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Summer of the Mariposas

by Guadalupe Garcia McCall (Goodreads Author)

3.88 of 5 stars 3.88 · rating details · 89 ratings · 43 reviews

When Odilia and her four sisters find a dead body in the swimming hole, they embark on a hero’s journey to return the dead man to his family in Mexico. But returning home to Texas turns into an odyssey that would rival Homer’s original tale.

With the supernatural aid of ghostly La Llorona via a magical earring, Odilia and her little sisters travel a road of tribulation to t...more

Hardcover, 1st Edition, 355 pages

Published October 1st 2012 by Tu Books

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Jan 29, 2013 Regina rated it 4 of 5 stars

Shelves: favorite-authors, not-published-yet, waiting-impatiently, latino-autors, arc-publisher-netgalley, growing-up, immigration-crossing-borders

Check out this review and others like it at BadAssBookReviews

I loved Ms. McCall's first novel Under the Mesquite. I loved it so much that I repeatedly pushed it on the librarians in my town and now it is on the recommended reading list for 8th graders. I do not claim to have influenced the book being listed .... but I'd like to think my passion for the book had *some* influence. Summer of the Mariposas is different from Under the Mesquite but the same. Both novels center on the relationship bet...more Check out this review and others like it at BadAssBookReviews

I loved Ms. McCall's first novel Under the Mesquite. I loved it so much that I repeatedly pushed it on the librarians in my town and now it is on the recommended reading list for 8th graders. I do not claim to have influenced the book being listed .... but I'd like to think my passion for the book had *some* influence. Summer of the Mariposas is different from Under the Mesquite but the same. Both novels center on the relationship between sisters. Both stories involve a Mexican immgrant family living in Texas but very comfortable moving between Mexico and Texas. And in both novels, the familial relationship are intensely important.

Summer of the Mariposas, however, is a novel that is definitely written for a middle grade to younger young adult reading audience. Adults and older teens will enjoy this book, but it is clear the audience is younger. The novel beautifully blends Texas border culture with northern Mexican culture. Interwoven in the story is a very latino style magical realism heavily rooted in Mexican mythology. What Ms. McCall has done is take traditional evil or negative Mexican images and myths and co-opted them and redefined them. I love that.

The eldest sister of a 5 sister sibling group, must keep her sisters together, protect them from evil mythological villains, call on the help of ancient goddesses, and reunite her family. This is a great adventure tale for and about young teenaged girls. Mix in Mexican cultural references (fully defined with a glossary), references (a lot!) to Mexican food, and the positive portrayal of characters not often in young adult and middle age books and what results is a truly unique novel. I preferred Under the Mesquite, however Summer of the Mariposas is a strong written work and I look forward to reading more by her.

Side note - -my 13 year old daughter, who straddles both Mexican and American culture as she is growing up in a house with a father who is a Mexican immigrant and then just plain old me ... is reading this book right now. I hope to update with her thoughts on it. This is a book that provides characters and cultural background for young people that she likely would not get in many other places. (less)

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Jan 23, 2013 Erin M. rated it 4 of 5 stars

The Summer of Mariposas is a Mexican-American Retelling of the Odyssey. It was about this insane quest that entailed returning the dead body of a middle-aged Mexican man to his family. This meant Odilia and her sisters had to cross the border to Mexica all while evading the police for running away and deling with mystical creatures. On top of that was the question on all the girls minds. Why did their dad leave them? And did they even want him back?

The Odyssey is such a good story, so when I he...more The Summer of Mariposas is a Mexican-American Retelling of the Odyssey. It was about this insane quest that entailed returning the dead body of a middle-aged Mexican man to his family. This meant Odilia and her sisters had to cross the border to Mexica all while evading the police for running away and deling with mystical creatures. On top of that was the question on all the girls minds. Why did their dad leave them? And did they even want him back?

The Odyssey is such a good story, so when I heard there was a retelling of it for young adults I jumped at the chance to read it. Boosting my excitement was that it was a Mexican- American retelling of the Odyssey. I loved all the culture that added to the story. It also didn't hurt that that meant the setting took place in both America and Mexico.

Another thing that I felt added to the story was it's lack of romance. That might be suprising but the story didn't need it. The story had so much going for it and if a romantic relationship had been factored in it just would've affected it negatively. The relationships of the sisters and their mother was probably the most important part of the story.

