Zachary Sterling

Jayson wants to fit in and sister Althea wants to be accepted. Helping their parents with the family's Filipino food truck doesn't help their causes. But when several magical creatures from Filipino mythology show up and threaten the family, it's all hands on deck because as mom always says, family comes first. The pacing is a bit frenetic and character development is mostly surface. But with so few youth titles out there centering Filipino characters, I'll give this a pass. Kids will enjoy the bright palette and active storyline.… (plus d'informations)

“You shouldn’t hide things that make you unique … you should celebrate them.”
A great mixture of humor, poignancy, action, family, and culture! The family aspect was truly one of my favorite parts along with how involved the parents were too. The mother has her little character arc too. You don't usually see this in children's fiction, but it was a unique surprise.

As a critique, Althea's arc was resolved too fast. Maybe this could have been spread to a second book, but it didn't detract from the story.

I also think the art style complemented the story well. Mabuhay! had a lot of personality! If this was a cartoon, I’d happily watch it.

Siblings JJ and Althea are both dealing with not fitting in, JJ wants to distance himself from anything that references his Filipino heritage and/or others himself while Althea is being ostracized by her former friend group for not “growing up.” If that wasn’t bad enough, then witches and evil spirits started hunting them too. Magical shenanigans abound.

SN: Victor was cringyyyyy—maybe a subtle or unintended commentary on how some children of immigrants (?) ( I don't think Victor's background was addressed) really overdo throwing themselves into hiphop/black-created/urban cultures to find a spot in American society. Or, it could be solely comic relief. Anyway, read this!… (plus d'informations)