Starred review from May 30, 2022
Pimienta’s (Suncatcher) profound graphic novel follows Mexican twins Teresa and Fer’s evolving relationship while attending different schools in separate cities, divided by the U.S.-Mexico border. Luis Fernando and Luisa Teresa Sosa, known collectively as the Lu-Lus, have always been inseparable. That is, until Teresa—seeking to broaden her horizons and differentiate herself from her brother—decides to commute to middle school across the border in Calexico, Calif. Fer, who stays in their Mexicali, Mexico, hometown, feels lost without her until he befriends weed-selling older kid Alex, who despises American hegemony. Brilliantly alternating panels parallel the twins’ vastly different school experiences and home lives. Their opposing paths come to a head after a narrowly avoided crisis at a border checkpoint causes a blowout argument between the siblings. Through clear and honest communication, Teresa and Fer embrace their commonalities and lean on each other for support. Living on both sides is relatively feasible in this ostensibly 1990s set narrative, but the story foreshadows contemporary society’s increased tensions. Pimienta uses empathetic dialogue to thoughtfully explore the twins’ conflicting relationships with their parents and their dramatically shifting siblinghood. Brightly colored, intricately detailed panoramas and montages convey one family’s experience living in a vivacious border community that is richer for its multitude of influences. An afterword about the author’s experience growing up on both sides of the border concludes. Ages 8–12. Agent: Elizabeth Bennett, Transatlantic Literary.
August 19, 2022
Gr 6 Up-Luis Fernando and Luisa Teresa have been known as the Lu-Lu twins for their whole lives, but as the two prepare to enter middle school, Teresa wants her own identity apart from her brother. Names are only the beginning of the changes they will experience in seventh grade: new rooms, new friends, and new schools follow. Growing up in a border town in Mexicali, Mexico, in the 1990s, the twins now attend schools on opposite sides of the border. Teresa struggles to keep up with the homework, commute, and new friendships. Meanwhile, Fernando finds himself figuring out what it means to be Mexican while becoming friends with an older student who isn't the best influence. Pimienta portrays realistic sibling relationships and family dynamics. Drug use and peer pressure feature prominently as catalysts for conflict in the story. The hand-drawn, full-color illustrations complement the text, drive the story's emotion, and provide richness to the setting. An author's note offers connections to Pimienta's lived experiences and the decision to mix English and Spanish. VERDICT For fans of Alexis Castellanos's Isla to Island and Maggie Edkins Willis's Smaller Sister, this look at changing relationships and connection to identity and culture is highly recommended for middle and high school collections.-Monisha Blair
Copyright 2022 School Library Journal, LLC Used with permission.
Starred review from September 1, 2022
Grounded in Pimienta's experience growing up in Mexico across the border from the United States, this graphic novel explores the relationship between young teenage twins as they traverse physical, personal, and cultural borders. Teresa and Fernando are recent sixth-grade graduates in Mexicali, Mexico. With his sister's decision to attend school north of the border, change is coming, and Fernando isn't pleased. In the fall, both siblings experience their share of ups and downs (skillfully depicted through a range of cartooning techniques, such as alternating panels and mirrored layouts). Teresa struggles with the commute and the English curriculum but cultivates a strong friend group. Fernando is less interested in school but develops a friendship with the slightly older and opinionated Alex. Confrontations over shared space, autonomy, and heritage come to a head after Teresa discovers a stash of marijuana that Fernando was given by Alex. The dramatic conclusion sees the siblings reach a newfound level of closeness through open and honest communication. Penciled and inked by hand, the illustrations feature a thin, organic line and a muted, full-color palette. A consistent three-tier panel structure creates a visual rhythm that is periodically punctuated by splash pages and spreads during moments of heightened emotion. Back matter includes an author's note, a hand-drawn map, and rationale regarding the use of language throughout the book. Patrick Gall
(Copyright 2022 by The Horn Book, Incorporated, Boston. All rights reserved.)
July 1, 2022
Grounded in Pimienta's experience growing up in Mexico across the border from the United States, this graphic novel explores the relationship between young teenage twins as they traverse physical, personal, and cultural borders. Teresa and Fernando are recent sixth-grade graduates in Mexicali, Mexico. With his sister's decision to attend school north of the border, change is coming, and Fernando isn't pleased. In the fall, both siblings experience their share of ups and downs (skillfully depicted through a range of cartooning techniques, such as alternating panels and mirrored layouts). Teresa struggles with the commute and the English curriculum but cultivates a strong friend group. Fernando is less interested in school but develops a friendship with the slightly older and opinionated Alex. Confrontations over shared space, autonomy, and heritage come to a head after Teresa discovers a stash of marijuana that Fernando was given by Alex. The dramatic conclusion sees the siblings reach a newfound level of closeness through open and honest communication. Penciled and inked by hand, the illustrations feature a thin, organic line and a muted, full-color palette. A consistent three-tier panel structure creates a visual rhythm that is periodically punctuated by splash pages and spreads during moments of heightened emotion. Back matter includes an author's note, a hand-drawn map, and rationale regarding the use of language throughout the book.
(Copyright 2022 by The Horn Book, Incorporated, Boston. All rights reserved.)
April 3, 2023
Grades 4-7 Pimienta's Twin Cities focuses on the familiar topics of siblings struggling to get along, adjusting to middle school, and the positive and negative power of peer pressure. When twins Luis Fernando and Luisa Teresa make the decision to attend separate middle schools, much begins to drastically change in their relationships and lives. Luis Fernando, who stays in a local school in Mexicali, Mexico, struggles without his sister at his side and is somewhat resentful towards her for making the decision to attend a school across the border in Calexico, California. Dealing with this and desperate to find new friends, Luis Fernando develops a relationship with an older boy that at first seems amazing but quickly becomes destructive. Meanwhile, despite the long commute and the stress that comes with the daily U.S.-Mexico border check, Luisa Teresa really appreciates all that her new school has to offer: a different curriculum, new friends, an opportunity to learn more English, and a chance to develop an identity apart from her brother. The drastically different school experiences contribute to the growing tension that emerges in the twins' relationship, and it seems like they are destined to grow apart. Supported by brightly colored and intricately detailed artwork, Twin Cities will be appealing to many middle-grade readers.
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Starred review from May 1, 2022
Twelve-year-old twins forge individual paths--and begin to lead diverging lives--at separate schools along the Calexico-Mexicali border. Sixth grade is officially over. For Teresa and Fernando, summer vacation zips by in a series of frolics and chores, perhaps their last season as an inseparable pair. Then the first day of seventh grade arrives. Teresa prepares herself early to cross the border into Calexico to attend an American middle school; Fernando remains behind in Mexicali to continue school in their town. Different school beginnings greet each sibling. Without his sister (and two best friends, who are at Teresa's school), Fernando spends his time alone, counting down the minutes until school ends. Teresa, meanwhile, finds new peers and seems right at home in her new American school. Those initial steps prove only temporary. In an ingenious use of panel sets to separate each twin's journey on the page, Pimienta masterfully builds the tension and pressure between Fernando and Teresa, together at home and apart at school. Wandering off one day, Fernando befriends an older student who gradually exerts his considerable influence and introduces him to weed. High academic stress and lofty parental expectations chisel away at Teresa, and her initial enthusiasm falters slightly under the weight of her new reality. Sibling squabbles and confrontations--captured in all their raw nuance thanks to the author's deft writing and scrappy artwork--build to a wonderful breakthrough point. Transcendently good. (author's note, sketches, map, supplemental note) (Graphic fiction. 8-12)
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