Pig Park

The cover art alone was almost enough to sell me on this book -- ummm, marranitos, as Homer Simpson might drool over donuts. But the story about a group of shop owners and their kids trying to save their neighborhood by building a pyramid in their park kept me turning the pages. The author is very good at capturing the teens' points of view, voices, concerns, and abilities. Each teen has a distinct personality. The grown ups are frustrated, and worried about their livelihoods, and there is the spectre of underhanded business practices. But what remains constant are the aromas of butter and spices from the bakery. Sometimes we must build on what we already have.

I had to read this book for our ladies group at church. Wasn't too sure about it at first. But once I got into it it went fast.

A worthwhile novel from Claudia Guadalupe Martinez, whose first novel, The Smell of Old Lady Perfume, is one of my favorites. A coming of age story, a story of corporate greed, and a story of how a community can band together to save itself. I definitely recommend this one.

Pig Park is an engaging story about families trying to hang on as their urban neighborhood declines and young teens trying to enjoy their summer as everything changes around them. With strong developed characters and a creative story line, Martinez weaves together a satisfying novel.

A quick read, and a beautiful story. I give it 4 stars because it could use more character development.

Review copy: Digital copy via publisherMasi worries about her neighborhood, the family bakery, and her parents too. She has many issues pulling at her emotions, but she is also a young person wanting to enjoy her summer hanging out with friends and maybe even experience a little romance along the way.Masi looks at the neighborhood revitalization plan as one way to take care of several things. With everyone working together, she gets to spend time with friends and maybe a special someone along with solving her family’s financial problems. She gets behind the plan and works hard at every task she is given. I found it a bit unrealistic that the adults in the neighborhood signed onto the somewhat sketchy plan so quickly, but as a reader, I decided to just believe it anyway.The book really focuses on community and their willingness to sacrifice and work for the greater good. It also gives a picture of a few people who are willing to say, do and sell anything to get what they want. There is a huge contrast between the two types of characters. There wasn’t a lot of gray area there.The family bakery was my favorite place in the story. I wanted to spend more time in the kitchen. The descriptions of so many breads and cookies made my mouth water. I was truly hoping to see a recipe for the Ginger Pigs, or marranitos, by the end of the book. They look like gingerbread, though it is molasses that is giving it a distinct flavor and color rather than ginger. Since there was no recipe and they sounded so yummy, I started looking online and found many recipes for this traditional Mexican cookie, so I may still get to try them.The main character is fifteen and her romantic interests are only a year or two older. Masi is a sweet and innocent girl and her flirtations are also. She and her friends are mostly together only around the community events. We don’t see them interacting much beyond the neighborhood issues so I had less of a sense of who the other teens were. I would classify Pig Park as a young adult book because of the ages, but it is on the younger side. It would be a great title to offer when people are asking for what they often call “clean reads” for teens.Recommendation: Get it soon if you work with tweens or middle schoolers and want to add some diverse realistic fiction. Otherwise, borrow it someday. Even with financial issues and a potential family split, it is a fairly light and fun look into a unique urban neighborhood.Review posted at Rich in Color http://richincolor.com/2014/09/review-pig-park/

This book is very much geared toward young adults, but I confess that I thoroughly enjoyed it. It's a step away from my usual reading in that it's realistic fiction rather than fantasy or dystopian, and I probably never would have picked it up, but I won it in a drawing. So glad I did! There's a smidgeon of something that could almost be called a love triangle, but it's so mild and sweet that I'm not going to count it as one.I enjoyed Masi, and I really felt for her throughout the story. Her interactions with other characters always felt real to me, as did her internal monologue. Also, I loved that her family ran a bakery (who doesn't like to read about cookies and bread?) and were neither losers nor perfect. It was all easy to follow and relatable.The only downsides I found was that although most of the book was full of beautiful, simple prose, there were times when it fell into short, awkward, sentences in list-like paragraphs. I also found myself doubting the construction of the pyramid. It seemed like things went too smoothly and quickly, and sometimes it was huge, and then other times the kids did things like brush the walls with a sealant in the space of a morning. It seemed like it should have taken days, not to mention scaffolding. I noticed maybe four typos/missing words in the entire novel, which is pretty amazing. These things took me out of the story a few times, but it was nothing to keep me from recommending the book. It's a bit on the pricey side, $6.99, so I recommend reading the sample before you buy. I don't want anyone coming after me for their seven bucks because they bought it on my recommendation and then didn't like it.Language: Clean.Sexual Content: Just an innocent crush or two and a little sweet kissing.Violence: None.Overall Message/Plot: Wonderful. Messages about working together, learning to understand people who aren't easy to like, perseverance, and taking initiative. The plot sounded strange to me, and put me off of reading it at first, but it makes sense and kept me reading.Rawhitebooksandmore.weebly.com