The sisters thought of themselves as forever bonded. Their relationship was so deep. Their love for eachother meant everything. But things happened to cause that bond to falter and begin to break. The epic journey they went on helped to bring that sense of closeness back. It also helped them to recognize things about both their other and their father that they may have not wanted to recognize before. The journey ended up changing their lives as dramatically as it did for the hero in the Odyssey.

The writing style was very different to me. It was written so that Spanish words were thrown in here and there. They never confused me, they only drew me deeper into the story. However, if you might find that confusing ther's a glossary of Spanish words located conviently at the end of the book. Another thing I liked abou the story was the way it was narrated. It was never narrated too emotionaly but it was emotional enough to make certain that I cared about the characters and their quest.

Their was one thing that bugged me about the story. It was divided into three parts and before each part it gave a summary of what happens. I fell for it every time so that I always knew what was going to happen. I just couldn't seem to stop myself from reading it. So if you want to read this book remember to skip over those parts.

The story definitely had a lot of action in it due to it's relations to the Odyssey. At the same time, it was also about about a journey which meant that it had many factors of a contemporary novel too. It consisted of drama, family ties, betrayals, mystical beings, and monsters (both human and paranormal). These characteristics made for a good read and I am on the look out for Guadalupe McCall's next books. Because of that I would recommend this story to fans of road trips, family relationships (not in the romantic way!), and, of course, the Odyssey.
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Jan 14, 2013 Phoebe rated it 4 of 5 stars Recommends it for: Nancy, Deborah, Cheryl, Karen

Shelves: adventure-ya, fantasy, family, magical-realism, siblings, ya, witches, odyssey

This lively book is a mix of genres and traditions, and despite some rough edges in the writing, has plenty of heart. Odilia and her four sisters have done pretty much whatever they want in the year following their father's disappearance; their mother works nights as a waitress and seems not to care what they do any longer. One hot Texas afternoon the girls go swimming at their favorite spot, but when a body floats downstream to them, their lives are about to change--forever. An astonishing adve...more

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Jan 06, 2013 Barbara rated it 4 of 5 stars

Shelves: animals, bullies, community, cooking, cultural-identity, dance, death, families, fantasy, friendship, folk-tales, identity, ncbla2013, road-trip, strong-women, vampires, word-lovers, monsters

Fifteen-year-old Odilia and her four younger sisters embark on a journey across the border from their Eagle Pass, Texas, home on a mission of kindness. When they find a dead man in their favorite swimming spot, they decide to take him home to his family. Afterwards, they figure they can swing by their paternal grandmother's house and see if she's heard from their father who's been missing for a year. Odilia has no intention of going along with these plans, but when her sisters take her father's...more Fifteen-year-old Odilia and her four younger sisters embark on a journey across the border from their Eagle Pass, Texas, home on a mission of kindness. When they find a dead man in their favorite swimming spot, they decide to take him home to his family. Afterwards, they figure they can swing by their paternal grandmother's house and see if she's heard from their father who's been missing for a year. Odilia has no intention of going along with these plans, but when her sisters take her father's car, she has no choice but to go. Along the way they will be helped by La Llorona while encountering all sorts of supernatural creatures, including a warlock, bewitched barn owls, and the scary chupacabras. By the time the girls return home, they've changed in many ways, but they must still deal with their father's brief return home. Ambitious in scope since it mirrors in many ways Homer's Odyssey, the story is satisfying on many levels since it weaves magic and realism together so well. While there truly is no place like home, as the girls realize, sometimes it's necessary to leave home in order to appreciate it even more. Sometimes the happiness we're searching for has been with us, right there, all along. I was particularly impressed with how this author made me laugh at the girls' antics and constant disagreement and then turned around and delivered poetic passages about love, longing, and place that moved me to tears. For instance, when Papa comes back, filled with regret for the wrongs he has done, Odilia can forgive and love him, but she can no longer respect him or welcome him back into the family's lives. There is joy, and there is sorrow in this book, but most of all, readers will note the hope and sisterly bonds that connect every portion of the story. From the clinging Pita who always looks to Odilia for protection to the multi-syllabic-sprouting Juanita who enjoys showing off her knowledge, the author has created distinctive, memorable characters. While fans of Under the Mesquite may find this one heavier going than the author's debut novel in verse, both deal with similar themes. Reading this culturally-rich book with its sprinkling of Spanish vocabulary throughout the narrative is worth the effort, and as I reached its final pages, I felt as though I, too, had just returned from a whirlwind trip south of the border. (less)

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Oct 27, 2012 Medeia Sharif rated it 4 of 5 stars

Shelves: read-in-2012

Odilia and her sisters find a dead body in the river by their home. After going through the corpse's pockets and finding his address, they decide to travel from Texas to Mexico to deliver the body to his family believing it’s the right thing to do. That’s when they’re in for an adventure.

