Booktalks Quick and Simple

	Perez, Celia C. THE FIRST RULE OF PUNK New York : Viking, 2017 IL 5-8, RL 6.2 ISBN 0425290409 (3 booktalks)
Click on the book to read Amazon reviews	Booktalk #1 Twelve-year-old Maria Luisa, or Malu as she prefers to be called, loves punk. She loves the music. She loves the look. She also loes skateboarding and zines. She shares these interests with her dad but now she and her mom are moving away. Her mother has a new job in Chicago and they move just before the start of 7th grade. Not a great time to be the new kid. And Malu find herself in trouble right from the start. She has violated the dress code by wearing makeup. And the class queen bee has her sights on Malu. It is not a great start. But Malu does find a few kids with similar interests and they decide to start their own punk band. But Malu learns that it is not always easy to stand up for what you believe in and be yourself. Booktalk #2 Twelve-year-old Malú is not pleased when her mom accepts a professorship in Chicago - over a thousand miles away from her home in Gainesville. She would much prefer to stay behind with her super-cool, punk-rock, Indie-record-store-owning dad rather than make the trek with the “SuperMexican.” But Chicago it is and Malú is soon immersed in the world of mean girls, candy necklaces and being called a coconut. Malú struggles with how best to express who she is, as she learns how to embrace the talents, interests and heritage she inherited from each of her very different parents. With info on how to make your own zine, including samples such as “A Handbook for Coconuts,” “Senorita Germs,” and “SuperMexican,” this novel will appeal to artists, musicians and any middle-schooler who struggles with how to fit in without losing his or her identity. (Vermont DCF Award nominee, 2018-2019) Booktalk #3 What are little girls made of? Sugar, spice and everything nice. Well, seventh grader, Malú, knows that nursery rhymes don’t tell the whole story and she’s looking for a newer modern version. Malú isn’t a cookie cutter princess, but a one of a kind punkster that loves rock music and creating zines. It isn’t until Malú and her Mexican-American mother leave their home in Florida for the windy city of Chicago that she begins to question herself a little more. Through the tests and trials of middle school, Malú soon discovers that her voice and courage are bigger than any box anyone could try to put her in. She knows who she is, because that’s the first rule of punk. (Prepared by: Anya Bonnette, Robert E. Howard Middle School, anya.bonnette@ocsd5.net for South Carolina Book Award)
	SUBJECTS: Bands (Music) -- Fiction. Chicago (Ill.) -- Fiction. Friendship -- Fiction. Individuality -- Fiction. Mexican Americans -- Fiction. Middle schools -- Fiction. Punk rock music -- Fiction. Schools -- Fiction.

Perez, Celia C.
THE FIRST RULE OF PUNK
New York : Viking, 2017
IL 5-8, RL 6.2
ISBN 0425290409

(3 booktalks)

Click on the book to read Amazon reviews

Booktalk #1

Twelve-year-old Maria Luisa, or Malu as she prefers to be called, loves punk. She loves the music. She loves the look. She also loes skateboarding and zines. She shares these interests with her dad but now she and her mom are moving away. Her mother has a new job in Chicago and they move just before the start of 7th grade. Not a great time to be the new kid. And Malu find herself in trouble right from the start. She has violated the dress code by wearing makeup. And the class queen bee has her sights on Malu. It is not a great start. But Malu does find a few kids with similar interests and they decide to start their own punk band. But Malu learns that it is not always easy to stand up for what you believe in and be yourself.

Booktalk #2

Twelve-year-old Malú is not pleased when her mom accepts a professorship in Chicago - over a thousand miles away from her home in Gainesville. She would much prefer to stay behind with her super-cool, punk-rock, Indie-record-store-owning dad rather than make the trek with the “SuperMexican.” But Chicago it is and Malú is soon immersed in the world of mean girls, candy necklaces and being called a coconut. Malú struggles with how best to express who she is, as she learns how to embrace the talents, interests and heritage she inherited from each of her very different parents. With info on how to make your own zine, including samples such as “A Handbook for Coconuts,” “Senorita Germs,” and “SuperMexican,” this novel will appeal to artists, musicians and any middle-schooler who struggles with how to fit in without losing his or her identity. (Vermont DCF Award nominee, 2018-2019)

Booktalk #3

What are little girls made of? Sugar, spice and everything nice. Well, seventh grader, Malú, knows that nursery rhymes don’t tell the whole story and she’s looking for a newer modern version. Malú isn’t a cookie cutter princess, but a one of a kind punkster that loves rock music and creating zines. It isn’t until Malú and her Mexican-American mother leave their home in Florida for the windy city of Chicago that she begins to question herself a little more. Through the tests and trials of middle school, Malú soon discovers that her voice and courage are bigger than any box anyone could try to put her in. She knows who she is, because that’s the first rule of punk. (Prepared by: Anya Bonnette, Robert E. Howard Middle School, anya.bonnette@ocsd5.net for South Carolina Book Award)

SUBJECTS:     Bands (Music) -- Fiction.
                        Chicago (Ill.) -- Fiction.
                        Friendship -- Fiction.
                        Individuality -- Fiction.
                        Mexican Americans -- Fiction.
                        Middle schools -- Fiction.
                        Punk rock music -- Fiction.
                        Schools -- Fiction.