Confetti Girl

by Diana López

Apolonia "Lina" Flores is a sock enthusiast, a volleyball player, a science lover, and a girl who's just looking for answers. Even though her house is crammed full of books (her dad's a bibliophile), she's having trouble figuring out some very big questions, like why her dad seems to care about books more than her, why her best friend's divorced mom is obsessed with making cascarones (hollowed eggshells filled with colorful confetti), and, most of all, why her mom died last year. Like colors in cascarones, Lina's life is a rainbow of people, interests, and unexpected changes.

In her first novel for young readers, Diana López creates a clever and honest story about a young Latina girl navigating growing pains in her South Texan city.

Genres: Realistic Fiction, Middle Grade, Fiction, Childrens, Young Adult, Romance, Contemporary

208 pages, Hardcover

First published January 1, 2009

About the author

Diana López is the author of numerous middle grade novels, including Confetti Girl and Ask My Mood Ring How I Feel. She also wrote the middle grade adaptation of the Disney/Pixar film Coco. Diana is a lifelong resident of Corpus Christi, Texas and works with various nonprofits to mentor new writers.

Reviews

[Abby Johnson · Rating 4 out of 5]

Lina Flores, sock enthusiast, budding scientist, and volleyball player, is dealing with family, crushes, and surviving middle school. Her mother died two years ago and her father retreats into his books, preferring to ignore the outside world. How can Lina get his attention while dealing with everything else?

This is Latina Judy Blume (and that's definitely a compliment coming from me!). Hooray for a book with a Latina protagonist where race is not an Issue! Highly recommended.

Full review on my blog:
http://abbylibrarian.blogspot.com/200...

[Gabriella · Rating 4 out of 5]

I really enjoyed the book Confetti Girl by Diana Lopez.I think this book would fall under realistic ficton because it is about a 13 year old girl named Lina Flores and she is trying to get through tough times in her life when her mom dies. Even though this tradegy happens Lina is still an energetic sock enthuisist who loves to be with her friend Vanessa who is sometimes their for her but other times not.I really think this book was great and also it can give you answers that may help you solve problems in your own life. I could really relate to Lina in the story. I also like how the author made it that if felt like you were there with the charaters when something was happening. I would have really liked the author better if she had gave us clues to understand what was happening other than just telling us exactly what happened, otherwise the book was excellent and fun to read.

[anna · Rating 3 out of 5]

A book from my childhood. Not super memorable but kinda cute

+ Easy read
+ Some Junie-B-Jones-esque humor that I loved
+ Opportunity to learn some Spanish!!!

- The plot doesn't really manifest itself til the end
- Protagonist could be a real brat sometimes
- Touches on a lot of early adolescent struggles but offers little resolution for any of them, so the book was a bit of a downer by the end

[Jennifer Wardrip · Rating 3 out of 5]

Reviewed by Sally Kruger aka "Readingjunky" for TeensReadToo.com

CONFETTI GIRL should be a big hit with the middle grade market. It takes a Latino backdrop and combines it with likeable characters experiencing the typical ups and downs of middle school life and puts it all in a fun, eye-catching cover.

Meet Apolonia (Lina) and her crazy sock collection. She sees herself as overly tall and gawky with skinny legs, an interest in science, and a sometimes annoying directness. Lina lives with her father, a high school English teacher. Several years earlier her mother died after she fell and cut her leg. The cut was not really serious, but the blood infection that followed was.

Life has been difficult, but Lina has her best friend, Vanessa, as support. In fact, they have supported each other since Lina's mother died and Vanessa's mother went through a nasty divorce. They have weathered the events fairly well, and now are hoping that their parents can begin to adjust and live more normal lives.

Mixed in with these personal tragedies are several other plot twists. Lina's grade in English is plummeting so she finds herself ineligible for sports, the one area where she shines. Vanessa has been acting strange anytime she is around Carlos. Lina has even caught them kissing. She knows part of her anger about this is due to jealousy, since she has liked a boy named Luis for quite some time, but their relationship doesn't seem to be progressing to the same level.

Author Diana Lopez is spot-on with her descriptions of budding middle school romance, merciless teasing, and parent/child misunderstandings. Young readers will find much to like about CONFETTI GIRL, including the added bonus of the Latino words of wisdom that begin each chapter and the Hispanic customs scattered throughout the story.

[Jenna Petrillo · Rating 5 out of 5]

This book was amazing because it was my level and had a lot of feeling to it!My favorite part was the ending because lina and venessa were friends again after a hge fight they had before!