Taking their father’s car, without their mother’s permission, they embark on the trip. Before and after depositing the body, they meet witches, demons, chupacabras…all sorts of dangers. The odyssey these five si...more

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Apr 22, 2013 Bethany rated it 4 of 5 stars

I have to admit, the main reason I first chose this book to read is because I actually understood the title without needing to see 'mariposas' translated. Although it was a book I wouldn't have normally picked up, I wanted to test out my Spanish skills a little and see how many of the Spanish words sprinkled throughout I could understand.

I ended up enjoying it quite a bit, although there were a few things I didn't care for. Overall, however, it was a good, light read.

The main problem I had with...more

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Feb 04, 2013 Wendy Kuzma rated it 3 of 5 stars

Shelves: fantasy, teen

I wanted to read this book because the main characters were five sisters which reminded so much of our home with four girls. It read so much like realistic fiction that it took me a while to wrap my mind around the fact that it was supposed to be fantasy. I really related to the spunky personalities of the sisters in the story and the problems their stubbornness caused. I learned a lot about Mexican culture and Aztec folklore which was interesting. There was some beautiful use of language as evi...more

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Oct 07, 2012 Jessica added it

Summer of the Mariposas (Tu Books/Lee & Low Books), a young adult novel by Guadalupe Garcia McCall, combines Aztec and Mexican folklore with the plot of The Odyssey and elements from the movies Stand By Me and Weekend at Bernie’s – and it works.

Odilia, 18, and her four sisters are struggling to get by after their father has abandoned their mother. They’re enjoying a dip in the Rio Grande near their Eagle Pass home when they come across a dead body – hints of the Stephen King short story The...more

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Apr 04, 2013 Jillymom rated it 4 of 5 stars

Shelves: magical-realism

This is a very personal review, not very objective. Thank you, Tina, for recommending this book. It took me a bit to get into the story, and I daresay if I still lived on the East Coast, I might not have been terribly interested. But I live in this culture now (Southwest, near the border, etc) and it felt real and gripping. The somewhat magical elements interwoven with gritty real life were fascinating. The story is redemptive.(Warning: Men do not come off very attractively except for one or two...more

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Oct 29, 2012 Jo rated it 3 of 5 stars

Shelves: 2012, e, for-review, ya

Under the Mesquite by Ms Garcia McCall was one of the most underrated books I read last year. I’m not sure whether it was because I’ll always have a soft spot for well-written, beautiful verse novels, or because it was just a gorgeous and very affective story, but it’s wonderful and I would recommend it to you all in a heartbeat.

And while I didn’t have the same love for Summer of the Mariposas, I still really enjoyed it.

The Mexican and Aztec influences absolute thrum through this story, weaving...more

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Mar 15, 2013 TheBookSmugglers rated it 3 of 5 stars

Shelves: awesome-girls, diversity, fantasy, misleading-covers, poc, young-adult

Original review posted at Kirkus

I shamefully admit that covers play a huge part in the books I choose to read, more often even than author blurbs or book descriptions. Case in point: Summer of the Mariposas by Guadalupe Garcia McCall. Up until a few days ago, I had zero interest in the book because the cover, to me, screams “Contemporary YA story of summer!beaches!butterflies!” Even though I do enjoy the occasional Contemporary YA novel, it just didn’t appeal to me at a first glance.

This change...more

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Dec 23, 2012 Stephanie rated it 5 of 5 stars

Shelves: 5-star-books

A retelling of the Odyssey with Odilia as the reluctant hero on her heroic journey. The five sisters will make you cringe and laugh out loud.

