Gr 4 Up—In this love letter to food trucks and Filipino culture, siblings JJ and Althea pay little attention to their
family’s folktales—until they start coming true. Weaving humor throughout, this heartwarming story gives new
meaning to embracing one’s heritage. A high-energy delight that gives folklore, family, and food center their due.

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. ( )

“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! ( )

Middle schoolers JJ and Althea are not thrilled having to work at their family's Filipino food truck, the Beautiful Pig, but it gets even weirder than having to wear a pig costume - strange creatures with malicious intent show up, waking JJ and Althea's latent magical abilities. They learn about their mother's past, and the whole family must band together - along with three witches - to save themselves and the world from a moon-swallowing bakunawa. Althea and JJ have distinct personalities, which come through in their relationships with their friends, each other, their parents, and their uncle: JJ wants to fit in and be noticed by popular girl Haley, while Althea is mystified by friends who dropped her, but stays true to her own interests (e.g. horror movies). The definition and pronunciation of Tagalog words are supplied in footnotes as well as in the glossary.

See also: Shakti, Ghost Book

Back matter includes recipe for chicken adobo, author's note, glossary, acknowledgments

Quotes

"Are they trying to ruin our lives on purpose?"
"Nope. It comes to them naturally." (JJ and Althea re: their parents, 20)

"No fair!"
"Did someone wake you up and say life's going to be fair today?" (JJ and Mom, 52)

"Do you ever feel like you're on the outside looking in?
Like you're the only one in the world who doesn't know about some kind of secret...that everyone else is in on but you?" (JJ to his uncle, 57)

"I try not to think about the past. Most of my memories are bad ones." (Mom, 96)

"We need to put our family first. We can't fall apart now." (Mom to JJ, 105)

"It's not fair. I didn't know our friendship was ending until it was already over. It felt like everything changed all at once...even though I stayed the same...everyone else moved on. And now it's too late for me to catch up." (Althea, 118)

"You care too much about what others think....Trying to be cool takes too much work. I hate work. It's easier to be yourself." (Juan Tamad, 156)

"What good is trying to fit in with people who treat you like garbage? Why do you hate who you really are?"
"And what has 'being who you really are' brought you? Why is being a friendless loser any better?" (Althea and JJ, 164)

"You never understood...t's not about right and wrong. It's about going what is necessary." (witch to mom, 183) ( )