The Latina Book Club
celebrates LATINX HERITAGE MONTH
every day.
To honor authors during this
celebratory month, we will highlight a new book every day.
Join us and #ReadLatinoLit.
Antheneum/ Caitlyn Dlouhy Books |
BARELY MISSING
EVERYTHING
By Matt Mendez
“Life is what happens to us while we are making
other plans.”
Fabi, her son Juan and his best friend JD find
this out the hard way. They all had other plans for themselves, but life proved
cruel and merciless. They are hoping for one last shot at their dreams…maybe.
SUMMARY: Juan has plans. He's going to get out of El Paso, Texas, on a
basketball scholarship and make something of himself--or at least find
something better than his mom Fabi's cruddy apartment, her string of loser
boyfriends, and a dead dad. Basketball is going to be his ticket out, his
ticket up. He just needs to make it happen.
His best friend JD has plans, too. He's going to be a filmmaker one day, like Quinten Tarantino or Guillermo del Toro (NOT Steven Spielberg). He's got a camera and he's got passion--what else could he need?
Fabi doesn't have a plan anymore. When you get pregnant at sixteen and have been stuck bartending to make ends meet for the past seventeen years, you realize plans don't always pan out, and that there some things you just can't plan for...
Like Juan's run-in with the police, like a sprained ankle, and a tanking math grade that will likely ruin his chance at a scholarship. Like JD causing the implosion of his family. Like letters from a man named Mando on death row. Like finding out this man could be the father your mother said was dead.
Soon Juan and JD are embarking on a Thelma and Louise-like road trip to visit Mando. Juan will finally meet his dad, JD has a perfect subject for his documentary, and Fabi is desperate to stop them. But, as we already know, there are some things you just can't plan for.
His best friend JD has plans, too. He's going to be a filmmaker one day, like Quinten Tarantino or Guillermo del Toro (NOT Steven Spielberg). He's got a camera and he's got passion--what else could he need?
Fabi doesn't have a plan anymore. When you get pregnant at sixteen and have been stuck bartending to make ends meet for the past seventeen years, you realize plans don't always pan out, and that there some things you just can't plan for...
Like Juan's run-in with the police, like a sprained ankle, and a tanking math grade that will likely ruin his chance at a scholarship. Like JD causing the implosion of his family. Like letters from a man named Mando on death row. Like finding out this man could be the father your mother said was dead.
Soon Juan and JD are embarking on a Thelma and Louise-like road trip to visit Mando. Juan will finally meet his dad, JD has a perfect subject for his documentary, and Fabi is desperate to stop them. But, as we already know, there are some things you just can't plan for.
ABOUT THE AUTHOR: Like his
characters, Matt Mendez grew up in
central El Paso, Texas. He is the author of BARELY MISSING EVERYTHING, his YA
debut novel, and the short story collection TWITCHING HEART. He lives
with his wife and two daughters in Tucson, Arizona. Visit him at
www.mattmendez.com.
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