Grow Up, Luchy Zapata
by Alexandra Alessandri
Intermediate, Middle School    Atheneum    256 pp.
7/24    9781665935968    $17.99
e-book ed.  9781665935982    $10.99

Luchy’s birthday marks the end of summer vacation, and she’s excited to start middle school; she and her two best friends, Mateo and Cami, are finally going to be at the same school. But when Cami comes back from visiting her family in Colombia, she’s changed, and she expects Luchy to change too. Luchy, whose family is also ­Colombian, likes who she is—at least, she thought she did. Her family and Mateo encourage her to be herself, but Luchy thinks she needs to “grow up” to try to save her friendship with Cami. Her efforts only lead to an embittered back-and-forth with her friend. When their schism deepens on the soccer field, Luchy is forced to accept that growing up looks different for everyone, and you never know what others might be going through. Set in Miami with lots of multicultural Latine details (Luchy’s abuela cooks Cuban recipes that she learned from her friend; Mateo’s family is Chilean) and naturally incorporated Spanish, this is an endearing middle-school transition story that ultimately lands in favor of expressing who you are and being open to new and changing friendships.

From the ">September/October 2024 issue of The Horn Book Magazine.