Roosevelt High School

Juanita Fights the School Board is the first novel in Gloria Velásquez's Roosevelt High School Series, a series featuring characters with whom all children, and especially U.S. Hispanic children, can relate. This novel for young adults details the expulsion of a young Mexican-American girl from Roosevelt High School for getting involved in a fight with another student. The story begins with Juanita's expulsion and describes the effect this event has on her self-image and on her family. One of six children of California migrant workers, Juanita hopes to be the first in her family to graduate from high school. With the help of a school psychologist and a former civil rights attorney, Juanita fights the discrimination against minorities at Roosevelt High School and returns from her expulsion more determined than ever to fulfill her dream of graduating from high school.

Maya's Divided World is the second installment in Gloria Velásquez's Roosevelt High School Series of fictional narratives dealing with the pressures and mysteries of young adult life. The highly-regarded series takes place in a high school with a multicultural student body and explores the problems of growing up in today's world. In Maya's Divided World, the well ordered and productive life that Maya has been able to accomplish during her high school years receives a sudden jolt, and everything seems to come undone when her parents announce their impending divorce. Her mother's traditional family almost disowns her when they hear the bad news, but their surprise and dismay is nothing compared to the depression and loss experienced by Maya, who had no idea that her parents were growing apart. In her confusion, Maya abandons her friends for a newer, rougher set, and generally turns her back on all of the positive values, aspirations and accomplishments that once meant so much to her. The reaction of Maya's friends and family to her disorientation makes for engrossing, enriching reading.

When Tommy realizes that he is uncomfortable with dating girls, he finds himself struggling with the idea that his sexual preferences might be different from everyone he knows. Tommy begins to cut classes and drink alcohol in order to avoid his friends and their increasing awareness that he may be gay. Distressed and confused, he attempts to take his own life, landing him in the hospital. After the incident, Tommy gets help from the counselor, Ms. Martinez. As his family and friends try to deal with the revelation that Tommy is homosexual, Ms. Martinez helps Tommy through the toughest time in his life. Tommy Stands Alone is a sensitive and balanced treatment of a difficult subject, compassionate, real, and moving.

Rina's Family Secret is the fourth novel in Gloria Velásquez's Roosevelt High School series, which features a multiracial group of teenaged students who must individually face social and cultural issues (such as violence, sexuality, and prejudice) inescapable among young adults today. Readers of the series will recognize the heroine Rina, a Puerto Rican student, as a character in previous books. In this installment of the series, Velásquez shows us the terrible pain and sadness one young woman must confront when she witnesses her stepfather beating her mother so violently that she must be hospitalized. When several days later her mother allows the abusive stepfather to return home, Rina explodes with anger, taking her younger brother and sister to their grandmother's house. Rina's Family Secret portrays, with realism and compassion, one young adult's experience with domestic violence and her attempts to keep it a secret from her friends.

When it comes to racial prejudice and integration, all are created equal in the classroom, on the playing field, and in friendships, right? Will friends respect the choices made? Ankiza is the fifth novel in Gloria Velásquez's popular Roosevelt High School series, which features a multiracial group of teenaged students who must individually face social and cultural issues (such as violence, sexuality, and prejudice) inescapable among young adults today. Ankiza is a tall, attractive African-American girl who enjoys Bob Marley albums and Oreo cookies. Hunter Bianchi is a handsome Italian-American senior who plays on Roosevelt High's tennis team along with their mutual friend Maya. When the two students begin to date, they're mildly surprised (in ways good and bad) by the unexpected reactions of some of their friends: Tommy, Tyrone, Juanita, Rudy, and even Maya. A hateful anonymous note addressed to Ankiza causes a private matter to escalate into a public affair, and soon almost everyone at Roosevelt High-students, parents, and faculty alike-has been drawn into a tense situation; and all are compelled to ask themselves thorny personal questions about bias and resentment they'd generally prefer to evade.

Celia is a beautiful young girl on the brink of her sophomore year in high school. She watches her weekly soap opera Teen Angel and dreams about cute boys. One day, when Celia goes to visit her best friend Cassie, she meets Nicky, and exciting older boy with a tattoo of a snake on his arm. Finally, it seems that all the things that she's been dreaming of are coming true with this boy who could pass for one of the stars on her favorite show. When Nicky discards her and Celia discovers she's pregnant, problems spiral around her. How will she face her parents and finish school? What happens when her fellow students at Roosevelt High find out? With the help of her older sister Juanita, Celia tries to deal with the results of her infatuation with an older boy.

"Not again," Tyrone thinks as loud, angry voices wake him up in the middle of the night. Tyrone can tell that his father has had too much to drink. Drinking and fighting are nothing new, but this time, Tyrone's dad leaves and doesn't come back. As the weeks pass, Tyrone's anger at his father's desertion finds an outlet through violent eruptions at school. Life at home is no better as his mother begins working a night job to pay the bills. She expects Tyrone, the eldest, to be the "man of the house," a responsibility Tyrone doesn't want. Instead he starts partying with older kids, skipping school, and sneaking home in the early morning hours. But when his younger brother is caught stealing candy at the corner store, Tyrone realizes that he will have to take on the responsibility whether he wants to or not. Settling in to his new role as the head of the household, Tyrone is furious when he learns that his father wants to come home. He doesn't understand how his mother can forgive his father so easily. And how can she believe his promises to change? With the help of his friends and counselor Dr. Martinez, Tyrone begins to deal with his feelings of anger and betrayal. But will he ever accomplish his dreams of going to college and becoming an engineer? This book is the seventh novel in Gloria Velasquez's popular Roosevelt High School series, which features a multiracial group of teenaged students who must confront social and cultural issues that young adults face today.

Rudy can't believe it when his dad says he will have to watch his abuela while his parents go out. He shouldn't have to babysit his own grandmother! And he had plans to go out with his girlfriend, Juanita. His brother Manuel isn't happy either, and won't even consider watching Abuela alone. Nothing has been going right since Abuela moved in. Manuel had to give up his own room and move into Rudy's, and both boys are unhappy about losing their privacy. Abuela's forgetfulness and weird behavior has everyone worried, and Rudy's mom in particular spends lots of time crying. When Abuela disappears one day, they can't ignore the problem anymore. A trip to the doctor confirms what they feared: Abuela has Alzheimer's. What are they going to do? They can't lock her up, but they can't be with her every minute of the day either. As Rudy juggles everything going on in his senior year at Roosevelt High School, including his relationship with Juanita and his friends' attempts to convince him to enroll in college, his feelings of guilt grow. He can't help but wish he had his room to himself and that life would go back to the way it was before Abuela moved in. Rudy's Memory Walk is the eighth novel in Gloria Velasquez's popular Roosevelt High School series, which features a multiracial group of teenaged students who must individually confront social and cultural issues (such as violence, sexuality, and prejudice) that young adults face.