Bridging Culture and Experience to YA Readers
mMcCallâs writing has a number characteristics that make her books attractive to young adults, especially within the Latino community, all while keeping in tow with the genre. Â They include:
Strong, identifiable protagonists
Inner struggle for independence
Family and sibling relations
Mexican culture, tradition, religion and folklore
We see the majority of these characteristics play out through McCallâs central characters (Lupita in Under The Mesquite the eldest daughter who is dealing with motherâs Cancer and Odilia in Summer Of The Mariposas, also the eldest daughter and responsible for looking after her sisters as they embark on their Mexican Odyssey). Â As a result these characters (as well as many of the supporting ones) have a raw, sensitive and resilient nature. Â Their voices range from honest to virtuous to humorous. Â These central characters, mainly female, are paramount to keeping the family together, yet they have an independent spirit that is wild as the wind. Â However, there is a balancing act to these characters; they are trying to be the good responsible daughter, yet yearn to break off from the family to create their own destinies. Â Itâs this tug and pull that many young adults could identify with. Â
The other quality that makes her books a great contribution to libraries, the Latino community and to young adult literature, is how McCall embraces the Mexican cultural experience through her free style poetry or fantastical prose. Â With a growing Latino population, incorporating stories that embrace Mexican culture is an important feature for librarians to consider. Â It also plays a significant aspect for young adult readership. Â According to a 2011 article entitled, Libraries Bridging the Borderlands Reaching Latino Tweens and Teens with Targeted Programming and Collections:
approximately 8.1 million Latino tweens and teens (ages 10-19) reside in the United States. âŠMany of these youth feel as if they are living in the borderlands of society â not quite fitting into the overall U.S. culture; yet not entirely comfortable with the culture of their parents, grandparents, or relatives who may have immigrated from one of over twenty different countries throughout Latin Americaâ (13)
âŠBoarderland experiences are present throughout Latino young adult literature and should be addressed within targeted library programming for Latino tweens and teens (Naidoo and Vargas 13-14).
McCall embraces this borderland experience in her writing.  In Under The Mesquite, Lupita, the main character, wants to be an actress.  Her drama coach, Mr. Cortes, tells her âif she is serious about actingâŠthen you need to loose your accentâ (67).  Her identity is enveloped by her Mexican culture, so this statement by Mr. Cortes challenges her identity and becomes the catalyst to tension between her and her classmates.  In âto be or not to be mexicanâ one of Lupitaâs school friends accuses her of wanting to be âwhite.â
Sarita glances at me sideways,
holds up a taco, and says,
Again the table erupts in laughter.
the freshman table is quiet.
And the sophomores, who sit behind us,
But not us. Â No â weâre juniors,
walls shake with our laughter.
âWhy are you talking like that?â I ask.
âLike what? Like youâ Sarita smirks.
She licks her index finger and strikes
the air as if sheâs just scored
âI donât talk like that,â I protest.
âYes you do, â Mireya jumps in.
âYou talk like youâre one of them.â
She spits out the word in disgust
and looks down at her lunch tray,
like she canât stand the sight of me.
âOne of them?â I ask.
âlet me translate for you,â
Sarita sneers. âYou talk like
Through this experience McCall reinforces the struggles and stereotypes that comes along with straddling American and Mexican culture.  Lupitaâs sister Victoria comes to soothe her, but Lupita knows who she is and where she comes from.  She declares   "What â because Iâm Mexican Iâm supposed to speak with an accent? âŠBeing Mexican means more than that.  It means being their for each other. Itâs togetherness, like a familia" (82-83).  Lupita reinforces the connected concept that is prevalent within the culture and puts it out their unapologetically.  She challenges her friends idea of what it means to be Mexican and puts her own individual stamp on it.
Through Lupitaâs voice, McCall also reinforces a nostalgia for Mexico and reminisces about her original home:
When I peeked out the windows
in out new house across the Rio Grande,
the lawns looked well behaved
and boring. Â The grass grew obediently
besides the clean sidewalks
each green glad standing upright
At first what I missed most
with their bright yellow petals
When Mami cam looking for me
I used to suppress my giggles
Within both of these passages McCall pays homage to her homeland Mexico and reinforces a cultural connection between Latino young adults and their heritage. Â She also brings to light the identity struggles of keeping one foot in Mexico and one in America.
   McCall is incredibly good at drawing out idiosyncratic characteristics associated within Mexican culture, in a way that is perhaps familiar for other cultures to empathize with (honoring of the family, sibling rivalry and family responsibility).  One distinguishing feature that McCall uses is her first language, Spanish.  Similar to the writings of other Chicana writers like Cisneros and Castillo, McCall writes in Espanglish, sprinkling Spanish words throughout the story.  In her interview with Blythe Woolston she explains:
âThe words that are in Spanish are often words that have special connotations, special meanings, that I cannot fully express in English when I write poetry. They are words close to my childhood, words that live and breathe en mi corazĂłn. To write them in any other language would feel unnatural.â
This incorporation of language helps to keep her writing true to her culture, the story and her readership. Â A key factor in McCallâs stories is that they speak to young Latino/Latina reader. Â This is significant to the ever expanding pool of Latino literature, because without Latino readers there wouldnât be Latino literature. In Under The Mesquite, Lupita takes the responsibility of watching over her sisters and brothers as her father takes their mother out of state for cancer treatment. Â This is a stressful time for her as she juggles the responsibilities of school, taking care of her siblings and the uncertainty of her motherâs condition. These experiences (including caring for larger families or taking on additional adult responsibilities) are a reality for some children of immigrant and hispanic families. Â The story is difficult and bittersweet, but in the end moving and inspiring. Â From the perspective of a librarian serving the Latino community, having empowering stories of survival within their collection can âprovide models of courageâ for other Latino readers (Dempsey). Â Between McCallâs incorporation of the Spanish language (and culture), her fierce protagonists and empowering storylines, her books will strongly resonate with Latina readers.
