Sammy & Juliana in Hollywood (Paperback) (ISBN-13: 9781933693996)

NSK Neustadt Prize for Children's and Young Adult Literature, World Literature Today
Top Ten Best Books for Young Adults, Young Adult Library Services Association (YALSA)
Los Angeles Times Book Prize for Young Adult Novel, Los Angeles Times
Noteworthy Books for Children and Teens, Capitol Choices
Blue Ribbons List, Bulletin of the Center for Children's Books
Américas Book Award, Consortium of Latin American Studies Programs
Outstanding Books for the College Bound, American Library Association (ALA)

Sammy & Juliana in Hollywood is our American Graffiti.
No, that's not right. It's our Mexican Graffiti.--Denise Chavez

The "Hollywood" where Sammy Santos and Juliana Ríos live is not the West Coast one, the one with all the glitz and glitter. This Hollywood is a tough barrio at the edge of a small town in southern New Mexico. Sammy and his friends--members of the 1969 high school graduating class--face a world of racism, dress codes, the war in Vietnam, and barrio violence.

In the summer before his senior year begins, Sammy falls in love with Juliana, a girl whose tough veneer disguises a world of hurt. By summer's end, Juliana is dead. Sammy grieves, and in his grief, the memory of Juliana becomes his guide through this difficult year. Sammy is a smart kid, but he's angry. He's angry about Juliana's death, he's angry about the poverty his father and his sister must endure, he's angry at his high school and its thinly disguised gringo racism, and he's angry he might not be able to go to college.

Acclaimed author of Aristotle and Dante Discover the Secrets of the Universe Benjamin Alire Sáenz captures the essence of what it meant to grow up Chicano in small-town America in the late 1960s.