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Oct 12, 2012 Abby rated it 4 of 5 stars

Shelves: young-adult

Great read that kept me turning the pages. I loved her first book and this one is great too.

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Aug 25, 2012 Leah (The Pretty Good Gatsby) rated it 4 of 5 stars

Shelves: 2012, america, mexico, fairy-tales-retellings, fantasy, for-review-netgalley, mythology, ya

http://theprettygoodgatsby.wordpress....

I am a HUGE fan of retellings and, lucky for me, there's no shortage of them these days. Fairy tale retellings are a dime a dozen, but I haven't come across a Mexican retelling of the Odyssey before and couldn't wait to dive right in.

Summer of the Mariposas (butterflies in Spanish, and that's just the first of dozens of words sprinkled throughout the book) tells the tale of the five Garza girls, cinco hermanitas: Odilia is the oldest and the narrator of th...more

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Jul 29, 2012 David rated it 5 of 5 stars

Shelves: young-adult-fiction, fantasy

Top Shelf Review. Originally appeared in the July 25, 2012, edition of The Monitor.
A Magical Mexican-American Odyssey

Guadalupe García McCall is an up-and-coming Latino author whose first book, Under the Mesquite, won this year's Pura Belpré Prize and was a finalist for the William C. Morris YA Debut Award. Born in Piedras Negras and raised in Eagle Pass, García McCall—like many along the border—straddles two overlapping worlds, and that convergence of culture and geography enriches her characte...more Top Shelf Review. Originally appeared in the July 25, 2012, edition of The Monitor.
A Magical Mexican-American Odyssey

Guadalupe García McCall is an up-and-coming Latino author whose first book, Under the Mesquite, won this year's Pura Belpré Prize and was a finalist for the William C. Morris YA Debut Award. Born in Piedras Negras and raised in Eagle Pass, García McCall—like many along the border—straddles two overlapping worlds, and that convergence of culture and geography enriches her character-driven writing. In her second novel, Summer of the Mariposas, she takes arguably the oldest story in literature—the Monomyth or Hero’s Journey—and reshapes it to resonate with the unique harmonies of Latina sisterhood and motherly love.

Odilia Garza and her four sisters (independent Juanita; the irrepressible twins, Velia and Delia; and little, kind-hearted Pita) have a unified reaction to their father’s abandoning the family: they run wild. For a year, they do little to help their mother, preferring instead to exist free and unencumbered by responsibility. But when they discover a dead man floating in the Río Grande, they are drawn on an odyssey that rivals that of Odysseus himself. Guided by la Llorona, the weeping specter that bitterly regrets her crimes, the sisters take their father’s old car and drive the body across the border into Mexico, intending to simply return him to his own family and then visit their grandmother, whom they’ve not seen in some time. But dark forces block their path at every turn: witches, lechuzas, chupacabras, naguales and other mythic beasts. To defeat this bleak menagerie, the girls must learn to overcome the heartache that threatens to tear their family apart. With the help of shamans, their grandmother, and the Virgin herself, the Garza sisters are able to stand together, true and pure of heart, even in the face of their greatest trial: the return of their father.

Beautifully written, heart-wrenching, action-packed and funny as can be, Summer of the Mariposas is a must-read for kids 12 years and up. I especially recommend its use in schools with large Latino populations. In Texas, mythology is now a greater component of the essential knowledge and skills for English language arts, and I can envision units that pair this novel with the Odyssey or other traditional texts. García McCall is herself an English teacher, and I’m willing to bet that the interests and needs of her own students inspired her to craft this magical adventure.

Summer of the Mariposas will be published in October by Tu Books, an imprint of Lee & Low Books, which graciously provided me an advance reader’s copy.
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Aug 14, 2012 Betsy rated it 3 of 5 stars

Shelves: adventure, fantasy, middle-grades, young-adult, e-books, arc

Usually, books like this are right up my ally: strong family ties, girls getting to know their grandmother better, multicultural (in this case, Hispanic), adventure, etc.

But this one just didn't work for me. It's too long (isn't that a familiar complaint with books these days?!). I thought it should have ended a couple of chapters before it did--more of an open ending, for one. Everything's too neat at the end. The magical realism elements were a bit over the top, the voice seemed slow and a bit...more

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Dec 04, 2012 Betsy rated it 5 of 5 stars

Shelves: young-adult-lit

I received an ARC of this book.