[Emma · Rating 2 out of 5]

This was pretty lame. Lina, the main character, has two main relational conflicts: one with her best friend, Vanessa, and one with her dad. Both of the conflicts seemed like subplots, with the author occasionally bringing one to the forefront and then letting it sink back down while the other conflict was brought forward, or while other, true subplots took over. The romance with Luis was way too easy and happened way too suddenly. I would have liked a little bit more time for their relationship to blossom. All the characters were pretty selfish and self-centered, besides the too-good-to-be-true Luis, and each had one defining trait/hobby that seemed unrealistic and became tiring pretty quickly. The ending consisted of each character taking a turn spouting off the lesson(s) they had learned. Lay-ame!

[Diana · Rating 4 out of 5]

Surprisingly wonderful book! I love the fact that this is a diverse book that doesn't smash you over the head with the fact. The characters just are what they are. The culture is part of them and is, therefore, part of the story, but it's seen as just natural...which is, in my opinion, how it should be.

This is a solid middle-grade novel with wonderful lessons about family, friendship, and the fact that there are consequences for the choices we make. Highly recommended.

Content Advisory: parental death, divorce, bullying, kissing

[Jamie · Rating 3 out of 5]

A student recommended this to me, so I was happy to read it. I liked its distinctive voice; Lina is more rebellious than I might have expected. I can't think of another middle grade realistic fiction book I've read in the last couple of years that featured a Mexican-American protagonist, and I'd like to find others, too. Happy to have read this.

[Wendi Lee · Rating 3 out of 5]

*3.5 stars*

Lina's mother passed away the year before, and Lina's father deals with his grief by reading endless books. Lina, on the other hand, is trying to move forward with her life. But it seems like her best friend (who is also adjusting to life after her parents' divorce) is more interested in being with her new boyfriend, and Lina's schoolwork is starting to interfere with her extracurricular sports.

I liked the diversity a lot in this book. The South Texas neighborhood is vibrant, and I loved learning about cascarones, for example.

I just couldn't relate to Lina. There are a LOT of middle grade books about grief. I'm not a hundred percent sure that this is what Confetti Girl is about. Lina is very diplomatic and grown-up about her responses to her mother's death. Her father is distant, yes, but it doesn't seem like enough of an issue to drive this novel. Lina wants to move forward, and so (with a few stumbling blocks), she does. The other subplots - her best friend, her blooming interest in a classmate - also didn't strike me as poignant. Things are resolved easily, and drama remains low.

[Devany De La Torre · Rating 5 out of 5]

¡Este libro me encanta! Todavía no termino de leer lo pero al momento me gusta much. La verdad creo que la Sra. Cantú es mi personaje favorita porque es ridícula y me encantan los personajes ridículos!!!

[Mary Helene · Rating 3 out of 5]

I would give this book 3 stars because it does not stay on topic. One way it does not stay on topic is in one of the chapters it is supposed to talk about a cascarones booth . Lina and Vanessa created the booth. It goes off topic when it talks about Lina going to the jail booth. It went off topic several times. I would not recommend this book.

By : Irene Mele Age 9

[03MckenzieO · Rating 4 out of 5]

The Confetti Girl By Diana Lopez
Year 2010
199 pages

This book is intended for teens and young adults or really any age. This book is a really fun read and could be for all ages. The main issue in the book is issues between friends and parents. Also getting good grades is a great way to loose privileges with friends.

The settings throughout this book are school, Vanessa's house and Lina's house and around town. Lina and Vanessa are the main characters in this book. They are best friends who live across the street from each other and do everything together. They both don't have one of their parents one. So they both live in a single parent family. The other characters throughout the book are kids at school, Lina's Dad, and Vanessa's Mom. Each character plays a very important role in the book.

Summary
Lina loves to collect crazy sock and she saves all of her socks even if they have holes in them. Vanessa and her best friend live across the street from each other. They do everything together they play volleyball on the school team together. Their school volleyball team is not very good they only won one game. Even though they did not win many games they still had fun together as friends. Their school had a school Halloween carnival and Lina and Vanessa signed up to sell cascarones. Cascarones are these festive eggs for any holiday that are decorated, filled with confetti, and then cracked on someones head for good luck. Vanessa's mom lives everyday and makes cascarones all day every day. All Vanessa and her mom would eat was eggs all the time so that they could use the shells to make cascarones. They thought it would be a great idea and Vanessa's mom said she would help. The carnival went great except for one of the booths was a jail and you could put someone into jail for 50 cents and then someone would have to come bail them out. Lina got put in the jail and Vanessa would not come and bail her out. The carnival was fabulous everyone loved the cascarones so much that they sold all the way out of them.

