The Chautauqua Literary and Scientific Circle, and its companion CLSC Young Readers program, are joining forces this week with the selection Mexican WhiteBoy, by Matt de La Peña.
At 1:15 p.m. today in the porch of the Literary Arts Center at Alumni Hall, readers of all ages can come together for a book discussion on Mexican WhiteBoy, the Week Seven pick for CLSC Young Readers and CLSC alike. The CLSC Young Readers event, usually Wednesday, is today instead to accommodate the various CLSC Recognition Week events. If time allows, this week’s early reader book, also written by de La Peña, Milo Imagines the World, will be part of the discussion. de La Peña will also be giving his CLSC presentation for Mexican WhiteBoy on Thursday in the Hall
of Philosophy.
Mexican WhiteBoy is a young adult novel that touches on themes of race, belonging and friendship. The story centers around Danny Lopez, a part-Mexican, part-white 16 year-old with a passion for baseball, as he struggles with feeling that he doesn’t belong anywhere. Danny leaves San Diego in order to reconnect with his father, who left the country years ago, and spend time with his father’s family in Mexico. As he navigates his complicated relationship with cultural identity, Danny finds a way to embrace all sides of his heritage, in a journey that leads to self-discovery, and acceptance.
“He comes from California, where he’s constantly told he’s too brown … and goes into Mexico where he’s told he’s too white,” said Manager of Literary Arts Stephine Hunt. “He’s living in that double-coded world … an existence of double consciousness.”
In many ways, the book fits within the Chautauqua Lecture Series of the week, “Wonder and Awe,” said Hunt.
“It opens up new capacities or larger conversations, to find wonder and awe and our everyday life and our own identities,” she said, “which is something de La Peña finds in himself — the different parts of himself and the way that he’s come to be in this world, and the wonder and curiosity, of how he continues to build his own identity at these borderlands, of identity and in reality, both from the San Diego and Mexican side of the border. ”
Leading the discussion will be Hunt and Chautauquan Anne Pekrul, who will highlight the key themes and topics of the book, while avoiding spoilers so those who haven’t yet read the book can still participate.
This week’s early reader book, Milo Imagines the World, is a picture book about Milo, and his imagination as he embarks on a subway journey with his sister. In his sketchbook, he writes and draws what he imagines about the people he sees — but as the trip progresses, he starts realizing that his initial assumptions were not very accurate, and he learns to look beyond surface-level characteristics of people.
“What’s super cute about this book is it’s really just about imagination and all its facets,” Hunt said. “How does imagination lead to wonder and lead to concrete things in the world? Things that you might picture with imagination that turn into things like architecture, cityscapes, urban planning. We get to follow Milo with his handy-dandy little pencil as he starts to learn how imagination can transform into real world things and experiences.”
After the book discussion, a Play CHQ event will be hosted on the Alumni Hall Lawn if weather allows, where kids of any age are encouraged to engage in activities and games related to the books, while they listen to the book discussion.
