Review: Under the Mesquite

McCall, Guadalupe Garcia. UNDER THE MESQUITE. New York: Lee & Low Books Inc. ISBN 9781600604294.
Guadalupe Garcia McCall’s beautiful verse novel Under the Mesquite is the winner of many awards and honors. One of the more recent awards is the 2013 Lee Bennett Hopkins Award for Poetry. The audience for the book is middle to high school-aged readers. It is written in six parts, and also includes a glossary of "Names, Spanish Words, and Cultural References" at the back of the book.

Each verse entry has a title, so that is helpful for the reader to get an idea of what the entry is about. McCall uses many Spanish words throughout the novel, so it is a great choice for English language learners whose first language is Spanish.

McCall’s poignant verse style is both simple and profound. The story of the verse novel follows Lupita, the oldest of eight children, on her journey through high school. Lupita's voice is given strength and depth of character through her interactions with her mother, father and seven younger siblings (5 sisters!). The novel follows Lupita and her family as they move from Mexico to south Texas and the trial they face as Lupita's mother is diagnosed with cancer. Lupita dreams of going off to college and becoming a writer or actress, but she is cognizant of the traditional Mexican lifestyle of her parents and ancestors. McCall's verse style is honest and emotionally captivating.

Because the poems are all very well written, it was difficult for me to choose just one to review. The poem I chose is "a mesquite in the rose garden". This poem is in the story during the summer after Lupita's junior year of high school. It is as follows:

In the squint of morning,
before anyone else is awake,
when the roaring sounds
of unbridled verses
rush furiously through my head,
the mesquite is my confidant.
I lean back against its sturdy trunk
and read aloud every word
imprinted en mi corazón

The mesquite listens quietly-
as if the poems budding in my heart,
then blossoming in my notebook,
are Scripture-and never tells a soul
the things I write.

(McCall, 123)

This poem entry falls at a key place in the novel. It occurs while Lupita is taking care of her younger siblings while her mother is receiving chemotherapy treatment in the hospital. Since Lupita is the oldest child and her father is caring for her mother in the hospital, she really does not have anyone else she can turn to. This verse exemplifies McCall's powerful style.

A teacher, librarian or parent sharing this novel with middle-school age readers could give some background information on the towns Lupita lives in (both in Texas and Mexico). Before reading the poem aloud, the adult could ask any readers who speak Spanish if they could explain what the word corazón means with the group. This is crucial to understanding this poem, as corazón means heart.

After the adult reads the poem aloud once for the group, the readers could practice reading to each other in partners; one reader could read the poem aloud as Lupita, the other listening as the mesquite. Then the partners could reverse roles. It may be helpful for the adult to share pictures of actual mesquite trees with the children before reading the poem aloud.

Under the Mesquite. JPEG. Retrieved from http://www.leeandlow.com/books/391/hc/under_the_mesquite