The Epic Fail of Arturo Zamora

Thirteen-year-old Arturo Zamora is part of a large, Miami-based extended family of aunts, uncles, and cousins led by matriarch Abuela. As a young woman, she emigrated from Cuba with her husband (now deceased) and founded La Cocina de la Isla, the family restaurant, which is not only a famous establishment in the Miami food scene but also a mainstay of the neighborhood. Now in failing health, Abuela has passed the management of the restaurant to Arturo's mother. Arturo is looking forward to his first job in the family business, but he's nonplussed when he finds out that it's washing dishes. He'd rather spend the summer hanging out with his best friends, Bren and Mop; flirting with his first crush, Carmen, and learning the poetry of José Martí to impress her; or reading the letters left for him by his late abuelo. But when scheming real-estate developer Wilfrido Pipo proposes to build a mixed-use high-rise development that would close La Cocina, the entire Zamora family mobilizes to win the neighborhood's support, and Arturo and Carmen are right in the thick of things. Arturo narrates his story with liberal doses of Spanish, untranslated and non-italicized, adding a welcome and authentic texture to Cartaya's debut novel about a young boy on the cusp of adolescence, dealing with friends and girls (and possibly a girlfriend!), his place in his family, and his family's place in his community. More, please. jonathan hunt