By: Nancy Osa Publisher: Delacorte Books for Young Readers Average Rating: Binding: Paperback Label: Delacorte Books for Young Readers Number of Items: 1 Number of Pages: 304 Publication Date: March 08, 2005 Reading Level: Young Adult Release Date: March 08, 2005
Product Description: Violet Paz has just turned 15, a pivotal birthday in the eyes of her Cuban grandmother. Fifteen is the age when a girl enters womanhood, traditionally celebrating the occasion with a quinceañero. But while Violet is half Cuban, she’s also half Polish, and more importantly, she feels 100% American. Except for her zany family’s passion for playing dominoes, smoking cigars, and dancing to Latin music, Violet knows little about Cuban culture, nada about quinces, and only tidbits about the history of Cuba. So when Violet begrudgingly accepts Abuela’s plans for a quinceañero–and as she begins to ask questions about her Cuban roots–cultures and feelings collide. The mere mention of Cuba and Fidel Castro elicits her grandparents’sadness and her father’s anger. Only Violet’s aunt Luz remains open-minded. With so many divergent views, it’s not easy to know what to believe. All Violet knows is that she’s got to form her own opinions, even if this jolts her family into unwanted confrontations. After all, a quince girl is supposed to embrace responsibility–and to Violet that includes understanding the Cuban heritage that binds her to a homeland she’s never seen. This is Nancy Osa’s first novel.
50% POLISH; 50% CUBAN and 100% AMERICAN: IT'S ALL GOOD and SO IS THE BOOK! Light hearted novel with the wonderful message of being proud of who you are and your family roots. This book is a great gift idea for Quincineros. Interestingly enough, there is a wonderful little area of Chicago where many Polish and Cuban Catholics do live; and I hear from my Cuban friends that Cuban/Polish marriages are very common. I wonder if Osa based her story on this Polish/Cuban neighborhood. Whatever the case, this book is worth the read, as it brings people from different groups together too.i.e., we are all the same. Wonderful book!
Cuba 15 Violet's quinceanero, something she thought of as a humiliation, changed all her views and prompted an area of her life that changed everything that was anything, and with the party, anything was everything. A quinceanero is what fifteen year-olds of the Hispanic persuasion use as the show of changing from a girl to a woman, and Violet was far from happy about hers. Over a year, Violet competed on the speech team, from which she got a boyfriend, organized her quinceanero, and tried futilely to learn from her secretive family about Cuba, where her Dad was from. Violet got pumped for the party, lied to her parents, and nearly didn't get to have the traditional dance with her Dad. Luckily, every part of the quinceanera's party thudded into place with funny family and friends and an easy to read, quirky book that I would recommend to middle to early high school girls.
Violet, or Violeta, was not a perfect teenager, but she learned from her mistakes. For her school speech team, she was in Original Comedy, and she was not very skillful at first, but she figured out how to make something that would win awards. She also figured out that she liked being out on stage. She listened to part of a poem that her best friend Janell was dedicating to her, and got offended before she had the right to do so. Janell told her the rest, and she was flattered. Violeta's biggest mistake was most likely when she lied to her parents about where she was going with her second best friend Leda. They went to a rally for PEACE WITH CUBA, and her father believed that it was evil, especially since she didn't tell him that she was going. Violet did have some sort of reason to go -her father would never talk about Cuba- but she learned not to lie, but to talk.
Nancy Osa gave the characters all very different personalities, which kept things interesting. Violet's grandfather (Abuelo) was stubborn; he wouldn't talk about Cuba either, funny with his music and constantly unchanged clothes, and excellent at dominoes. Violet's boyfriend, Clarence, was easy-going, seeing as how he was wide open to playing dominoes with Violet's father and brother instead of being alone with her, caring with his phone calls and willingness to go to a Cuba rally with her and Leda, and sort of scandalous because of the fact that he called Violet's house to ask if she would be at the party and then flirted with Leda. Violet at first didn't think that she was too cool of a person, but learned that she was very unique as a Cuban Polish girl with the crazy family, which she used in her Original Comedy.
Cuba 15 brought you through ups and downs that made it really easy to read. As I said, Violet's first speech team performance brought her down for good reason, but after that she got better and started to figure out that a quinceanero is not that bad. She went to the Halloween party after hearing Janell's poem and taking offense to it only to feel bad about her costume and her "headless date." Of course, her friends explained and everything was better. The lowest point of the book was when Violeta's dad wouldn't even go to her quinceanero because of her lies, that is, before he came to his senses and gave in to talking about Cuba.
There were a lot of things in Cuba 15 that I could relate to, like unfair parents, stress about life in general like Violet had in her fifteenth year of life, or fights with friends as Violet did once, both friends at the same time. It left you with things to think about, but it didn't make it seem like a sequel would come because it would probably mess up the aura of the story, which I will add was fantastic.
-K. Carson
Courtesy of Teens Read Too Violet Paz gives little thought to her ethnicity. She's half-Cuban and half-Polish, but all American. She takes for father's roots for granted, even if her crazy relatives are always visiting for mega-Domino tournaments and zany cookouts. But when her grandmother and parents insist that she participate in her "quince," she is forced into a reluctant and embarrassed embrace with an "old world" tradition.
This debut novel masterfully and subtly details the modernization of the quinceanero, a coming-of-age party for a Latina's fifteenth birthday, through the eyes of a clever and humorous teen living near Chicago. The author, Nancy Osa, accurately captures the resentment of parental influence some teens experience in their quest for their own identity. As Violet struggles with being forced to participate in her own quince, she seeks advice from other adult figures who help her balance parental expectations with her own need for independence. Osa pulls off this high-wire act masterfully, not going "over the top" in teen rebellion fashion, nor making Violet an unbelievably acquiescent parent-pleaser.
Osa weaves the subplot into the novel quite well, also. It makes Violet's self-discovery a double success story: not only does she make her quince relevant to her modern, American life, but she uses her zany family's exploits as fodder for her speech team event.
CUBA 15 has received considerable attention and been nominated for numerous awards. This is a likeable story from a "new" author I hope we hear from again! Five stars.
Reviewed by: Mark Frye, author and reviewer
Quience babe In Cuba (Coo-ba) it's tradicional for a girl turning fifteen to have a quinceñero or a coming out party. But this is not the ideal birthday present for Violet Paz. Half Cuban on her father's side, and half Polish on her mothers but raised in America Violet doesn't really know what she is. One thing's for sure, she is having a quinceñero whether she wants one or not. This is due mainly to her grandmother who speaks a mixture of spanish and English when she's around violet. Violet only really knows what it was like in Cuba when her grandparents throw crazy domino parties while smoking and dancing the conga to loud Latin music. Coming up with the theme of the party, learning how to dance the waltz, trying to glean information abut Cuba from her father, practicing comedy speeches for the speech team, and schoolwork Violet has so much on her plate. But she still finds time for her boyfriend and her two best friends Leda and Janell. Blending Spanish and English words may be confusing for some people but I thought that the author Nancy Osa did a great job of it. She also wrote in first person, it gave me an insight into violets life and made me feel sad or happy for her at times. I really liked this book because I learned a lot about a different culture and what a quinceñero is. I thought that Violet was a very believable character and that she fitted in with the story perfectly. El Fin
Recurring Theme This kind of book seems to be circulating a lot lately. Crazy ethnic family, a lot of Spanish. Not being a Spanish speaker, I didn't really want to read the spanish bits, although I find the quinceanera theme quite intriguing.
I read this book for a school book club, but I really liked it. However, there are quite a few books very similar to this one floating around out there.
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