Maritza: Lead with Your Heart

American Girl: World By Us

by Angela Cervantes, Caroline Garcia (Contributor)

Maritza is Bolivian on her mother’s side, Mexican on her father’s side, and 100 percent American soccer player. She dreams of playing for the U.S. women’s soccer team and even coaching it one day. Her teammate Violeta has those dreams too, but she worries she may never reach them because her family immigrated to the United States from El Salvador and may be sent back there. Maritza believes that families belong together, and with her new friends Makena and Evette by her side, she makes a plan to help. Can Maritza find the courage to lead with her heart? The book includes a glossary of Spanish words, profiles of two young Latina changemakers, and reader questions to spark conversation.

Genres: Childrens, Contemporary

96 pages, Paperback

First published October 1, 2021

About the author

Angela Cervantes is the award-winning author of several popular children's novels including Lety Out Loud, which won the Pura Belpré Honor Award in 2020.

Her other novels include The Cursed Moon, which won Florida's Sunshine State Young Readers Award. Angela's other middle grade novels include the Frida Kahlo-inspired mystery, Me, Frida and The Secret of the Peacock Ring; Allie, First At Last; and Gaby, Lost and Found.

Her latest children’s novel is Anomalies 53: Into the Shadows which is book 1 of a two-book series published by Harper Collins.

Additionally, Angela authored the junior novelization for Disney/Pixar's animated-film, Coco and Disney's animated film, Encanto. She also collaborated with American Girl Dolls for the novel Maritza: Lead With Your Heart.

Angela’s short stories have been featured in Chicken Soup for The Latino Soul and the Young Adult anthology Beyond Borders: Growing Up Mexican in America.

Angela is a daughter of a retired elementary-school teacher who instilled in her a love for reading and storytelling. Angela writes from her home in Kansas City. When she's not writing, Angela enjoys reading, running, gazing up at clouds, and taking advantage of Taco Tuesdays.

To learn more about Angela and her books, visit her website at angelacervantes.com.

Reviews

[Chaya · Rating 5 out of 5]

This is an excellent children’s book about compassion and humanity. It focuses on a Latina girl, Maritza (who is half-Bolivian and half-Mexican) and her fight to reunite a classmate’s uncle with his family, after he was detained after ten years of living peacefully in America and working toward citizenship.

[Mgrones · Rating 1 out of 5]

Poorly written, disjointed story, with a leftist political message. Know what it says before you hand it to a child.

[QNPoohBear · Rating 4 out of 5]

Maritza Ochoa is a proud Bolivian-American and Mexican-American from Washington, DC. She dreams of playing soccer for Team USA someday and won't let anyone stand in her way just because she's a girl. She enjoys mentoring and coaching little girls like her. When she meets the older cousin of one of the little girls, Maritza realizes she and Violeta have a lot in common, like they're both proud Latinas and eager to play for Team USA. Then Maritza sees a photo of a man raising money for an immigration lawyer and she's furious this man has been taken away from his family, a family she has just met and liked already. Maritza is determined that families should stay together and she wants to do something to help. Unfortunately Violeta won't open up and share her family story with Maritza. Itza has trouble waiting and shares the story with her newest friends, Makena and Evette who help her brainstorm ideas for getting the word out. Soon a BIG plan is in place pending Violeta's trust. When Itza becomes closer to Violeta, she alienates her best friend, Sierra. Can she make it up to Sierra without betraying Violeta's trust? If Violeta lets her, Itza will share with Sierra and the whole class and together they can make a difference.

This book is good. The writing style is a little young for the storyline. Itza and her friends are in middle school already and thinking about the future they want. Itza and friends (Evette's story comes first) have already made a difference in their community. Itza was influenced by her aunt and namesake who has sadly passed away. Before her aunt Mari passed she made Itza a scrapbook of pictures and quotes by famous female athletes and social change makers. When Itza misses her aunt, she looks at the scrapbook and writes in the journal her aunt gave her. I found Itza a realistic and sympathetic character. She's fierce and strong and doesn't take no for an answer. Itza knows in her heart families belong together. She lost her aunt and it left a hole in the family. She can't let any other family go through losing a loved one. Itza tries to be a good friend and community member to everyone.

There's little friend drama, fortunately. Once Sierra learns what's going on, she understands and forgives Itza. Sierra is willing to help as well. She's a proud Mexican-American who dances ballet folklorico. (Hello AG! Missed opportunity here to bring back Marisol). Sierra understands the struggles Violeta's family faces.

This book may be considered controversial or "divisive" but it really is not. Mr. Bernstein teaches Current Events. He gets the kids thinking and debating the issue so both sides are presented. The story focuses on one man, one family to put a human face on the issue of immigration. I would have preferred it to be Violeta's story about HER worries over being deported but that WOULD make it controversial. The students discuss which type of immigrant "should" be allowed (or not) in the country and the student who insinuated only some immigrants are worthy changes his mind. The story touches on one reason why a family chooses to leave their home country and come to the United States for better opportunity. It doesn't discuss migrant workers, refugees, people stuck at the border or anything other than the ONE family, just as Addy's story isn't about slavery, it's about ONE family.

