The Epic Fail of Arturo Zamora

Starred review from May 15, 2017
In a vibrant debut novel about family, friendship, and community, Cartaya introduces 13-year-old Arturo Zamora, whose mother runs the family’s busy Miami restaurant, which overflows with cousins and customers. But it’s the family’s charismatic matriarch, Abuela, whose warmth makes every customer feel appreciated. Complications ensue with the arrival of Carmen, a family friend from Spain who stirs romantic feelings in Arturo, and after Arturo learns that the restaurant is being threatened by a developer’s plans to build an upscale multi-use high-rise. In addition to Arturo’s funny and candid narration, Cartaya’s storytelling features Twitter exchanges, script-style dialogue, letters from Arturo’s deceased Abuelo, and poetry by activist José Martí; the dialogue smoothly shifts between English and Spanish, and readers unfamiliar with the latter should have no trouble using context to discern words and phrases they don’t know. A memorable supporting cast bolsters Arturo as he tries to preserve the restaurant and his family’s apartment complex, navigates his first romance, and learns more about his Cuban roots from the precious letters Abuela gives him. Ages 10–up. Agent: Jess Regel, Foundry Literary + Media.

Starred review from March 15, 2017
-When you decide you're going to tell a girl you like her, you need galactic-level courage.-Summer's bringing its share of changes for 13-year-old Arturo Zamora. Hanging out with friends, working part-time at his family's restaurant, La Cocina de la Isla, and joining in Sunday family dinners guarantees some fun times at the start of the hot season. But when a sleazy land developer named Wilfrido Pipo arrives in town to build an upscale high-rise right where La Cocina stands, derailing the Zamoras' plans to expand the family business, Arturo sees that his Miami neighborhood's in trouble. The money-grubbing intruder woos neighbors and old friends with gifts and a flashy festival. Now, Arturo's family and friends must fight back to stop Pipo, and these friends include Carmen, a spirited visiting Spaniard who stirs confusing, wonderful feelings within Arturo. -Lo mas importante, mi Arturito, es el amor y la fe,- says Abuela. Concerned about his ailing grandmother, Arturo struggles to help save the restaurant she built, finding inspiration in two unlikely sources: a box full of letters from his long-departed grandfather and the revolutionary poetry of Jose Marti. Will Arturo discover the love and faith resting inside him? In this inspiring middle-grade debut, Cartaya presents a delightful portrayal of boyhood, skillfully navigating Arturo through the awkwardness, funniness, and messiness that often accompany young love. And in the author's depiction of the Zamoras--a mostly Cuban-American family full of distinct, lovable characters--the book also testifies to the importance of community. Irresistibly exquisite. (author's note, recipes) (Fiction. 10-14)

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March 1, 2017

Gr 5-8-Arturo Zamora is determined to save his family's Cuban American restaurant, the decades-old hub of their Miami neighborhood, from an unscrupulous developer who seems to have bought city council approval for his land grab. Cartaya treats this subject with a mixture of humor and heartfelt nostalgia. The warmth and solidarity of Arturo's family and their deep relationships within their community are palpable. Arturo's confusion as he experiences his first pains of love for their summer houseguest leavens the sense of impending doom. Eventually, the neighborhood pulls itself together to preserve La Cocina de la Isla. Sprinkling his writing with Spanish, Cartaya incorporates mouthwatering descriptions of Cuban cuisine, the poetry of Jose Marti, and the general wackiness of young teens' friendships effortlessly into his narrative. VERDICT Touching and funny, this is an excellent middle grade novel about Cuban American life. For most collections.-Miriam Lang Budin, Chappaqua Library, NY

Copyright 2017 School Library Journal, LLC Used with permission.

Starred review from April 1, 2017
Grades 4-7 *Starred Review* Arturo is looking forward to a Miami summer filled with friends, ice cream, and working at his family's popular restaurant, La Cocina de la Isla, but his plans get derailed from the start. Carmen, his mother's goddaughter, comes to visit, and Arturo doesn't understand why his stomach can't settle down around her. His job at the restaurant is harder than he thought, and worst of all, his family's plan to expand into an adjacent empty lot seems hopeless when flashy real-estate developer Wilfrido Pipo comes to town with plans of his own. Arturo hopes the community his abuela and abuelo loved for so long will support them, and with the help of his family, friends, and the work of Cuban poet and revolutionary hero Jose Marti, Arturo finds the strength to fight for what he believes in. Cartaya's lively debut, filled with kind, dynamic characters and interspersed with letters, poems, and Twitter messages, offers a timely tale of a community steeped in tradition and multiculturalism, working together against encroaching gentrification, and Arturo's inviting first-person narrative is the perfect entry point for middle-grade readers. Unitalicized Spanish phrases appear throughout, always with enough context clues that non-Spanish speakers will have no trouble following along. At turns funny, beautiful, and heartbreaking, this engrossing story will get kids cheering for triumphant, relatable Arturo and his powerful connections to family, tradition, and community.(Reprinted with permission of Booklist, copyright 2017, American Library Association.)

Starred review from September 4, 2017
Cartaya shines as both author and reader of the audio edition of his middle grade tale about the romantic pursuits and family life of 13-year-old Arturo Zamora. It’s summer in Miami and the young protagonist spends his days hanging with his abuela and cousins at his mother’s Cuban restaurant, playing basketball, and writing poetry to impress his love interest Carmen, a family friend and fellow poetry enthusiast. Cartaya nails the voices of various characters in Arturo’s extended family, all of whom are trying to save the family restaurant from a slippery, narcissistic property developer. Particularly entertaining is the over-the-top, passionate aunt who is prone to hysterical and unintentionally comical outbursts. Throughout, Cartaya’s performance gives voice to the sights and sounds of Miami, slipping comfortably back and forth between English and Spanish. Listeners will be glad that the end of the audio book, like the print version, features several key family recipes and instructive but funny details about how to bring those dishes to life. Ages 10–up. A Viking hardcover.

July 1, 2017
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 Jose Marti 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

(Copyright 2017 by The Horn Book, Incorporated, Boston. All rights reserved.)

July 1, 2017
Thirteen-year-old Arturo Zamora is part of a large, Miami-based, Cuban American extended family. When a scheming real-estate developer proposes to build a mixed-use high-rise development that would close the family restaurant, the entire Zamora family mobilizes to win the neighborhood's support. Arturo narrates his story with liberal doses of Spanish, untranslated and non-italicized, adding a welcome and authentic texture to Cartaya's debut novel. Recipes appended.

(Copyright 2017 by The Horn Book, Incorporated, Boston. All rights reserved.)