The Tequila Worm

Canales, V. (2005). The tequila worm. NY: Wendy Lamb Books/Random House. This book is set in McAllen, Texas with the main character being a girl named Sofia. We follow Sofia as she walks through life in a barrio. We read about her family traditions and interactions with her family. She learns from a teacher to fight bullying by being a successful student and person. She began “kicking butt” in everything she did. This determination leads to the opportunity to enroll in a boarding school and receive a scholarship. We then follow Sofia as she tried to convince her tight knit family that this is the best opportunity for her. Although she loves her family and community, she yearns to live “on the other side of town”. This would be a great read for 12-14 year olds. It gives such a wonderful insight to the Hispanic culture. Teachers and students can both learn so much from this novel. A book studying comparing the Hispanic culture to another culture would be a great book study to have with the students. Havighurst's developmental task of "changing relationships with parents" comes into play in this novel. We see a typical relationship between parents and child change as Sofia decides she wants to attend a boarding school. Their relationship changes as she tries to convince them to allow her to attend this school.