The Education of Margot Sanchez by Lilliam Rivera


This was objectively a good book, but it was not meant for me. The tongue-in-cheekness that defines the narration is a narrative tone I've always appreciated in writing, but the audience of this book is definitely for a coming-of-age crowd. I would have enjoyed this book much more had I picked it up in junior high, but my first issue with teaching this novel in class is its intended audience. Written from the perspective of a young Latino-American girl, I would anticipate holding the attention of the boys in the classroom with this novel would be a challenge. I don't have an issue with the romance in this novel as I feel that it is unfair to assume that male readers won't have just as much interest in the dynamic. I was able to connect to the situations Margot was in, but I could not connect to her given how she responded to situations. However, the main reason I wouldn't teach this is simple. The intended audience and the character are below the secondary level ages. The instances that could be obstacles, such as the topics of sex, profanity, and drugs, are all presented in such a way that I would not balk at introducing them to secondary students. From my own experience with reading, kids can handle more mature topics than we really give them credit for.

Who would I recommend this book to? Really anyone who enjoys coming-of-age romance stories that focus around a character struggling to make the moral choices that will define them. However, when I was in 7th and 8th grade with typical male interests, I was much more interested in time travel and tales of heroism. The themes present in this book are valuable, but the character growth of Margot is inconsistent and sometimes stagnant until the climax of the novel.

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