“You shouldn’t hide things that make you unique … you should celebrate them.”
Mabuhay! by Zachary Sterling (240 pages)
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.
5 stars!
Words with Destiny 