What i liked about the book was the creativity of collecting socks instead of coins or shells or something ordinary. I also liked the idea of a cascarone and how they were good luck. Some quotes that i liked from the book were on page 1 "I collects socks I have a dresser with drawers labeled daily socks, lonely socks, holey socks and sock Heaven" I loved how she organizes her socks so creatively. On page 69 "I'm thinking my love life destiny is linked to socks" I thought it was so funny and it brought a smile to my face when I read this quote.

Themes from the book were: Be yourself no matter what other people think. Always do your best and listen to your parents.

I would recommend this book to anyone who wants a fun read and to just enjoy all the fun things throughout the book. There are lots of unique things about this book but one thing I liked was there was lots of creativity and wierd things that happened throughout the book. Like collecting socks and making cascarones all day everyday. I would give this book 4 stars.

[Cindy Rodriguez · Rating 5 out of 5]

In Confetti Girl, López masterfully blends serious middle school issues, like friendships and first kisses, with the even more serious issues middle schoolers face, such as the death of one parent and the paralyzing grief of the other. Apolonia “Lina” Flores is an easily lovable character with her crazy socks and desire to do well on the volleyball court and in the classroom. But everything starts to unravel as Lina’s dad gets lost in books and her best friend, Vanessa, gets lost in Carlos’s dreamy eyes. With her relationships already strained, Lina’s situation gets worse when she’s benched for failing grades.

What makes Confetti Girl not only an awesome middle grade read but also a great novel about Latin@s is how López seamlessly weaves in cultural details. By using such things as cascarones and dichos throughout the novel, López introduces cultural specifics to readers without being preachy or teacher-like. In other words, I could see young readers responding with, “Cool, let’s make those,” or “Yup, my mom says things like that all the time,” instead of “Oh, that’s a Latin thing” (closes book). The Kirkus review of this novel put it this way: “An appealing coming-of-age novel set in a traditional Mexican-American town, in which Hispanic teachers, students and parents celebrate traditional American holidays such as Thanksgiving alongside such traditional Mexican observances as el Día de los Muertos and a Quinceañera.”

Confetti Girl, López’s first middle grade novel, was a winner of the William Allen White Award and named to New York Library’s “100 Titles for Reading and Sharing.” It was a commended title for the 2010 Américas Award for Children’s and Young Adult Literature, and Latinidad’s “Top Latino Book of the Year” for Middle Grade Category. It was also a Scholastic Book Club and Book Fair Selection.

[Rhiannon · Rating 5 out of 5]

Lina Flores is a sock enthusiast, volleyball playing, science lover who is just searching for answers. Why does her dad care more about books than he does about her? Why is her best friend’s divorced mom so obsessed with making cascarones? And most importantly, why did her mom die last year? Her life is filled with an assortment of people, interests, and unexpected changes. Lina’s life is nothing more than a big bowl of confetti.
Mr. Flores is Lina’s dad. He is a high school English teacher and he loves books. Vanessa is Lina’s best friend. In the story, sometimes it feels like Vanessa would rather spend time with her boyfriend Carlos than with her best friend Lina. Ms. Cantu is Vanessa’s mom. She is divorced and she believes that all men are evil. She hates men so much that she doesn’t let Vanessa hag out with boys. Therefore, Vanessa has to sneak around with Carlos.
The best part of this book is at the end when Lina, Mr. Flores, Vanessa, and Ms. Cantu are all smashing cascarones on each others heads’. The worst part is when Vanessa, being a bad friend, uses Lina and Mr. Flores so she can meet Carlos at the movies.
I feel as though many people can relate to this book. A lot of teen girls are probably having the same problems with their friends and boys and feeling like their parents don’t care about them. This book contains everyday language and is very easy to follow. 6th grade and up would be a good age to read this book.

[Lindsey · Rating 3 out of 5]

This book was okay, it was almost geared toward a younger reader then myself. Over all I liked it. Apolonia (Lina) Flores lives in Corpus Christi, Texas with her father. She’s also Mexican–American, has recently suffered the loss of her mother and grown frustrated with her widowed father who has literally, and metaphorically, buried himself in books. Apolonia Flores, nicknamed Lina, struggles with her father's concept that "books are your best friends" ("Los amigos mejores son libros"). That is not true in Lina's life, and she resents that her father, who shares the sorrow of her mother's death the previous year, buries himself in books, thus distancing himself not only from sadness but also from his daughter. Luckily, though, Lina has a lot going on in her life. She has her hobby: socks which are in her dresser, divided into drawers for her daily wear socks (organized by color and style), socks without partners, socks with holes, and "sock heaven" (outgrown and otherwise useless socks). Lina is creative with her socks, fashioning earmuffs, wallets and more from them. I only thing I didn't care for much in this book would be all the Mexican language, even though there was a dictionary for the words translated in English.

