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  • Published: 24 August 2021
  • ISBN: 9780593462553
  • Imprint: Kokila
  • Format: Paperback
  • Pages: 112
  • RRP: $24.99

They Call Me Güero

A Border Kid's Poems




An award-winning novel in verse about a boy who navigates the start of seventh grade and life growing up on the border the only way that feels right—through poetry.

They call him Güero because of his red hair, pale skin, and freckles. Sometimes people only go off of what they see. Like the Mexican boxer Canelo Álvarez, twelve-year-old Güero is puro mexicano. He feels at home on both sides of the river, speaking Spanish or English. Güero is also a reader, gamer, and musician who runs with a squad of misfits called Los Bobbys. Together, they joke around and talk about their expanding world, which now includes girls. (Don’t cross Joanna—she's tough as nails.)
 
Güero faces the start of seventh grade with heart and smarts, his family’s traditions, and his trusty accordion. And when life gets tough for this Mexican American border kid, he knows what to do: He writes poetry. 
 
Honoring multiple poetic traditions, They Call Me Güero is a classic in the making and the recipient of a Pura Belpré Honor, a Tomás Rivera Mexican American Children's Book Award, a Claudia Lewis Award for Excellence in Poetry, and a Walter Dean Myers Honor.

  • Published: 24 August 2021
  • ISBN: 9780593462553
  • Imprint: Kokila
  • Format: Paperback
  • Pages: 112
  • RRP: $24.99

About the author

David Bowles

DAVID BOWLES grew up in the Rio Grande Valley of South Texas, where he teaches at the University of Texas Rio Grande Valley. He’s the author of several award-winning titles, including They Call Me Güero, The Smoking Mirror, the 13th Street series, and Feathered Serpent, Dark Heart of Sky: Myths of Mexico. His picture book debut, My Two Border Towns, is available in English and Spanish. In 2020, David co-founded #DignidadLiteraria, a grassroots activist hashtag and movement dedicated to promoting equity for Latinx people in publishing.

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Praise for They Call Me Güero

"David Bowles’s novel in verse introduces readers to Güero, a bilingual ‘border kid’ with an active life and a love of poetry." —Shelf Awareness, starred review
 
"A richly rewarding tour through many borderlands, including adolescence itself, and a defiant celebration of identity." —Publishers Weekly, starred review
 
"Vibrant and unforgettable." —School Library Journal, starred review
 
2019 Pura Belpré Honor Book
2019 Walter Dean Myers Honor Book for Outstanding Children’s Literature
2019 Claudia Lewis Award for Excellence in Poetry
2019 Tomás Rivera Mexican American Children’s Book Award
2019 ALSC Notable Children’s Book, 2019
2019 NCTE Notable Verse Novels
2019 Américas Award, Commended Title
2020-2021 Texas Bluebonnet List