Yulieta Lopez is angry. Angry at her racist drama teacher who refuses to cast Black students in lead roles. Angry at the school board threatening her favorite teacher for teaching works of literature that they deem “controversial.” Angry that she has to keep quiet until she can head to college and leave Texas forever.

Yuli is accustomed to playing various roles: the diligent daughter, the honorable hija, the good girl who serves everyone else before serving herself. But as the fire of Yuli’s rage spreads and lights her up, she can no longer be silent. Determined to find a way to fight back, Yuli and her friends start a guerilla theatre club which stirs things up and gets people talking, and finally, Yuli steps into the role she was always meant to play.

Perfect for fans of Elizabeth Acevedo, the story focuses on how anger can be your ally, not your downfall.

We all know the stereotype of the angry black girl, and as Yuli doesn’t want to cause her mother more stress, nor does she want to put her dream of being the lead of the school play in jeopardy, she swallows it down. However, being quiet is not enough when her whole being runs counter to what the drama teacher envisions to be the all-American female lead.

Mendez does a great job illustrating the boiling anger within Yuli, the injustice of being the good girl while those who say racist things receive no consequences. How being good doesn’t seem to bring results. That anger is also explored in different ways from Yuli’s other brother and his college protests, and the stories of her mother’s time as an activist on the islands. Anger is seen as wrong, too much, too loud, but it can also be a fuel to fight for justice. It all comes down to how you channel your anger.

Plus I enjoyed the ending and how that anger that she thought would be her downfall ends up inspiring Yuli to find out she has newer, more important dreams than fitting into a theater that would never accept her. She can become unforgettable in a different way.

Honestly, it reminds me of this A:tla quote- “

I enjoyed the way the story flowed. Even though it was primarily in prose, and in script-font, Mendez wove in the importance of art, guerilla theater, microaggressions in theater, book bans and censorship into a cohesive piece. The prose amplified that because poetry is art itself, a way to express feelings and create empathy/let people see themselves.

However, because of the medium, it arouses big emotions, yet also feels surface level. But perhaps that’s because I’m bad at interpreting poetry and verse.

The only downside is that I wanted more of Yuli’s mom, she seemed so cool and I wanted to learn more of her story and how she learned to channel her passion and anger. Same with Yunior whose activism is a big part of the book, but he ends up taking a step back in order to protect his physical/metal health. I know it wasn’t his story, so it makes sense we wouldn’t be privvy to the drain on him, but maybe if Mendez had him confide a bit more to Yuli we could have gotten it.

3 stars.