In brief narrative poems organized into five sections titled “The Mirror,” “Broken Fingernails,” “Hanging in Space,” “Yellow Room,” and “A Capella” Herrera relates César’s story. It’s a story of a Chicano teenager whose missing his father, who knows he’s an outsider to what his conventional high school offers others, and - most of all - who is more influenced by his peers than by his mother or any other authority. In a powerful work with an inviting, strong graphic design Herrera examines the extremes of peer pressure and some of the consequences, the feelings of a kid who wants to feel hope but finds he cannot, and his slow emergence as the distinctive, talented guy he might become. As well as being riveting reading for teenagers, César’s narrative voice tells a story posing tough questions for adults who read it. Does such growth require previous extremes, such as expulsion from school or an accident fatal to a friend? Who can relate to the Césars who move in and out of all high schools? Herrera’s final juxtaposition of words from “Swing Low, Sweet Chariot” with César’s thoughts suggests yet a larger question about the possibility for more than one cultural group to act in harmony. (Ages 14-18)

In this novel in verse--unprecedented in Chicano literature--renowned poet Juan Felipe Herrera illuminates the soul of a generation. Drawn from his own life as well as a lifetime of dedication to young people, CrashBoomLove helps readers understand what it is to be a teen, a migrant worker, and a boy wanting to be a boy.

Sixteen-year-old César García is careening. His father, Papi César, has left the migrant circuit in California for his other wife and children in Denver. Sweet Mama Lucy tries to provide for her son with dichos and tales of her own misspent youth. But at Rambling West High School in Fowlerville, the sides are drawn: Hmongs vs. Chicanos vs. everybody vs. César, the new kid on the block.

Precise and profound, CrashBoomLove will appeal to and resonate with high school readers across the country.