[Karla · Rating 3 out of 5]

I selected this book from the sale rack at the local library. I liked the colors on the cover. I read the synopsis and thought it sounded good. For the most part, the story is good. I, like Lina, love socks. I could relate to an obsession with them, though I had never tried to wear mine on my ears. I also like homemade costumes, which some people might not get. I liked that her name was Apolonia. I have a great grandmother by that name. I think Lina was sometimes a bit melodramatic about some things, but I guess that is typical of any human being. I didn't always love Vanessa. There is a history of bestfriendship, but throughout the book, that seems to be called into question through Vanessa's repeated unbestfriendly choices. I liked Luis. I liked the recipe to make cascarones that was included in the book. This is a cultural practice that I had never heard of prior to this book. I liked the last scene in the book, a kind of release that tied everything back together.

[Carrie · Rating 3 out of 5]

Cute realistic fiction read for upper elementary/middle school girls. Lina feels like an orphan. Ever since her mother died, her father has been hiding behind his books to mask his grief. She has her best friend, Vanessa, to lean on, but lately Vanessa has been too busy sneaking around with her forbidden boyfriend to be there when Lina needs her. She's got a crush herself, Luis, but she keeps putting her foot in her mouth around him and making their friendship difficult. She's also failing English. As the book progresses, Lina learns to speak up about her feelings and start moving on the path to healing from the loss of her mom. The cover pulled me in… now I want to make cascarones!

[Ling Ling · Rating 5 out of 5]

I enjoyed and loved this book. The book is centered around a girl, who struggles with common girl problems, all while dealing with life problems as well, which is totally relatable. The other characters in the book were interesting, because of what you learn about each of them like their current obsession, when the main character interacts with them, or narrates. I think I enjoyed this book more because it was in a girl's perspective or point-of-view. I also loved that the author used first person. I thought the cover was something new, different and definitely interesting.

[Brailyn · Rating 5 out of 5]

I um truly fell in love with this novel!
Definetly in my top favorites! It's basicly about this girl 14 named Lina and her mom died and her dad is a bibliophile so he loves books. and well she is coping with changes with her best friend they both have realashionshiups with these boys. so read to find out what happens to lina and her best friend Vanessa!

[Emma · Rating 2 out of 5]

At first, I thought this book was shallow and girly, but towards the end, it was a little more meaningful and has a good message. Quick read, some talk of feminine coming of age things. Not my favorite, but ok.

[Maddie Boerman · Rating 3 out of 5]

I loved this book so much it was about this girl who when she gets bored she will orangize her socks by color style and feeling and it is how she really likes this boy and the boy is really quiet but she still really likes him she wishes he would talk more.

[Wendy · Rating 4 out of 5]

Delightful! Something like a good Judy Blume, but without anything embarrassing.

[OwlBeReading · Rating 5 out of 5]

Really cute book. I loved the characters and even though the situations were a little cheesy it was still good writing and I really want to make cascarones!

[Sam]

This book was good. I liked it because I could relate to what happens in the book. Also the author had good word choice that made in better as a book.

[birdie · Rating 1 out of 5]

I thought that she acted way older than she really is.

[Kristen · Rating 3 out of 5]

This is a middle schooler story with a Latino flavor. It's quick, it's lightweight, it's got a likable heroine and her crazy socks.

[Laina SpareTime · Rating 2 out of 5]

Cross-posted from my blog where there's more information on where I got my copy and links and everything.

(2.5 maybe.)

For the first forty-seven pages, I was enjoying this book quite a bit. And then on page forty-eight, the book dropped the r-word out of nowhere.

From Lina, our protagonist. And it's never addressed by any of the characters or the narrative. It's seriously just apparently no big deal. Honestly the book seems to act like it's a bigger deal that the kid she calls that called her a whooping crane. Book, this is not okay. This was published in 2009, so there's no excuse that it was the 70s or anything. This book is middle grade, probably aimed at nine to twelve year olds. I'm not okay with a book for that age range having the protagonist drop ableist slurs and it never being addressed!

