111 pages • 3 hours read
Matt de la PeñaMexican WhiteBoy
Fiction | Novel | YA | Published in 2008A modern alternative to SparkNotes and CliffsNotes, SuperSummary offers high-quality Study Guides with detailed chapter summaries and analysis of major themes, characters, and more. For select classroom titles, we also provide Teaching Guides with discussion and quiz questions to prompt student engagement.
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Finding Beauty and Hope in Unexpected Places in Mexican WhiteBoy
In 2016, Matt de la Peña became the first Latino to ever win the prestigious Newbery Award for his children’s book The Last Stop on Market Street. In this NPR article about his Newbery Award, de la Peña said that the message of the book was quite simple:
The main characters in Last Stop on Market Street happen to be African American, but De La Peña says the book is not about race. It has a simple lesson: "You can feel like you have been slighted if you are growing up without, if you have less money, or you can see the beauty in that. And I feel like the most important thing that's ever happened to me is growing up without money. It's one of the things I'm most proud of."
Though The Last Stop on Market Street is a book for children, its core theme – finding beauty and appreciating the world for what it is –also pervades Mexican WhiteBoy. The two books have other similarities too.
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By Matt de la Peña
