Leo's reviews :  The First Rule of Punk  By Celia Pérez -Jr. Fiction-

The First Rule of Punk  By Celia Pérez -Jr. Fiction-

“[We’re] more like patchwork quilts. Some pieces are prettier than others. Some pieces match and some don’t. But if you remove a square, you’re just left with an incomplete quilt, and who wants that?”

Malú and her mum are moving to Chicago for two years for her mum’s work.  Malú doesn’t quite know how to fit into her new school or make new friends, but she takes solace in her love of classic punk bands, and her self-expression through her homemade zines (a zine is a mini self-made magazine).  If moving wasn’t hard enough, Malú, who is half Mexican, doesn’t like cilantro, struggles to speak Español, and is vegetarian, all to her mother’s dismay. As pressure from her mother and her new school builds for her to conform to ‘tradition’, Malú finds a way to blend herself to her culture, and be true to herself above all others.

There’s an oft used phrase “write what you know” and this author took that phrase and ran with it! Taking form her own love of punk music and zine making, Celia Pérez has created a fabulous love-letter to both, while also crafting a brilliant tale of a girl feeling both that she knows herself fully, yet unable to find herself in relation to others. Another bonus is the author’s inclusion of brilliant zines between chapters that enhance the story and add to it, since the zines are actually ‘created’ by Malú to help her process her journey. It also includes tutorials for making your own! I certainly will be!

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