Pink Elephants and Chocolate Eclairs: Memoir of a Border Town Chica (girl)

Pink Elephants and Chocolate Éclairs: Memoir of a Border Town Chica (girl) paints a colorful portrayal of a young girl experiencing the vibrant culture surrounding her, nourished by the loving relationships of family and extended family. Patricia Alarcón Missler was born in the sleepy south Texas border town of Brownsville. She is a first-generation Mexican-American. Rich and flavorful interconnected stories begin with the author as a six-year old picking out a special pastry and follow her as a young woman picking out a special boyfriend, along with the camaraderie and adventures shared with her sister Nene. There were summers spent across the border at Tía Lolis’s. A trip to the racetrack with Papi. Bandidos on the road. Two sisters on their own in Mexico City. Standing atop the Teotihuacán Pyramids. Fortune-telling gypsies in a cave bar. “Don’t look back, we’re being followed…” The college “daze” in Austin and more. Readers from diverse backgrounds will relate to these poignant stories, which transcend cultures. Inspiring, humorous, and insightful, while at times intimately personal, Pink Elephants and Chocolate Éclairs: Memoir of a Border Town Chica (girl) breaks from the stereotype of the Mexican-American experience. KIRKUS REVIEW: BOOK REVIEW In her memoir debut, Missler takes readers on a leisurely stroll through her life as a first-generation Mexican-American. Missler relays the most important moments of her life with grace, jumping from one year to the next, then back again, but always with the same easy, self-aware presence. Her material— everything from her first crush to a series of events that left her hitching a ride in the darkness of the giant, deserted King Ranch—isn’t much more Earth-shaking than the events that shape any young person’s life. When things get tense, she’s more prone to understatement than dramatics, as shown by her assessment of the time when bandits tried to force her car off the road during a family road trip to Teotihuacán: “You know, that was a real eye-opener for me.” Missler wasn’t brought up as being different; instead, she and her four siblings were taught to be themselves, living confidently and without apologies in the richness of two blended cultures in Texas. Sometimes, the results of their confidence can be rather amusing, at least in the retelling: For instance, Missler’s first-grade teacher singles her out for criticism because she colors an elephant pink instead of gray; her parents back her decision to color another elephant the same way, and suddenly, Missler says, the teacher “had a first grade rebellion on her hands and she didn’t know it.” Instead of focusing on clichés or perceived cultural differences, Missler considers various facets of her loving upbringing, every word colored by a sense of wonder and reverence that she attributes to early lessons from her father. In the end, Missler’s graceful, balanced telling of key moments from her life unfurls beautifully to reach her stated goal of showing that “Though we may walk in different shoes, in the end, we all have walking in common.” Poised, polished remembrances.