My Papi Has a Motorcycle

A heartwarming story that centers joy in the midst of looming change.

A screaming, bright-blue comet zooms through the streets of Corona, California, in a race against the orange setting sun... Every girl should be so lucky as to have such a papi.

An evocative love letter.

When Papi gets home from work in his gray truck, his daughter is ready for their ritual, a nightly motorcycle ride: "I run outside with both of our helmets." Together, they zip through their California city, passing the market, the church, and murals that show "our history--of citrus groves and the immigrants who worked them." The landscape is changing: Papi and his fellow carpenters are building new houses where the groves once stood, and the shaved ice shop has gone out of business. Quintero and Peña, the team behind Photographic: The Life of Graciela Iturbide, conjure up the ride's sights and sounds with sensory immediacy--the girl grasps her father's sawdusty shirt, sun-bleached pinks and oranges convey the lingering heat of evening, and stray cats run in front of the rumbling bike as neighborhood sounds reach the riders. Fresh graphic novel style art offers all the glory of a ride ("VROOOM"), and speech in balloons is a mix of Spanish and English alongside the English-only text. The love between the girl and her father is palpable, but her connection to her city (fleshed out in an author's note about Corona, Calif.) is at the story's heart. Ages 4-8. (May)

Copyright 2019 Publishers Weekly, LLC Used with permission.

K-Gr 2--A radiant ode to a young girl's father and her L.A. neighborhood. Every evening, Daisy and her papi snap on their helmets (hers is purple with a unicorn, his a black vintage variety) and begin their ride on his electric blue motorcycle through Corona, CA. At times they "roar past" taquerias and murals, and other times they "cruise," greeting family and neighbors as they pass by. All the while, Daisy absorbs the sights, sounds, and smells of her beloved hometown, imprinting its idiosyncrasies into memory. Daisy's experiences mirror Quintero's childhood memories, recounted through tender language and vivid sensory details. Recalling the motorcycle rides with her papi is an exercise in familial love, but also a way to honor a hometown and present the changes from gentrification. Although the topic is touched upon lightly, its complexity percolates and becomes much more vivid with multiple reads. The illustrations faithfully capture the merriment and love through careful details and a low-key color palette that alludes to warm memories being made and recollected. Peña makes felicitous use of his comics chops, incorporating speech balloons with Spanish phrases, onomatopoeia, and panels to convey movement. Quintero's writing and Peña's art coalesce most beautifully in the infectious look of joy on Daisy's face throughout. VERDICT A book that radiates sheer happiness without shying from reality. Highly recommended for all libraries.--Jessica Agudelo, New York Public Library

Copyright 2019 School Library Journal, LLC Used with permission.

PRAISE FOR MY PAPI HAS A MOTORCYCLE
by Isabel Quintero; Illustrated by Zeke Peña 

* "Quintero's warm, economical text and the desert-sunset tones of Peña's comics-inflected art feel like a revelation." - The New York Times

PRAISE FOR PHOTOGRAPHIC: THE LIFE OF GRACIELA ITURBIDE
by Isabel Quintero; Illustrated by Zeke Peña

2018 Boston Globe-Horn Book Nonfiction Award Winner
2018 Moonbeam Children's Books Gold Award Winner

* "Quintero and Peña have set a new standard in artist biographies." — School Library Journal, starred review

* "A powerful homage." — The Horn Book, starred review

* "Eye-opening and masterfully rendered." —Booklist, starred review