Jesse Baron, the son of the American Championship Wrestling star known as the Angel of Death, is about to graduate from high school. His parents expect him to attend the University of Texas and study mechanical engineering, something he’s not interested in.
The young man knows he would be a natural at professional wrestling, and with his father’s help he might even reach the same level of fame and success. But the Angel of Death, retired from the ACW and running a wrestling promotion and school, refuses to train his son for fear he will choose sports entertainment over a college degree. Jesse decides that once he gets settled at UT, he’s going to look for another place to wrestle. To keep his father from finding out, he’ll promote himself as a masked luchador from Oaxaca, Mexico, named Máscara de la Muerte. When no one will hire him, Jesse reluctantly considers joining a lucha libre organization, even though he doesn’t speak Spanish. Will the fans and his fellow wrestlers see him as a luchador—or just a gringo with a mask?
In this stand-alone sequel to his acclaimed novels, My Father, the Angel of Death and Body Slammed!, Ray Villareal continues his exploration of a teenager growing into manhood against the backdrop of the wrestling world.
“Fast-paced chapters fill readers in on the wrestling circuit and are full of day-to-day activities. Jesse deals with the typical changes that come with high school graduation, such as friends parting ways to attend different schools and uncertainties about romantic relationships. In the end, with the support of his friends and parents, Jesse finds he is able to juggle more than he thought and learns about his own identity. VERDICT: A good addition to young adult collections, especially recommended for fans of lucha libre and where the author’s previous titles are popular.”—School Library Journal
“A San Antonio teenager hooks up with a fast-living pro wrestler and discovers the downside of hanging out with risky companions in this sequel to My Father, the Angel of Death.”—Kirkus Reviews on Body Slammed!
“This stand-alone sequel to Villareal’s earlier novel, My Father, the Angel of Death (2006), tells a taut and believable story about a young man’s coming-of-age and the choices he must make. The material about professional wrestling will be of special interest to boy readers.”—Booklist on Body Slammed!
“This wonderfully moving novel alternates between humor, tenderness and insight about what it means and takes to become a man.”—KLIATT on My Father, the Angel of Death
RAY VILLAREAL is the author of several young adult novels, including Body Slammed! (Piñata Books, 2012), Don’t Call Me Hero (Piñata Books, 2011), Who’s Buried in the Garden? (Piñata Books, 2009), winner of LAUSD’s Westchester Fiction Award, Alamo Wars (Piñata Books, 2008) and My Father, the Angel of Death (Piñata Books, 2006), which was nominated to the 2008-2009 Lone Star Reading List and named to The New York Public Library’s 2007 Books for the Teen Age. He lives with his family in Dallas, Texas.
ATOS Interest Level: Middle/ High Grades
Category: Young Adult
LEXILE: 820L
