They Call Me Güero: A Border Kid's Poems

by David Bowles

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Book cover for They Call Me Güero

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Bluebonnet Award Master List 2020-2021
Pura Belpre Author Honor Book, 2019
ALSC Notable Children's Book, 2019
Walter Award Honor Book, 2019


Twelve-year-old Guero is Mexican American, at home with Spanish or English and on both sides of the river. He's starting 7th grade with a woke English teacher who knows how to make poetry cool.

In Spanish, "Guero" is a nickname for guys with pale skin, Latino or Anglo. But make no mistake: our red-headed, freckled hero is puro mexicano, like Canelo Alvarez, the Mexican boxer. Guero is also a nerd--reader, gamer, musician--who runs with a squad of misfits like him, Los Bobbys. Sure, they get in trouble like anybody else, and like other middle-school boys, they discover girls. Watch out for Joanna! She's tough as nails.

But trusting in his family's traditions, his accordion and his bookworm squad, he faces seventh grade with book smarts and a big heart. Life is tough for a border kid, but Guero has figured out how to cope.

He writes poetry.

In Spanish, "Guero" is a nickname for guys with pale skin, Latino or Anglo. But make no mistake: our red-headed, freckled hero is puro mexicano, like Canelo Alvarez, the Mexican boxer. Guero is also a nerd--reader, gamer, musician--who runs with a squad of misfits like him, Los Bobbys. Sure, they get in trouble like anybody else, and like other middle-school boys, they discover girls. Watch out for Joanna! She's tough as nails.

But trusting in his family's traditions, his accordion and his bookworm squad, he faces seventh grade with book smarts and a big heart. Life is tough for a border kid, but Guero has figured out how to cope.

He writes poetry.

Claudia Lewis Award for Excellence in Poetry, Bank Street 2019
NCTE 2019 Notable Verse Novels
Tomas Rivera Mexican American Children's Book Award
TIL Jean Flynn Award for Best Middle Grade Book 2018
Skipping Stones Award
Americas Award, Commended Title
School Library Journal's 2018 Best Books
Shelf Awareness 2018 Best Children's & Teen Books of the Year, Middle Grade
Favorites of 2019, Americas Society / Council of the Americas

A product of a Mexican-American family, David Bowles has lived most of his life in deep South Texas, where he teaches at the University of Texas Rio Grande Valley. Recipient of awards from the American Library Association, Texas Institute of Letters and Texas Associated Press, David has written several books, including the Pura Belpre Honor Book The Smoking Mirror, Feathered Serpent, Dark Heart of Sky: Myths of Mexico, The Chupacabras of the Rio Grande (The Unicorn Rescue Society series), and the middle grade graphic novel Rise of the Halfling King (Tales of the Feathered Serpent #1).
  • ISBN10 1947627074
  • ISBN13 9781947627079
  • Publish Date 13 December 2018
  • Publish Status Transferred
  • Out of Print 2 April 2021
  • Publish Country US
  • Imprint Cinco Puntos Press,U.S.
  • Format Paperback (US Trade)
  • Pages 122
  • Language English