Canto Contigo

Gr 9 Up–On the heels of their Stonewall Honor book Ander & Santi Were Here, Garza Villa delivers another excellent romance set in San Antonio. Seventeen-year-old Rafael Casimiro Alvarez has moved there with his family following the death of his beloved abuelo, a seminal figure in his life and the original mariachi in the family. Rafie auditions for the lead vocalist in Todos Colores, the mariachi group at his new performing arts school, but he loses out to a familiar face, Rey Chavez, who is Afro-Latine, trans, and cute as a button. After all, they met—and made out—at last year’s Mariachi Extravaganza de Nacional. A competitive rivalry between the boys gradually gives way to friendship and romance with readers rooting for them to overcome a host of obstacles from ambition, arrogance, and grief, to racism, homophobia, and transphobia to find the joy they so obviously deserve. Secondary characters are nuanced, memorable, and add much to the world of the novel.