Summer of the Mariposas is magical in more ways than one. I classify this as magical realism that appears so frequently in Latino literature. However, the story itself is magically written.

The cinco hermanas, or five sisters, are about to start on their own odyssey. They will meet such characters as Llorona and the Virgen of Guadalupe. Their journey will test their relationships with each other, their strength, and their virtues.

I recommend this book to middle-gr...more

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Dec 28, 2012 Amanda Davis rated it 4 of 5 stars

Shelves: ya-lit

The Summer of the Mariposas is a great example of good multicultural literature. I enjoyed this Odyssey-like tale and how the author creatively redefines some traditional Latino myths and legends, giving them a positive twist, as well as interweaves Spanish words and cultural references. My son wanted to know what I was reading...he said he wasn't interested really, but that I could read to him anyway. I started reading it to him and he become interested quickly and had some great questions alon...more

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Feb 07, 2013 Cassi aka Snow White Haggard rated it 3 of 5 stars

Shelves: read-in-2012, galleys

Summer of the Mariposas is the story of 5 sisters, abandoned by their father, left to run wild by their well-meaning mother who's trying to keep the family afloat. The sisters find a body in the Rio Grande and decide to return it to Mexico. The story is a very classical quest plotline. The girls find the body, decide to go on an adventure, meet magical help, face magical adversaries, etc.

Their magical guide and helper is Llorana, known as The Weeping Woman. This is a very interesting choice to u...more Summer of the Mariposas is the story of 5 sisters, abandoned by their father, left to run wild by their well-meaning mother who's trying to keep the family afloat. The sisters find a body in the Rio Grande and decide to return it to Mexico. The story is a very classical quest plotline. The girls find the body, decide to go on an adventure, meet magical help, face magical adversaries, etc.

Their magical guide and helper is Llorana, known as The Weeping Woman. This is a very interesting choice to use as a magical guide. Llorana is known as the woman who drowned her children to be with the man she loved. Legend has it she kidnaps disobedient children (which the Garza sisters most definitely are). Rather than kidnapping the girls, Llorana serves as a guide offering them magical assistance and advice, maybe as penance for the death of her children.

This book isn't bad. I always find it interesting to venture into different folklores that I don't know much about. But the book is a little jumbled and drags in section. Even though I knew it was a fantasy it took forever to introduce Llorana, then near the end it took forever to get to the obvious conclusion.

I enjoyed that this book chose to follow 5 sisters and how important their bond was to the story. Outside of Odila the characters never really felt very developed though and I think the book suffered for that. Velia and Delia, the twins, were nothing more than the girly bossy sisters, Juanita was easy to forget about and Pita was just the little crier. I would've liked more characterization which is difficult with that many sisters.

The melding of Mexican and American culture, the insertion of just enough Spanish and the Mexican folklore were what made this book worthwhile. I know some readers don't like foreign languages in their English books, however I'm the opposite. I feel like just a dash of Spanish makes a book interesting. I think it's important for books about the children of Mexican immigrants to acknowledge the mix of Spanish and English that they use.

This book felt a little younger than YA to me. If the plot was tightened and the characters more developed it would really shine, especially for a middle grade audience.(less)

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Mar 20, 2013 Laurisa Reyes rated it 5 of 5 stars

I picked up an ARC of this book at the ALA conference in Los Angeles last summer. I didn't read it right away for two reasons. First, I wasn't really that interested in reading about five sisters and their journey through Mexico. Second, I also wasn't interested in a retelling of Odysseus. BUT I've read some other titles from Tu Books, a small press specializing in diversity in children's fantasy and science fiction, and so far I've been impressed. The editor of Tu Books, Stacy Whitman, has good...more

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Jan 28, 2013 Jazz Sexton rated it 5 of 5 stars

On a quest to return a dead man to his family and reunite with their grandmother, the Garza girls must face ancient evils to survive. Beyond all of that are the very real issues of life with a deadbeat dad, a struggling single mother, and the pain that comes with it. The girls are allowed to express joy and anger without being judged, and Garcia McCall weaves Aztec mythology and Mexican legends in beautifully with the framework of the Odyssey while addressing the demonization of women by a socie...more

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Oct 19, 2012 Best rated it 2 of 5 stars

Shelves: ebook, netgalley, 2-stars, magical-realism, middle-grade, mythology, arc, reviewed, fantasy, read-in-2012

(This review on B's Book Blog!)

