Review Detail

When Malu's (Maria Luisa) mother gets a two year visiting professorship in Chicago, she has to leave her father and his record shop in Gainesville. Malu and her father love punk rock music, and her mother is not a fan, so Malu really wishes she could stay with her father. Even though she makes an impassioned plea in an artfully crafted zine, she is living in Chicago before she knows it. It's a fun, quirky neighborhood with lots of other Hispanic residents, which delights Malu's mother but doesn't break through Malu's irritation. On the first day of school, she wears heavy eyeliner despite her mother's objections, and gets sent to the auditorium for a dress code violation talk. There, she meets a boy who has dyed his hair blue (but dresses like Henry Huggins!) who ends up being the son of the local coffee shop owner, Ms. Hildago, and the grandson of her neighbor. Malu's school career doesn't go well, since she has run afoul of the popular Selena, so when a school talent show is announced, she gathers a few people to form a band (the CoCos, after Selena's slur that she is a "coconut"). When they don't make the cut during auditions because they are too loud and not traditional enough to honor the school's namesake Jose Posada, Malu decides to embrace the rules of punk and have an alternative concert. The band, and Malu, continue to have rocky times, but ultimately are able to be appreciated for being true to themselves.