Arturo Zamora and his family are tight — and I mean the whole family. He and his extended family all live in the same apartment complex. The heart of the family is his Abuela, who still manages her restaurant “La Cocina” which she and her late husband opened when they emigrated here from Cuba. Her daughter is the master chef, but Abuela makes her daily rounds, greeting every customer — and her love and attentiveness is half the reason the restaurant is always packed (the other half is amazing food of course). Arturo has finally gotten a job there (though it’s dishes instead of line cook and his manager is the very maniacal sous chef) so the summer has promise. Maybe even more promise than he expected: family friends have moved to the apartment complex this summer, and the young daughter Carmen, who Arturo ran around with as wiley 6-year-olds, is now a lovely, romantic young woman — a poetry enthusiast, and passionate about the world around her. Arturo is smitten, but it’s complicated — she’s not related, but she’s practically family.
The summer gets even more complicated when a newcomer to town presents a bid against the Zamora family: both are interested in a lot next door to the restaurant: Arturo’s family wants to expand La Cocina so they can manage the busy patronage and host community events. But Wilfrido Pipo, wealthy, ostentatious, and ambitious, wants to build a high-rise luxury apartment building which he claims will be a benefit to the community. Suspicious of his motives, Arturo and Carmen visit a meet-and-greet hosted by Pipo, where they discover that his plans for “Pipo’s Place” do not include La Cocina — and the restaurant’s lease date is up soon. When Carmen introduces Arturo to the poetry of Cuban activist Jose Mati, Arturo wonders if he might find his voice. A voice to put a stop to Pipo’s Place and the loss of the family restaurant: and a voice to tell Carmen how important she has become in his life. But will these leaps of the heart win him the girl and the town? Or will the summer be an epic fail?
This book was a wonderful introduction to the concept of gentrification and what that can mean for a community. It was also a great introduction to poetry and activism, putting young teens front and center in having a voice in their community. Arturo is a sweet narrator and the story is balanced with a lot of humor from him and his friends. It’s also a very sweet romance. Wilfrido Pipo is a bit of a cartoonish villain, but these days it’s hard not to see rich developers like him as anything beyond money-grubbing Scrooges. It was interesting that they chose to make him Latin-American, showcasing how money and ambition and class issues can threaten the ties of any community. The inclusion of recipes in the back and an author’s note on Jose Marti are nice touches.
Highly recommended for tween and teen readers, or anyone who loves food, family, and community.