The Smell of Old Lady Perfume is an independent reader/YA book about a young hispanic girl and her coming of age. It's the first book by author Claudia Martinez, and one can hope that there are more to come.
Chela, the main character, is beginning sixth grade when her emotions are dealt several blows. She loses her best friend, Nora; her father suffers a stroke and her mother must begin working; and she feels less intelligent than some of her peers because her first language is Spanish.
Most of all, The Smell of Old Lady Perfume is the story of a young girl trying to find her way as life around her changes and she is powerless to control the changes. Love triumphs all and Chela learns that the love of family is something that never changes.
From the publisher:
Chela Gonzalez, the book’s narrator, is a nerd and a soccer player who can barely contain her excitement about starting the sixth grade. But nothing is as she imagined—her best friend turns on her to join the popular girls and they all act like Chela doesn’t exist. She buries herself in schoolwork and in the warm comfort of her family. To Chela, her family is like a solar system, with her father the sun and her mother, brothers, and sister like planets rotating all around him. It’s a small world, but it’s the only one she fits in.
But that universe is threatened when her strong father has a stroke. Chela’s grandmother moves in to help the family. The smell of her old lady perfume invades the house. That smell is worse than Sundays. Sundays were sad, but they went just as sure as they came. Death was a whole other thing, and Chela doesn’t understand that’s what everyone is waiting for. In her grief and worry, Chela begins to discover herself and find her own strength.
Awards:
Best of the Best, 2008, Chicago Public Library
Américas Award Commended Title, 2009
Texas Institute of Letters’ Best Young Adult Book Award
Paterson Prize for Books for Young People, 2009
Southwest Books of the Year Award, 2009, Pima County Public Library
ALAN’s Picks, July 2008
Hispanic Magazine Summer Must Read 2008
Latinidad’s Best Middle Grade Book of 2008
Recommended futher reading in the Spring 2009 One Book, One Chicago program
YA Top Forty, Pennsylvania School Librarians Association (PSLA)
VIsit Claudia Guadalupe Martinez's website.
Remember to check out upcoming events at Anderson's Bookshop in Naperville and Downer's Grove.
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