the gang let her go?

Set in New Jersey in 1984, Beatriz's story is a timeless one of a teenager's navigation of romance, her brother's choices, and her own family's difficult past. A companion novel to the much-lauded Like Vanessa.
  • Published: 15 February 2022
  • ISBN: 9781623541828
  • Imprint: Charlesbridge Children
  • Format: Paperback
  • Pages: 272
  • RRP: $37.00
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Praise for Becoming Beatriz

Praise for Becoming Beatriz

  • "Inspiring and fresh."--Kirkus Reviews, starred review
  • "Readers with diverse backgrounds will feel at home with Beatriz's identities as Latina, Black, and American, and everyone will be cheering her on, right up until the satisfying, heartwarming end." --Booklist
  • "Similar to The Hate U Give, this book offers readers painful and intimate experiences with injustice through an intensely effective first-person narrative." --School Library Journal
  • "Tami Charles's gritty Becoming Beatriz shows Beatriz's limited choices and the strength she finds to create new ones." --Foreword Reviews
    •  
  • Praise for Like Vanessa
  • 2017 Indies Introduce Winter/Spring 2018 and Kids' Indie Next Spring 2018
  • "This debut is a treasure."--Kirkus Reviews, starred review
  • "Charles evades the clichés and imbues Vanessa with an inner life that's so real and so personal."--Booklist, starred review
  • "It's such an honor to be the focal point of this wonderful book! Without a doubt, it will be inspiring to a new generation of young, talented girls well on their way to promising careers."--Vanessa Williams, star of television, film, and the Broadway stage
  • "Tami Charles wrings out every hope, every stumble and every triumph of a girl on an uneasy road to possessing her self, her strength and her own beauty."--Rita Williams-Garcia, author of One Crazy Summer