Perico, or parrot, was what Dad called me sometimes. It was from a Mexican saying about a parrot that complains how hot it is in the shade, while all along he's sitting inside an oven and doesn't know it....
For Manuel Hernandez, the year leading up to his test of courage, his initiation into a gang, is a time filled with the pain and tension, awkwardness and excitement of growing up in a crazy world. His dad spends most of his time and money at the local pool hall; his brother flips through jobs like a thumb through a deck of cards; and his mom never stops cleaning the house, as though one day the rooms will be so spotless they'll disappear into a sparkle, and she'll be free.
Manny's dad is always saying that people are like money--there are million- and thousand- and hundred-dollar people out there, and to him, Manny is just a penny. But Manny wants to be more than a penny, smarter than the parrot in the oven. He wants to find out what it means to be a vato firme, a guy to respect.
In this beautifully written novel, Victor Martinez gives readers a vivid portrait of one Mexican-American boy's life. Manny's story is like a full-color home movie--sometimes funny, sometimes sad, but always intensely original.For Manuel Hernandez, the year leading up to his test of courage, his initiation into a gang, is a time filled with the pain and tension, awkwardness and excitement of growing up in a mixed-up, crazy world. Manny’s dad is always calling him el perico, or parrot. It’s from a Mexican saying about a parrot that complains how hot it is in the shade while all along he’s sitting inside the oven and doesn’t know it. But Manny wants to be smarter than the parrot in the oven—he wants to find out what it means to be a vato firme, a guy to respect. From an exciting new voice in Chicano literature, this is a beautifully written, vivid portrait of one Mexican-American boy’s life.
1998 Pura Belpre Author Award 1996 Americas Award for Children’s and Young Adult Literature 1997 Books for the Teen Age (NY Public Library) 1996 National Book Award for Young People’s Literature

Parrot in the Oven: mi vida

Teen & Young Adult

Martínez, Victor

Biographies

HarperCollins Espanol

Dreaming of finding respect, Manuel Hernandez faces a difficult, tension-filled year as he prepares for his test of courage, which will mark his initiation into a gang, in a story of a young Chicano boy's coming-of-age experiences in California.

Parrot in the Oven: Mi Vida

Children's Books

Classics

Harpercollins

Dad believed people were like money. You could be a thousand-dollar person or a hundred-dollar person -- even a ten-, five-, or one-dollar person. Below that, everybody was just nickels and dimes. To my dad, we were pennies.
 Fourteen-year-old Manny Hernandez wants to be more than just a penny. He wants to be a vato firme, the kind of guy people respect. But that′s not easy when your father is abusive, your brother can′t hold a job, and your mother scrubs the house as if she can wash her troubles away.
 In Manny′s neighborhood, the way to get respect is to be in a gang. But Manny′s not sure that joining a gang is the solution. Because, after all, it′s his life -- and he wants to be the one to decide what happens to it.

Parrot in the Oven: Mi vida (Cover May Vary)

Literature & Fiction

Parrot in the Oven: Mi Vida : A Novel

Demco Media

Parrot in the Oven

PARROT IN THE OVEN

FOR USE IN SCHOOLS AND LIBRARIES ONLY. In a National Book Award Winner, Manny relates his coming-of-age experiences as a member of a poor Mexican American family in which the alcoholic father only adds to everyone's struggle.

Health, Fitness & Dieting

Turtleback Books

HarperFestival

Caring for a House

Poetry

Chusma House Pubns

The War on Drugs: Policy Failures and Alternatives

Addiction & Recovery

Darkside.Exe

El loro en el horno / Parrot in the Oven (Spanish Edition) [paperback] Martinez, Victor,Bermejo, Amalia [Jun 30, 2011] ... 8427901194

El loro en el horno (Spanish Edition)

Noguer Ediciones

Administración: De lo simple a lo complejo (Spanish Edition)

Business & Money

Pluma digital edición

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Books by Martínez, Victor