Marisol McDonald Doesn't Match / Marisol McDonald no combina

by Monica Brown, Sara Palacios (Illustrator)

Overview

Marisol McDonald has flaming red hair and nut-brown skin. Polka dots and stripes are her favorite combination. She prefers peanut butter and jelly burritos in her lunch box. To Marisol, these seemingly mismatched things make perfect sense together. Other people wrinkle their nose in confusion at Marisol—can’t she just choose one or the other? Try as she might, in a world where everyone tries to put this biracial, Peruvian-Scottish-American girl into a box, Marisol McDonald doesn’t match. And that’s just fine with her.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9780892392353
Publisher:	Lee & Low Books, Inc.
Publication date:	09/27/2011
Edition description:	Bilingual: Spanish-English
Pages:	32
Sales rank:	13,486
Product dimensions:	8.40(w) x 9.90(h) x 0.50(d)
Lexile:	AD580L (what's this?)
Age Range:	5 - 8 Years

About the Author

Monica Brown, Ph.D. is the author of many award-winning books for children, including Pablo Neruda: Poet of the People (Henry Holt), winner of the Américas Award for Children's Literature and an Orbis Pictus Honor for Outstanding Nonfiction, and Waiting for the Biblioburro (Random House), a Christopher Award winner. Her picture book Marisol McDonald Doesn't Match/Marisol McDonald no combina (Lee & Low) is the winner of the Tejas Star Book Award, the International Latino Book Award, and a Pura Belpré Honor for Illustration. Marisol McDonald and the Clash Bash/Marisol McDonald y la fiesta sin igual, the second book in the Marisol series, was published in September 2013.

Monica's books are inspired by her Peruvian-American heritage and desire to share Latino/a stories with children. "I write from a place of deep passion, joy, and commitment to producing the highest possible quality of literature for children. In my biographies, the lives of my subjects are so interesting and transformational that I am simply giving them voice for a young audience. I don't think it is ever too early to introduce children to the concepts of magical realism, social justice, and dreaming big!" Monica is in demand as a conference keynote speaker and has appeared at ALA, TLA, NCTE, Book Expo America, and at book festivals across the country.

Monica Brown is a Professor of English at Northern Arizona University, specializing in U.S. Latino Literature and Multicultural Literature. She writes and publishes scholarly work with a Latino/a focus, including Gang Nation: Delinquent Citizenship in Puerto Rican and Chicano and Chicana Literature; and numerous articles and chapters on Latino/a literature and cultural studies. She was the recipient of the prestigious Rockefeller Fellowship on Chicano Cultural Literacies from the Center for Chicano Studies at the University of California. She lives with her husband and two daughters in Flagstaff, Arizona.

Sara Palacios was born in Mexico City. She holds degrees in Graphic Design, Illustration, and Digital Graphic Techniques, and is pursuing her MFA in Illustration at the Academy of Art University in San Francisco. She divides her time between Mexico City and San Francisco, California.

Editorial Reviews

Having an American first name and Hispanic surname I immediately recognized what this book was all about, and it's long overdue. Marisol McDonald has the same problem many mixed children have. She's different, two races merged in her, some traits shared with cousins on her mom's side and some with those on her dad's side and almost no shared traits with the kids at school. At some point she becomes self-aware and uncomfortable wondering if maybe she should try to abandon the other distinctive qualities about herself to compensate for the things she cannot make like everyone else. Then she gets a note from her teacher who's noticed the spunk has gone from her drawing, her choice of game at recess and her lunch that tells Marisol how wonderfully unique she is. How many kids were like me who were the first generation of ?unique' that needed to hear that it was a wonderful kind of unique and not that sarcastic, cutting, soul crushing, "unique?" In a bully's world the mixed child is the easiest target; it is difficult when there is no one like you to turn to for support but when you are armed with self-confidence the bully loses his power. This book is that bullied child's haven. There are plenty of books that tell kids their differences are what make them special but the characters in those books can't do what Marisol McDonald does: she makes us believe that we are special because she is just like us. Reviewer: Mandy Cruz

Children's Literature - Mandy Cruz

PreS-Gr 2—Marisol McDonald has brown skin, freckles, and hair the color of fire. She pairs polka dots with stripes and eats peanut butter and jelly burritos. She's a Peruvian-Scottish-American who is perfect just the way she is. Why not have a game of soccer-playing pirates or mix cursive with print? That makes sense to Marisol. But others seem to see things differently. When another student issues a matching challenge to Marisol, she has to decide if she will conform simply to show that she can. In this lively bilingual book, Marisol is brought to life in both English and Spanish through Brown's dynamic prose, Palacios's vibrant illustrations, and Dominguez's outstanding translation. This fun book allows readers to meet a wonderful character. Children get a glimpse of what it means to grow up in a biracial family and have other people trying to define what is "normal." The story encourages readers to embrace their uniqueness and be exactly who they are.—Verónica Corral, Charlotte Mecklenburg Library, NC

School Library Journal

A little girl celebrates her multiracial background and pride in her individuality through a creative and non-conformist attitude.

Marisol McDonald loves her fire-red hair and her brown, freckled skin, feels artistic pleasure in pairing polka-dotted shirts with striped pants and enjoys eating PB&J burritos. Misunderstood by her peers, she is continually teased for not ever matching until one day, confidence diminished, Marisol decides to conform and arrives at school in the same-colored clothes, chooses pirates over soccer rather than playing both simultaneously and eats a peanut butter/jelly sandwich on mushy bread. Bored and unhappy, Marisol is delighted when her teacher gives her a note that boosts her self-esteem with this very positive message: "the Marisol McDonald that I know is a creative, unique, bilingual, Peruvian-Scottish-American, soccer-playing artist and simply marvelous!" Double-page illustrations in assorted media match Marisol's eclectic style and include everything from childlike crayon-and-pencil drawings to more sophisticated cartoon art that combines paint and newsprint collage. The bilingual, first-person story works well in both English and Spanish despite, as explained in an editor's note, the difficulty of finding the most appropriate Spanish term for the title's English phrase.

Marisol's varied, distinctive lifestyle and multiracial family affirms our increasingly blended society and clearly celebrates independent thinking. Brava! (author's note) (Picture book. 5-8)

Kirkus Reviews