Mexican Heritage Plaza

Bringing influential speakers to the Bay Area to discuss the leading issues affecting the Latino community today.

All programs held at the Plaza.

$5 for members, $10 non-members, students FREE For reservations please call 1-800-847-7730

Viola Canales Author of The Tequila Worm
Being Re-scheduled

The following review originally appeared in the Palo Alto Weekly:
This charming novel by Stanford author Viola Canales is a book of stories about a family, a culture and a young girl who is smart enough to appreciate the richness of where she came from when she eventually goes away.

In her barrio, Sofia is surrounded by a loving family and a community steeped in tradition. Though she does not want a quinceanera herself, she serves as the dama de honor for her cousin and best friend, Berta, when Berta turns 15. What Sofia really wants is to accept the scholarship she won to an Episcopal boarding school in Austin, 350 miles away. But to do that she needs her parents' permission, five decent dresses, and 400 dollars - each a seemingly insurmountable task.

Readers will enjoy following Sofia along the way toward reaching her goal, and the culture shock that greets her at Saint Luke's. She also undoubtedly shocks some of her classmates when she and two friends take her papa's "definitive cure for homesickness": chewing and swallowing a squishy tequila worm. Sometimes humorous and always thoughtful, Canales has taken her own experience and expertly universalized it.
Look to The Tequila Worm for a shining example of young adult literature at its best.

Jesus Trevino Chicano filmmaker, activist, author of Eyewitness
Monday, May 22nd

Reyna Grande Author of Across a HundredMountains
Thursday, June 29th

Alicia Alarcon Southern California talk show host Author of The Border Patrol Ate My Dust
Monday, July 10th