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Taking sides / Gary Soto.

By: Material type: TextTextPublication details: San Diego : Harcourt Brace Jovanovich, c1991.Edition: 1st edDescription: 138 p. ; 22 cmISBN:
  • 0152840761 :
  • 015284077X (pbk.)
Subject(s): DDC classification:
  • [Fic] 20
LOC classification:
  • PZ7.S7242 Ta 1991
Summary: Fourteen-year-old Lincoln Mendoza, an aspiring basketball player, must come to terms with his divided loyalties when he moves from the Hispanic inner city to a white suburban neighborhood. Lincoln Mendoza remains loyal to his former school's basketball team, even after he moves from the barrio to the suburbs and plays for his new school's team. "This touchingly realistic story explores the divided loyalties of a Hispanic basketball player who has recently moved from a poor neighborhood to a more affluent one. . . . Soto masterfully conveys the Hispanic-American experience."
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Holdings
Item type Current library Collection Shelving location Call number Status Date due Barcode Item holds
Adult Book Phillipsburg Free Public Library YA Fiction YA Fiction YA SOT Available 674891001534276
Total holds: 0

Enhanced descriptions from Syndetics:

Lincoln Mendoza remains loyal to his former school's basketball team, even after he moves from the barrio to the suburbs and plays for his new school's team. "This touchingly realistic story explores the divided loyalties of a Hispanic basketball player who has recently moved from a poor neighborhood to a more affluent one. . . . Soto masterfully conveys the Hispanic-American experience."-Publishers Weekly

Fourteen-year-old Lincoln Mendoza, an aspiring basketball player, must come to terms with his divided loyalties when he moves from the Hispanic inner city to a white suburban neighborhood. Lincoln Mendoza remains loyal to his former school's basketball team, even after he moves from the barrio to the suburbs and plays for his new school's team. "This touchingly realistic story explores the divided loyalties of a Hispanic basketball player who has recently moved from a poor neighborhood to a more affluent one. . . . Soto masterfully conveys the Hispanic-American experience."

Reviews provided by Syndetics

Publishers Weekly Review

This touchingly realistic story explores the divided loyalties of a Hispanic basketball player who has recently moved from a poor neighborhood to a more affluent one. Initially, eighth grader Lincoln feels like a traitor when he plays ball for the predominantly white school he now attends. To make matters worse, his new coach seems to hold a grudge against both Lincoln and his former school, Franklin Junior High. As a game against Franklin approaches, tension mounts and Lincoln experiences clashes with several people, including some teammates. But he manages to have fun on the night of the big game and eventually makes peace with his friends. Once again, Soto ( Baseball in April ) masterfully conveys the Hispanic-American experience, and readers will respect Lincoln's values and good sportsmanship. Ultimately, the boy learns to adjust to a new situation and accept new challenges without compromising his individuality. Ages 8-12. (Oct.) (c) Copyright PWxyz, LLC. All rights reserved

School Library Journal Review

Gr 5-8-When Linc Mendoza moves from a barrio of San Francisco to a nice suburb and a new school, he finds that he is a minority in his school. Besides the difficulties of being a Mexican-American in a mostly white school, he encounters problems and obstacles common to most teens. His basketball coach is tough on him, classes are harder than they were in his old school, and he has trouble with past friendships from his old neighborhood. As if things weren't already tough enough, he has to face playing his old school on the basketball court. This story by Gary Soto (Harcourt, 1991) takes on important issues that most teenagers face at some point in their lives. Listeners will identify with Linc and the problems that he encounters. While the printed version of the story is excellent, this spoken version is even better. Soto interweaves Spanish words into the text, giving listeners/readers a real flavor for the language. Narrator Robert Ramirez uses his voice to provide an in-depth feel for the characters. His accurate Mexican-American dialect helps listeners become part of the story.-John Clexton, Detroit Public Library, MI (c) Copyright 2010. Library Journals LLC, a wholly owned subsidiary of Media Source, Inc. No redistribution permitted.

Booklist Review

Gr. 6-9. Moving from his inner-city San Francisco neighborhood to a middle-class suburb 10 miles away, Lincoln Mendoza finds conflict without and conflict within. He has a lot to put up with: basketball injuries, an unsympathetic (and slightly crazed) coach, and misunderstandings with his old buddy from Franklin Junior High and his new girlfriend at Columbus Junior High. However, Lincoln does find an unexpected ally in his mother's boyfriend. When Franklin plays Columbus in basketball, Linc becomes his own man at last and resolves in some measure the problems that have troubled him. Linc's cool appraisal of the differences and similarities between his two communities makes for interesting reading, but the book's universality springs from the essential realism of the boy's hopes, fears, and disquieting moments. While the use of Spanish words within the text (some translated in context, others requiring a flip back to the glossary) is a mixed blessing, the novel itself is well constructed, well written, and believable. ~--Carolyn Phelan

Horn Book Review

Being the only Hispanic American on the basketball team is hard enough, but Lincoln Mendoza faces a racist coach and conflicting loyalties to his old friends when the teams from his old barrio school and his new suburban school meet. Background complications with his mother's new male friend add texture to a story of growing maturity set inside a sport. Awkward use of Spanish with English translations gets in the way of an otherwise good book. From HORN BOOK 1991, (c) Copyright 2010. The Horn Book, Inc., a wholly owned subsidiary of Media Source, Inc. No redistribution permitted.

Kirkus Book Review

Lincoln Mendoza, 12, has felt in limbo ever since moving from San Francisco's Mission District barrio to neat, tree-lined Sycamore--a feeling exacerbated by a game his basketball team is going to play against his former team. Various forces work on Lincoln's fragile sense of identity: he senses that his coach has it in for him because he's Mexican-American; he has trouble accepting his mother's white boyfriend; and he's accused by his main man from the barrio of going ``soft'' living among whites. Sorting through these internal and external prejudices, Lincoln comes to realize that life isn't a matter of taking sides but of integrating the new with the old. Soto (Baseball in April, 1990) creates a believable, compelling picture of the stress that racial prejudice places on minority children. He respects the intelligence of his readers, sparing dramatics and allowing them to read between the lines of his quiet yet powerful scenes and bringing the racial issue closer to home for a mainstream readership: the Mendozas are now suburban and middle class and could be anyone's neighbors. There's a tad too much Spanish (it becomes tiresome to read Spanish followed by its translation), and the glossary of Spanish terms should point out that Mexican idioms are included. Nonetheless, a fine, useful contribution. (Fiction. 8-12)
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