Review Detail

Reader reviewed by Amber

Haters is a nice story about how you can overcome hate with kindness and that it is never okay to sink down to the level of your enemies. Paski, a biker gal who loves her small New Mexico town, is suddenly uprooted and moved to the sunny beaches of L.A. when her father lands a great new job. While its a great opportunity for her dad to get rich as a cartoonist, Paski is upset that shell have to leave behind her best girlfriends and her new boyfriend.

Paskis psychic grandmother warns her that life in SoCal will not be easy, but that Paski will be able to get through it, if she just uses her gift. Her psychic gift, that is. See, Paski sometimes has visions and while she cant control them, they always come true.

When Paski and her father arrive in California, Paski finds that all is not as perfect as the manicured lawns and glamorous mansions would lead her to believe. The kids at her school have serious attitude problems, and it seems like money is everything in their shallow world. Luckily, Paski knows that there are more important things in life than who is best dressed. But she cant help but feel a need to fit in and be accepted into the popular crowd at school. Along with her problems at school, Paski has been having some very scary visions that she feels are her responsibility to stop from coming true.

While Paski is a very believable character, and she always stays true to herself, the ending of the story seemed a little picturesque for me. The ending tries to make everything perfect, which life never is. And the last couple of chapters leave a lot of loose ends regarding Paski and her conflict with Jessica Nguyen, the richest and most popular girl at school. Alisa Valdes-Rodriguez does a great job of portraying Paskis spunky character, but some of the supporting characters are a little one-dimensional. Overall, I think this is a good coming-of-age story that Hispanic teens would especially enjoy.