Trevor Boffone and Cristina Herrera(eds.), Nerds, Goths, Geeks, and Freaks: Outsiders in Chicanx and Latinx Young Adult Literature

Abstract

Reviewed by: Nerds, Goths, Geeks, and Freaks: Outsiders in Chicanx and Latinx Young Adult Literature ed. by Trevor Boffone and Cristina Herrera Victoria Ramirez Gentry (bio) Trevor Boffone and Cristina Herrera, eds., Nerds, Goths, Geeks, and Freaks: Outsiders in Chicanx and Latinx Young Adult Literature. University Press of Mississippi, 2020. Pp. 214. Trevor Buffone and Cristina Herrera’s collection Nerds, Goths, Geeks, and Freaks: Outsiders in Chicanx and Latinx Young Adult Literature highlights the ability of YA literature to empower Latinx youth by representing their identities as “outsiders.” This collection defines the concept of “outsider” by exploring texts that characterize Latinx youth as more than the prevailing tropes we often see in media. The authors depict various examples of Latinxs who exist “in-between,” expanding upon Gloria Anzaldúa’s new mestiza to “include those nerdy, goth, geeky, freaky, and outsider Latinx teens” (8). This collection draws YA texts into conversation with Chicanx/Latinx theories to signify the importance of representing Latinx youth as multifaceted individuals. Section 1 introduces the “outsider” experience with Latinxs who overcome not feeling Mexican enough by writing and creating. Amanda Ellis’s chapter on Gabi, A Girl in Pieces by Isabel Quintero explores how Gabi struggles with her Mexican identity, viewing her body as fat and white, and wishing to be “thin and brown” (18). Despite Gabi’s negative self-image, Gabi’s zines create “a space in which she becomes the authority on the female body” (25). Similarly, Lettycia Terrones argues that Malú, the protagonist of Celia C. Pérez’s The First Rule of Punk, uses zines to reconcile with her bicultural identity—half Mexican, half white—and connects to “a larger collective of brown feminist punks” (32). Terrones asserts that Malú’s zine represents her acceptance of nepantla (41). Placing Quintero’s novel in conversation with Erika L. Sánchez’s I Am Not Your Perfect Mexican Daughter, Adrianna M. Santos uses Anzaldúa’s theory to assert that these young Latinxs use writing to find “self-healing” (56). Like Anzaldúa, these Latinas acknowledge their “multiple identities” (51) through writing and expressing that they are “brainy, creative, moody, witty, and rebellious” (56) and that these qualities do not prevent them from being Mexican. Building on multifaceted Latinx identities, section 2 covers Latinx “superheroes and other worldly beings.” Christi Cook draws together Marta Acosta’s Happy Hour at Casa Dracula and Anna-Marie McLemore’s The Weight of Feathers. Cook explains how the characters’ racial, ethnic, and supernatural hybridity illustrate to readers that “Chicanas have the strength to survive the real world after learning and growing from their struggles within the supernatural realm” (72). Similarly, Domino Pérez examines how Shadowshaper by Daniel José Older and Labyrinth Lost by Zoraida Córdova portray magic-wielding Afro-Latinas (74). Pérez critiques the default whiteness of popular fantasy texts—such as Harry Potter—and praises Older and Córdova for refusing to erase racial identities (76). This representation [End Page 270] upends the tropes in YA fantasy that often assign nonwhite children to be the “side-kick” (77). Instead, the youths’ cultural identities shape their magical journeys. Indeed, Ella Diaz points out that shadow shaping is part of Sierra’s cultural identity, “an art form that is part of an expressive tradition … in which the New Mestiza uses her abilities to transcend the colonial limitations of race and gender” (100). Ultimately, their supernatural and cultural identities blend. Section 3 continues to push against tropes by examining Latinxs who simultaneously embrace education and cultural identity. Roxanne Schroeder-Arce analyzes how Miriam Gonzales’s play The Smartest Girl in the World represents Latinxs who are smart and maintain connections to their culture and family (113). This story is significant since society often equates intelligence with whiteness and pressures Latinx youth to assimilate (108). Cristina Herrera further explores the smart Latinx in Meg Medina’s Yaqui Delgado Wants to Kick Your Ass. While Herrera recognizes the importance of cholas in scholarship, she focuses on how Medina disrupts the stereotype (120). The text depicts Latinas who face discrimination from other Latinas because of “monolithic” ideas that assume Latinas can’t be smart (127). Tim Wadham’s chapter...