Misjudged. (Urban Underground)

Schraff, Anne.  Misjudged. (Urban Underground)  Saddleback  2014  181p  $9.95  ISBN 978-1-62250-764-1  hs  Realistic fiction  VG-BN

Freshman high-school student Mona Lisa Corselli has self-image and confidence problems because she does not have a boyfriend, and she thinks that people are laughing at her because of her appearance.  But then she starts seeing track star Julio Chavez, who lives in a trailer with his father, after having been homeless for years. Mona’s mother doesn’t want her to date Julio because of his social standing, and of course Mother is “always right.”

In another Urban Underground morality tale, the author uses the barrio as the setting and several of its resident teens as the characters.  The book is well written for its intended readership, high/low readers.  The story about a high-school freshman girl who thinks that her self-worth is tied up with her dating status is written like the other Schraff titles, in a somewhat trite and stilted style.  But the topics of female self-worth and the importance of not judging people by their residence and/or social status make this book more valuable to a high-school library collection than some of the others in the set.  The book also continues to follow the lives and relationships of Ernesto, Claudia, Abel, and Clay.     

Summary: Freshman Mona Lisa Corselli has self-image and confidence problems because she does not have a boyfriend, and she thinks that people are laughing at her.  Then she starts seeing track star Julio, who lives in a trailer with his father. Mona’s mother doesn’t want her to date Julio because of his social standing, and of course Mother is “always right.”

           

Barrio-Fiction                                        --Lynn Fisher