IN THE SHADE OF THE N°SPERO TREE

PLB 0-531-33154-7 The backdrop of 1961 Ponce, Puerto Rico, is authentic and atmospheric but not enough to overshadow the one-idea plot. Teresa Giraux’s seamstress mother is obsessed with class and race: she plots to get her 10-year-old daughter into high society and is aloof and unintentionally cruel about the darker skin tone of Teresa’s friends and classmates. At first, Tere is oblivious to her mother’s prejudices, but when she transfers to an exclusive private school, the Academia, she takes on her mother’s bigoted behavior. Tere drops her best friend, Ana, who is darker than she is, and does her best to fit in with the Academia girls, who tend to be lighter in complexion. Predictably, Tere eventually sees the error of her ways with the gentle guidance of her father, her new friend, Marisol, and her own unpleasant experiences with discrimination. Teresa’s mother suddenly and unconvincingly changes her ways, too. The story is neither fresh nor involving, allowing the island atmosphere to take over; accurately portrayed are such details as the chirping tree frogs, bright red flamboyan trees, and the consuming excitement leading up to Carnival. (Fiction. 9-12)