Muchacho

YALSA Best Books for Young Adults

YALSA Quick Picks for Reluctant Readers
An inspiring YA debut from the author of Dangerous Minds.

Eddie Corazon is angry. He’s also very smart. But he’s working pretty hard at being a juvenile delinquent. He blows off school, even though he’s a secret reader. He hangs with his cousins, who will always back him up—when they aren’t in jail.

Then along comes Lupe, who makes his blood race. She sees something in Eddie he doesn’t even see in himself. A heart, and a mind, and something more: a poet. But in Eddie’s world, it’s a thin line between tragedy and glory. And what goes down is entirely in Eddie’s hands.

Gripping, thought-provoking, and hopeful, Muchacho is a rare and inspiring story about one teen’s determination to fight his circumstances and shape his own destiny.

LouAnne Johnson is a former U.S. Navy journalist, Marine Corps officer, high school teacher, and the author of the New York Times bestseller Dangerous Minds. She drew on her experience working with teens to craft this novel. Like Eddie, she lives in New Mexico.
From the Hardcover edition.