We hiked through the sparse woods, making our way carefully down the beaten path we had created that summer, the summer of the mariposas.

I gave this book two stars because I neither hated it enough to give it less, nor liked it enough to give it more. So what happened here? Oh, I merely toleratedit. Being given two stars is just as bad as one in terms of mental health if you use my rating system. It's not bad, but it doesn't stir anything within me except fornever...more (This review on B's Book Blog!)

We hiked through the sparse woods, making our way carefully down the beaten path we had created that summer, the summer of the mariposas.

I gave this book two stars because I neither hated it enough to give it less, nor liked it enough to give it more. So what happened here? Oh, I merely tolerated it. Being given two stars is just as bad as one in terms of mental health if you use my rating system. It's not bad, but it doesn't stir anything within me except for never-ending, terminal, utter boredom. The kind that can drive me crazy, kill me, make me fall asleep within 3 minutes, and make me so bored that I want to cry because there's nothing else to do, and because I blame my chronic cannot-not-finish-books disease that's slowly killing me and damaging my happiness. With that said, I assume you now understand the way I feel about this book.

I don't want to say anything much, simply because I don't really care enough about this book to want to talk about it. As a student of literature, I am fascinated by the idea of reading Homer's the Iliad and the Odessey one day. So when I saw that this book claims to be a retelling of the latter, I was deceived into wanting to read it. But honestly, it did not feel like it, it was not a retelling if you ask me. It annoyed me and bored me and annoyed me and bored me endlessly. The five girls took turns irritating me rather than made me like them. The journey wasn't fun. It dragged on and on and on and on. It could've ended much earlier than when it does. All I wanted to say is that if Homer's the Odessey were remotely anything like this, I'd stay far far away and never look back.

The moment I finished this book I let out a big heavy sigh and almost cried. It would be tears of happiness. Not because the book made me happy, but because I was happy I got it over and done with. It's still a wonder to me, 2 days later, how I brought myself to finish it. I was tolerating it for so long, putting it down and not wanting to pick it up. It asked so much from me and I didn't even want to spend any more time reading it. It's true that I didn't hate it, but it bored me so much that I wanted to die. And that's worse. Now I can move on with my life. Finishing it felt like an accomplishment in its own right, and that's about the only good thing that came out of reading this book. It's just not for me.

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I received a digital copy from NetGalley and the publisher for review.(less)

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Oct 15, 2012 Bookworm1858 rated it 4 of 5 stars

Shelves: ya-read, sisters, netgalley, read-2012

While browsing Netgalley, I saw this book and thought the cover was pretty. I didn't look too closely at it but was happy to discover that it featured butterflies (hence the title Mariposa) as well as a group of sisters, five to be exact. My weakness for sister relationships in book is well-documented so I sat back to enjoy the ride.

However all was not smooth sailing as I found the eldest sister Odilia pleasant enough but her four younger sisters were brats. Really all five were annoying with th...more While browsing Netgalley, I saw this book and thought the cover was pretty. I didn't look too closely at it but was happy to discover that it featured butterflies (hence the title Mariposa) as well as a group of sisters, five to be exact. My weakness for sister relationships in book is well-documented so I sat back to enjoy the ride.

However all was not smooth sailing as I found the eldest sister Odilia pleasant enough but her four younger sisters were brats. Really all five were annoying with their disregard for the pressure their mother was under after their father ran off and the tough situation they were in. But the five must band together when the middle three decide to deliver the dead body they find in a river back to his family in Mexico. This dead body reminded me very strongly of "Stand By Me" which I watched not too long ago. Then things took a turn for the weird with the spirit of Llorana, a woman who haunts the riverbanks seeking her dead children. She bestows a special blessing on Odilia.

The situation gets weirder as they encounter malevolent spirits throughout their journey. As I picked up the story expecting a contemporary, I was very confused. About halfway through, I started looking through goodreads reviews to discover that this was an Odyssey retelling. This caused a lightbulb to go on in my head and helped the story make a lot more sense to me. A cool addition is the Aztec mythology-something I knew nothing about but was cool to learn about.