I had really high hopes for this, and I'm just disappointed. I loved how diverse this is. The parts where the book is exploring Lina's family and talking about their traditions and everything are probably the strongest parts of the book. But the voice is somewhat lacking to me, sounding not entirely authentic for a twelve year old girl, and the characters are a little underdeveloped. Honestly, it sometimes felt like the characters had two traits and that was the extant of their personalities. The conflicts also tend to be resolved too easily, and it takes away the tension.

I'm super bummed about this, honestly. Love the concept and certain elements of it, but I wish the book was a little better executed. That wouldn't stop me from recommending it to others, but the ableist slur does, unfortunately. That makes me not comfortable recommending it, and I'm honestly not even sure I'm okay keeping it. If I reread it, I think I would be wincing waiting for page forty-eight to show up, and I don't think I could do it. Sadly, I think I'm going to have to pass this one along.

I will say props to the cover designer because the legs on the cover are actually brown to represent Lina, and it is adorable. I honestly adore this cover, and it is perfect.

[Mystic DreamClouds · Rating 2 out of 5]

The cover for this book is so gorgeous and unique that this book just jumped my entire TBR list to the top. When I originally picked up this book, I had not thought it would be filled with diverse characters or sensitive topics of death, grief and depression.

I enjoyed reading about the little inserts of Spanish proverbs and the cascarones. Given this story had diverse characters, I liked how seamlessly the characters were able to use the Spanish proverbs when talking and didn’t leave me confused or re-reading passages to understand what was said.

That said I just didn’t understand how the title of this book is related to our main character, Apolonia aka “Lina”. Confetti was her friend, Vanessa’s problem as her mom kept making too many cascarones with confetti in them. Lina on the other hand, loved collecting socks which makes sense as the cover picture and her dad kept reading books. If you’ve read this book or ever read it, please do let me know how the title of this book relates to our main character. I’m genuinely curious if I possibly missed something.

I didn’t like the main character no matter how hard I tried. Lina is in middle school and she has a bit of an attitude but I think she takes too many things for granted causing her to keep repeating the same mistakes. Although she’s clear on her feelings she isn’t very upfront and vocal about them so expects others to know them. I also didn’t like how she talked with some of the other characters in the story and Lina doesn’t apologize to them at all. Near the end it feels like she’s changing but it was too easy; like there’s no growth or rite of passage for her to get there. She just suddenly wakes up and changes.

I didn’t really enjoy any of the other characters as well. They felt too extreme and sometimes their mistakes and bad attitudes weren’t even reprimanded. For example, bullying a child who stutters can be traumatizing but we just let that whole incident go because no one wants to face a bully.

Overall, this story wasn’t for me. I enjoyed the diversity but the story felt really flat and there wasn’t anything that stood out for me in both the characters and plot.

Read more reviews @ Mystic's Review Shelf

[Rachel · Rating 3 out of 5]

Apolonia “Lina” Flores lost her mother and her father, a high school English teacher, is obsessed with books and likes to hide himself in them. Lina’s best friend Vanessa lives across the street with just her mom. her parents seperated and her mom despises men due to their split. Lina is on the volleyball team and likes a boy named Luis who has a stutter. Lina in a way resents her father due to him not being present in her life ex. reading a book during her volleyball game. Lina starts to fail English and is not able to play soccer. her father is surprised and upset about this new. while Vanessa tries to set up her mother with Lina father hoping it will light her spirts about men. Vanessa starts dating a guy named Carlos and uses Lina to hangout/talk with him without her mother knowing. this puts a strain on their friendship but Vanessa acknowledges her actions and apologizes. Lina starts to write a story which in turns her father ends up reading and it makes them grow together. { this book was entertaining and had a really good plot. although it was cheesy it explained the issue of dealing with the loss of a parent and how it affect relationships. Was a fast read, throughly enjoyed it }

[Karenna · Rating 4 out of 5]

Apolonia Flores goes by Lina. She isn't any basic person that collects coins, she collects socks. She is a 13 years old girl who plays volleyball and loves science she pretty much knows everything that is going on. She wants to find out many things about life and move on but her dad kinda gets in the way with that. Linas life is full of many happy things and has a lot of unexpected things and you will have to read to find out what happens.

I really enjoyed this book. I like Lina's personality a lot, she isn't just a boring girl that go to school and then sits at home. She is very active love extra circular sports and love science. One thing in this book is that I can't relate to what she goes through but I can relate to friends getting a boyfriend and picking them over their good friends.