Waiting on Wednesday: Efrain's Secret + Saving Maddie Winners!

Waiting on Wednesday is hosted by Breaking the Spine.

This week I'm waiting on....

Efrain's Secret by Sofia Quintero

Release Date: April 13, 2010

Ambitious high school senior Efrain Rodriguez dreams of escaping the South Bronx for an Ivy League college like Harvard or Yale. But how is his family going to afford to pay for a prestigious university when Moms has to work insane hours to put food on the table as it is? And Efrain wouldn’t dare ask that good-for-nothing father of his who has traded his family in for younger models. Left with few options, Efrain chooses to do something he never thought he would. He embarks on a double life—honor student by day, drug peddler at night—convinced that by temporarily capitulating to society’s negative expectations of a boy like him, he can eventually defy them.

Sofia Quintero makes a stunning debut writing for young adults with this gritty, complex, and real exploration of the life of an urban teen whose attempt to leave one world behind for a better one could cost him everything.

-Doesn't this sound like a great novel? Selling drugs to make money to support your family is a big issue in many communities. Also I've read Sofia Quintero's other books; Divas Don't Yield and her story in the collection Friday Night Chicas and really enjoyed them. She was funny while still getting her message across. I did read them when I was younger and perhaps I shouldn't have due to some content but I was desperate to find books about Latinas (I learned a lot about adults while on my search for POC literature and let's leave it at that. LOL). Her books helped fill in the gap. They just weren't about teens so now that she is writing a YA novel, I must get my hands on it!

As always summary is from Amazon.com

The three winners of Saving Maddie chosen by random.org are....

1. rhapsodyinbooks

2. Ishta Mercurio

3. Donna

Congrats to all the winners! I'm emailing you right now and you have 48 hours to get back to me.

To those who didn't win; I have some more giveaways coming up so stay tuned! Also you can win one of three copies of Saving Maddie at BookNut. So go enter! You have till March 21