Image: HarperCollins Publishers
Falling Short by Ernesto Cisneros. Unabridged book on Playaway, ~5 hours. Read by Timothy Andrés Pabon and Gary Tiedemann. Findaway World/ Quill Tree Books/ HarperCollins Publishers, March, 2022. 9781669609469. (Review of audiobook borrowed from public library.)
Happy Monday! I hope you had a wonderful weekend. Middle Grade Monday features Falling Short by Ernesto Cisneros. Marco and Isaac are best friends who are entering middle school. Marco is short and does well in school. Isaac is tall, excels at basketball, but struggles in school. The two also have some issues at home. Isaac's mom left his dad due to his alcoholism and Marco's father is rarely visits. Isaac hopes that if he gets good grades, his parents' marriage will heal and Marco hopes that if he makes the basketball team, his father will visit more. Isaac coaches Marco in b-ball and Marco tutors Isaac. That'll work, right?Falling Short is Mr. Cisneros' sophomore novel. It is very different than his award-winning debut, Efrain Divided. The friendship between the two boys stands front and center, where they unconditionally support each other despite being pulled in different directions socially. I loved this. Family issues were realistically portrayed and the adults were mostly trying to do the right thing. This dynamic, the dual POV and short chapters make this a quick and satisfying read. The two narrators portrayed the warmth of the boys' friendship and seamlessly shifted between English and Spanish.
Falling Short is a first-purchase!
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