Confetti Girl

Apolonia 'Lina' Flores is looking for answers, but she can't seem to figure out why she's losing all the important people in her life, even with a house crammed full of books and facts. After her mother's unexpected death, her father hides from sorrow by keeping his nose buried in books. Her best friend Vanessa's got problems of her own: her father recently left her mother, who deals with the rejection by obsessively making cascarones, which are hollow egg shells filled with confetti. When Vanessa starts to get boy crazy and begins to slip away too, Lina learns to find the answers within herself and understand what it means to grow up.

With its strong voice, humour, endearing characters and compelling subject matter, Confetti Girl is reminiscent of The Year of the Dog and Judy Blume. It portrays Hispanic-Americans in a day-to-day setting, rather than focusing on the common archetypes of migrant worker or inner city kid, and still retains the rich cultural aspects of Lina's heritage.