I really like the vibrant community of Columbia Heights. It's apparently now a Latinx neighborhood and Itza's Abuela runs the community center where the three WBU characters meet. I loved the street festival and the descriptions of the food and the games they play. There's lots of new Spanish terms to learn from the glossary in the back.

The digital illustrations are not my favorite, especially since the interior ones are in black and white. I like the color journal pages in the beginning better.

I'm intrigued enough to want to backtrack to Evette's story.

I plan to donate this book to an International Charter School where the student body resembles Maritza, Evette and Makena. It's right in front of a brand new (in progress) soccer stadium! I hope some girl picks up the book and finds inspiration in Itza's story. Great job speaking to my city, AG!

[Coleccionista de finales tristes · Rating 2 out of 5]

De la serie de libros de “World by us” este es el único que no me ha gustado. Tiene un mensaje político y no creo que sea tema para niñas de 8 años

[Beth E · Rating 4 out of 5]

Great story.

[Katie · Rating 5 out of 5]

I read the three World By Us books back in December and have been trying to gather my thoughts on them ever since. They feel Important. So here goes.

All three World By Us books are about taking action to help right some of the wrongs you see in your own community. They're about tackling prejudice and promoting compassion. And they're about friendship. There's a lot there, and there's certainly room to feel that AG is burdening its non-white characters with heavier themes. But I also know that as a kid with white privilege, stories like these were eye-opening to me, and I hope that the kids who look like these characters will feel seen and maybe even empowered.

The three girls have different interests, but a very similar energy: Each one is a ray of sunshine, eager to make positive change, full of ideas and energy, and quick to act on a new plan. No shyness or overthinking here!

Maritza's book focuses on using your standing to push for positive change. When we meet her, she's just won a 5k race, and throughout the book, it's clear that she's known and liked in her community. Her peers respect her, younger kids look up to her and adults are willing to listen to her. Again and again, we see her eager to jump in and help however she can, whether she's persuading a coach who doesn't want to let the little girls play soccer (does that still happen? He feels like such a throwback) or rallying support for a friend's uncle who has been detained because of his immigration status.

In order to get a sense for how Maritza interacts with her whole community, we wind up with a huge number of characters - this book feels overstuffed in ways that Evette's and Makena's didn't. The result is that Evie and Makena feel squeezed in at the edges here more than the WBU friends do in the other two books. This book clearly takes place later than the first two, so we don't get the same introduction scenes, but because the book is so packed full, they only show up when they're necessary for the plot. That balance feels like the opposite of the friend situation in Evette's book, where she has school friend drama to work through, but it feels more background-y compared to meeting the other WBU girls. Because Maritza's friend drama is directly connected to the immigration plot, that gets more time and focus.

For that matter, the particulars of Maritza's friend drama are the polar opposite of Evette's, too. Here, it's Itza who wants to bring old and new friends together - she's the Ashlyn of the situation - whereas Evette was Sierra, being reluctant and kind of judgey - until things clicked for her.

I'd love to see stories about this trio that really put the trio and their relationship in the foreground. I'll be curious to see if AG releases further adventures of Maritza, Makena and Evette.

[Marian · Rating 4 out of 5]

It will never cease to amaze me when I read reviews from conservatives freaking out about the content of more modern American Girl books. It's not like they weren't pushing the whole "treat people like people no matter what" agenda from day one (hi, Samantha!) so why oh why are they freaking out now? Oh yeah, because they either didn't read the books OR they've grown up and forgot what they were taught.

Anyway, Maritza: Lead with Your Heart isn't a very long book and I will agree with the criticism that it's trying to cram a little too much into that, but I'd also say it just means we should have gotten (or should get) another round of books for the World By Us line. I don't think Maritza's activism is too unbelievable as it's not like she's personally handing over a ton of money. She's using her resources (the adults in her life) and her voice and the collective voices in her community. That's inspiring no matter what your age and definitely something kids should be shown.

I loved that while there was some friend jealousy, it wasn't over the top or drawn out. I loved that LwYH also shows that it's possible to listen to other people and change your mind. Opinions aren't set in stone and just because you said/thought something before a discussion doesn't mean you still have to have that same mindset after you learn new perspectives.

Also loved the acknowledgement that when someone you love dies, you will always miss them and there's no getting around that.

My one other criticism of the book is that I would have loved to have had full color illustrations for the whole book.

[Linda Galella · Rating 5 out of 5]

For sure, the best of the first three books, “Lead With Your Heart” is Maritza’s story. Her friends, Makena & Evette, are included in this story but not as much as in the other two. That might have something to do with the fact that this story doesn’t have a direct racist theme.