I did feel like the book was a little uneven in terms of how engaged I was with the plot and some of the turns felt very simplistic. This might be a better read for younger readers who might be better able to sympathize with the sisters while I was very much on the mother's team. For me, the best part was the concluding chapters when they have to confront their father for his failures. I found it absolutely gripping.

Overall: Really cool story with the addition of Aztec tradition but I had trouble connecting with the characters.(less)

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Dec 06, 2012 Keely rated it 4 of 5 stars

Shelves: ya-lit

Wow. I really really enjoyed this one. The first thing I did when I finished was tell my daughter she needs to read it. What a powerful story of family and love. Guadalupe Garcia McCall did a masterful job both with her characters and in weaving a compelling story. The inclusion of mystical/mythical beings was superbly done and really added an extra dimension to the story.

Highly recommend - especially if you have daughters!

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Nov 14, 2012 Heather rated it 4 of 5 stars

Shelves: ya-novels, author-chat-visit, multicultural-children-s-lit, uwm-school-book

I had the great please of meeting Guadalupe Garcia McCall at the Austin Teen Book Festival this past September. Then I had the please of reading her book while on vacation in Cabo, Mexico. It couldn't have been much more fitting.

Cinco Hermanitas! Five Sisters! Together forever. Told by the view of the oldest sister, Odilia, this magical story of five Mexican American sisters traveling across the border from Texas to Mexico to deliver a dead body, visit their Abuelita (Grandma), find their fathe...more

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Jan 29, 2013 Sarah Sullivan rated it 4 of 5 stars

Shelves: young-adult

3.5 stars. Loved the way fantasy was woven in, La Llorona, the journey in Mexico, the Aztec history, the dynamic personalities of the five sisters. But before the fantasy started, the obvious terrible dangerous choices that were being made kept me distanced. Maybe that's just me as an adult reader? But the gorgeous writing makes it totally worth it in the end.

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May 15, 2013 Bobbye rated it 2 of 5 stars

this was an OK book, there was a lot going on - with chupacabras, la llorona, aztec godesses, etc. and to top it off an unnecessary family drama at the end - i feel that it could have been better focused and the characters cleaned-up a bit, they were not always likable or consistent. I say it's OK, because the idea was good and I can't help but appreciate stories about characters from the Rio Grande river valley.

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Jul 27, 2012 Alma Ramos-McDermott rated it 3 of 5 stars

Ever since their father abandoned them over a year ago, Odilia and her four sisters have felt a void in their lives. Their mother has buried herself in her work, and the girls are left to fend for themselves.

Read rest of my review at: http://shouldireaditornot.wordpress.c...

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Jul 18, 2012 Aimee Bissonette rated it 5 of 5 stars

I just finished reading an advanced copy of Summer of the Mariposas - what a delicious book! Odilia is brave, smart, and certainly has her hands full with her sassy younger sisters. Readers will love the mystical journey and the great collection of personalities that are the cinco hermanitas! Bravo to Ms. Garcia McCall!

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Dec 10, 2012 Literary Princess rated it 3 of 5 stars

Shelves: girly, character-focused, clean, adventure, new-truman-potentials, international, teens, plot-driven

Retake on The Odyssey. Not totally blatant, but apparent to those who are familiar with it.

Wonderful depiction of the cinco hermanitas and their Mexican-American heritage and traditions. Not the most realistic dialogue or characters, but the story itself was strong enough to make up for that.

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About Guadalupe Garcia McCall

I was born in Piedras Negras, Coahuila, Mexico. My family immigrated into the U.S. when I was six years old. I grew up in Eagle Pass, a small, border town in South Texas. Eagle Pass is the setting of both, my debut novel in verse, UNDER THE MESQUITE, and my 2nd novel, SUMMER OF THE MARIPOSAS, fall of 2012 from TU Books. After high school, I went off to Alpine in West Texas to study to become a tea...more

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BBCode	[url=http://www.goodreads.com/book/show/14342632-summer-of-the-mariposas?utm_medium=api&utm_source=blog_book][img]http://d.gr-assets.com/books/1337982323l/14342632.jpg[/img][/url] [url=http://www.goodreads.com/book/show/14342632-summer-of-the-mariposas?utm_medium=api&utm_source=blog_book]Summer of the Mariposas by Guadalupe Garcia McCall[/url]

Summer of the Mariposas

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