Stef Soto, Taco Queen
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- $8.99
Publisher Description
A deliciously charming and heartwarming novel, all wrapped up in a warm tortilla.
Tacos. Burritos. Guacamole. Estefania "Stef" Soto is itching to shake off the onion-and-cilantro embrace of Tia Perla, her family's taco truck. She wants nothing more than for Papi to get a normal job and for the taco truck to be a distant memory. Then maybe everyone at school will stop calling her the Taco Queen.
But when her family's livelihood is threatened, and it looks like her wish will finally come true, Stef surprises everyone (including herself) by becoming the truck's unlikely champion. In this fun and heartfelt novel, Stef will discover what matters most and ultimately embrace her identity, even if it includes old Tia Perla.
PUBLISHERS WEEKLY
The bones of this polished debut are familiar overprotective parents, seventh-grade social struggles but Torres fleshes them out with authenticity, humor, and heart. The only child of immigrant parents, Stef is embarrassed by her father's rundown taco truck, T a Perla, which he considers part of the family; after helping Papi serve customers, Stef watches as he locks the vehicle's kitchen door "and gives it a quick tap the way you might congratulate an old friend with a pat on the back." T a Perla plays a key role in the development of both the plot and Stef's character: her growing self-confidence helps her deflect ongoing mean-spirited comments about the truck from her onetime friend Julia, she summons the courage to speak up at a meeting debating regulations that could put her father and other mobile food vendors out of business, and she uses T a Perla to save the class dance during a power outage. Stef's fresh, honest voice will resonate with a broad swath of readers, as will the relatable struggles she negotiates. Ages 8 12.
