Juanita Fights the School Board is the first novel in Gloria Velásquez’s Roosevelt High School Series, a series featuring characters with whom all children, and especially U.S. Hispanic children, can relate. This novel for young adults details the expulsion of a young Mexican-American girl from Roosevelt High School for getting involved in a fight with another student. The story begins with Juanita’s expulsion and describes the effect this event has on her self-image and on her family. One of six children of California migrant workers, Juanita hopes to be the first in her family to graduate from high school. With the help of a school psychologist and a former civil rights attorney, Juanita fights the discrimination against minorities at Roosevelt High School and returns from her expulsion more determined than ever to fulfill her dream of graduating from high school.
“Spanish words are interspersed throughout, along with snippets of information about Mexican-American culture. Good Hispanic role models are plentiful.”–School Library Journal
GLORIA VELÁSQUEZ is an award-winning writer of poetry and fiction. She is the author of two poetry collections, I Used to Be a Superwoman (1997) and Xicana on the Run (2006), and the Roosevelt High School Series: Tommy Stands Tall (2013), Rudy’s Memory Walk (2009), Tyrone’s Betrayal (2006), Teen Angel (2003), Ankiza (2000), Rina’s Family Secret (1998), Maya’s Divided World (1995), Tommy Stands Alone (1995), and Juanita Fights the School Board (1994), all from Piñata Books. Velásquez is currently a professor in the Modern Languages and Literatures Department at California Polytechnic State University in San Luis Obispo, California.
Learn more at gloriavelasquez.com.
ATOS Interest Level: Middle Grades
Category: Young Adult
ATOS English: 4.4
LEXILE: 740L
Accelerated Reader Quiz #: 35017
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