It is about immigration, justice and how inequity destroys families. This is the only book that doesn’t single out white folks as negative. They are integrated into the story minimally but participate as all others do. This is realistic for the location of the story and the composition of the characters.

Lots of soccer in this story along with relationship management, which is very difficult and consuming during these early teen years. The author does a great job of showing positive interactions between those involved and the resolutions.

All of the actions taken to help with a friend’s family member who is taken by Immigration agents is done cooperatively with peers and supervised by adults. Nothing is radical or belligerent so as to jeopardize the safety of the students or adults. These kids are respectful as well as interested in making their world a much better place to be.

All things considered, an encouraging and inspiring read for the whole family 📚

[Rebekkah · Rating 5 out of 5]

Such an important and powerful book.

[Alexia · Rating 5 out of 5]

A very good book that deals with immigration and shows kids that even though they are young they can still make a difference.

[Joey Susan · Rating 4 out of 5]

Maritza is a Bolivian, Mexican American who loves playing soccer. Then she learns something shocking about her team mates family member being detained by immigration, she feels she must do something bigger to help them.

This was not what I was expecting at all, it’s very heavy in its topic theme, It’s so relevant to the current world that it was pretty hard hitting. Dealing with immigration and the splitting up of a family, being detained, having to find a way to find funds to get a good lawyer. It was not what I was expecting to be included within this book but it was very powerful and important.

Maritza is a great protagonist, so full of spirit and love, she cares so much about all the people in her life and even pope, she’s never met, but matter to her friends. As soon as she finds out about her friend’s uncle she starts trying to figure out what she can do to help him and their family, she steps up right away to help them, coming up with such a great plan to get attention for their cause.

I love how she manages to gather everyone around her to create a big showcase to share what was going on and her cause, to make awareness to the injustice and the situation. It was so beautifully dealt with and written, I really liked how she and Violetta got close and that eventually Sierra helped them too.

The illustrations were really beautiful to look at, very cutely done. Though the topic is heavy and still relevant I really enjoyed reading it, it even brought me to tears at certain points. It was beautifully and delicately created on such an important and relevant topic.

[Panda Incognito · Rating 2 out of 5]

This is definitely the weakest book in the series. It is super preachy, introduces a lot of different characters and plotlines that it never revisits, and ends abruptly. Although Evette: The River and Me is perfectly paced for its length, this book needed to be at least twice as long to have any chance of being a fully coherent, well-ordered story.

Also, the conflict related to Maritza's friendship with Sierra was terrible. It's the typical, tired trope about elementary-aged girls growing apart as their interests diverge, and even though authors can handle this common real-life theme well, it was obviously just shoehorned in here as a Relevant Topic to Girls' Lives, without any game plan for how to weave it into the story as a whole. It feels completely forced, and the resolution is rushed and unbelievable. The Evette book handles a similar conflict with depth and emotional sensitivity, but Maritza's friendship problem just wastes pages.

This book also barely ties into the other World By Us books. The story introduces Evette and Makena and rehashes some of what the girls did in the first book, but it doesn't further develop the girls' characters or friendship. Someone can skip this installment without missing out on anything for the rest of the series, and the only book I would wholeheartedly recommend would be the Evette title.

[Little Seal]

Super cute and important book. In fact, incredibly relevant today (granted, this book was published in 2021 so it's not shocking it's current). I will make note that if you plan on reading all the 'World By Us' books, it's better to start with Evette's book first since the book was somewhat spoiled in this story.

[Amanda Novak]

By far my least favorite of the series. I feel like Makena and Evette weren't really in it and that it introduced a lot of new characters instead. While it was interesting and extremely relevant, I think that it could have been done differently to make it seem more part of the series.

[Cara Byrne · Rating 3 out of 5]

One of the three American Girls of the year. Maritza's book takes on family separation/immigration/soccer, Evette takes on racism/the pandemic/environmentalism, and Makena takes on the pandemic/fashion/racism.

[Kelly · Rating 3 out of 5]

Quick, easy read. I like Maritza's character. Plot was good, but man, I really don't care about sports stories. Luckily it wasn't the *whole* plot.

[Charlie - disableddaydreamer | itsbarbieparis (looking for mutuals) · Rating 4 out of 5]

these are really quite cute and tackles a lot of pertinent and modern topics. this line was honestly one of the best side lines we’ve seen in so long(looking at you little sister line)

[Bookworm · Rating 1 out of 5]

Should have been good, but was written very poorly. Fear-mongering, child-traumatizing language.

[Colleen · Rating 3 out of 5]

I felt like this had potential but really was just too short to accomplish what it was trying to do. Instead of a fleshed-out plot, it just came off like an "issues" book with one lesson after another. It often felt like there wasn't genuine dialogue or change between the characters, rather just a magic solution, because everything happened too fast. Important themes (inclusion, feminism, anti-racism) which could be better conveyed with either a more focused storyline or a longer book that allowed the various plotlines to be fully realised.