We specialize in hard to find items
All Categories
*Price and Stocks may change without prior notice
*Packaging of actual item may differ from photo shown
- Electrical items MAY be 110 volts.
- 7 Day Return Policy
- All products are genuine and original
About Becoming Beatriz
Product Description "A compelling read about the quest for fame!" —Debbie Allen, star of Fame "Redemption is a heartbeat away." —Guadalupe Garcia McCall, author of the Pura Belpre Award winner Under the Mesquite Beatriz dreams of a life spent dancing--until tragedy on the day of her quinceañera changes everything. Up until her fifteenth birthday, the most important thing in the world to Beatriz Mendez was her dream of becoming a professional dancer and getting herself and her family far from the gang life that defined their days--that and meeting her dance idol Debbie Allen on the set of her favorite TV show, Fame. But after the latest battle in a constant turf war leaves her brother, Junito, dead and her mother grieving, Beatriz has a new set of priorities. How is she supposed to feel the rhythm when her brother's gang needs running, when her mami can't brush her own teeth, and when the last thing she can remember of her old self is dancing with her brother, followed by running and gunshots? When the class brainiac reminds Beatriz of her love of the dance floor, her banished dreams sneak back in. Now the only question is: will the gang let her go? Set in New Jersey in 1984, Beatriz's story is a timeless one of a teenager's navigation of romance, her brother's choices, and her own family's difficult past. A companion novel to the much-lauded Like Vanessa. Review ♦ It's 1984, and 15-year-old Beatriz Mendez knows there is a rule she cannot break: "blood in, blood out." Members of the Diablos, a Puerto Rican gang in her neighborhood of Newark, N.J., get jumped as initiation--and leaving the gang usually means being killed in the streets. Beatriz's older brother, Juan "Junito," is the leader of the Diablos; when he and Beatriz are attacked by the Haitian Macoutes, a rival gang, Junito is gunned down and Beatriz is beaten. Having watched her brother die, Beatriz's priorities shift drastically. Her dream of becoming a dancer like Debbie Allen is put on hold as the pressure to return to the gang builds--"time to start thinking 'bout getting back in the game, princesa"--forcing her to think about the street violence in which she has taken part. With Junito gone, the Diablos' new leader, DQ, has big plans to up the ante in the fight against the Macoutes. As Beatriz tries to break ties with the Diablos, and begins a friendship with a new boy at school named Nasser, someone starts leaving her photographs with mysterious messages written in Creole. Slowly losing the trust of the Diablos, with the danger of being jumped by the Macoutes at every turn, Beatriz is torn between finding a form of safety in her old life and escaping violence by embracing her love of dance. Tami Charles's beautifully written follow-up to Like Vanessa creates a believable character in Beatriz, one with an intensity of spirit likely to draw in fans of Elizabeth Acevedo and Tiffany D. Jackson. With its realistic portrayal of life in Newark in the 1980s, Charles's author's note reveals the parts of her own life that inspired Beatriz's story. --Clarissa Hadge, bookstore manager, Trident Booksellers & Cafe, Boston, Mass. Discover: In this rhythmic teen read, after witnessing her brother's death, 15-year-old Beatriz must choose between her life as a gang member or moving forward to a life without violence as a dancer.— Shelf Awareness, starred review ♦ In a city where "cocaine is king," can a teenage gang leader dare to dream of another life? Newark, New Jersey. 1984. Beatriz Mendez and her older brother, Junito, lead the powerful Latin Diablos gang. Everything changes on Beatriz's 15th birthday when a Haitian gang leaves Junito for dead and Beatriz badly injured. A Like Vanessa (2018) spinoff, this page-turner opens dramatically with a visceral fight scene that introduces a fierce protagonist. Beatriz is a Spanglish-speaking Puerto Rican badass with "a blade tucked inside [her] cheek…to use on anybody who tries to step." In the aftermath
