Read Arizona

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“The Universe was redirecting my path, Zeeta,… Sometimes it has to resort to painful things to put you on the right path.”

Zeeta’s mother teaches English; the catch is that she teaches English in a new country every year. Zeeta would like nothing more than to be settled in a suburb in “normal” America, and Layla, her mother, cautions her with “I should be suspicious of what I want.” Consequently, Zeeta has learned from an early age how to communicate in a variety languages, fit into a variety of cultures, and make new friends in new surroundings easier than your typical teenager. A new job has landed Zeeta and her free spirited mother in Ecuadorwhere Zeeta meets a new American friend, Wendell, who is searching for his birth parents in the small villages of the Ecuadorian Andes. Wendell’s inexperience as a traveler balances Zeeta’s relative ease with transition and brings the two closer in a quest for all things wished for. Resau brings the market Plaza de Ponchos to life with her characterizations of locals like Gaby and the blind beggar Don Celestino. One can smell the bread in Mamita Luz’s oven or the heady perfumed flowers in the tropical mountains. Not surprisingly, Wendell and Zeeta come to discover that all that one wishes for isn’t necessarily all that one really wants or needs. This book just came out in October and would make a fabulous read over the holidays. Cynthia Cruz, Howenstine High Magnet School.