In this middle-grade prequel novel, author Patricia Santana revisits the life of Yolanda Sahagun—now 12 years old and called Yoli by her friends and family. Readers of Santana’s young adult and adult fiction will have encountered Yolanda in Motorcycle Ride on the Sea of Tranquility and Ghosts of El Grullo.
It's 1967. Every day in the strict Mexican American Sahagun household is a beehive of activity. Nine siblings, ranging in age from early 20s to early childhood, thrive and grow, share laughter and tears, navigate the realities of living between cultures, find their spiritual way in their rule-dominated Catholic home and community, and deal with the nagging fear that the Vietnam War, raging far away, is looming closer as Chuy, Yoli’s favorite brother, becomes eligible for the draft.
Yoli—inquisitive, passionate, and faith-filled—imagines that her family is like the famous von Trapps in her favorite movie, The Sound of Music. Yoli knows that the von Trapps had to escape the imminent arrival of war. Now Chuy needs help to avoid going to Vietnam. But what can Yoli do?
Ever since Yoli was 8 years old she’s dreamed of becoming a nun. Now she knows what she’ll do based on her life goal. Yoli decides to make a pact with God if he will keep Chuy out of the war. She writes her pact in her diary. But what seems so simple and clear-cut on paper soon deteriorates into a confusing spiritual muddle as Yoli struggles to find her way through the complexities of coming of age in a time of war. At the same time, she discovers love—or is it infatuation?—for a boy, she sorts through friendship issues, and, most importantly, she eventually realizes that God is God and it is arrogant to think she can manipulate him. Ultimately, Yoli realizes that “no matter what the future had in store for me and my family, so long as we held one another close we’d be okay.”
Though Yoli’s Favorite Things is recommended for readers 9 to 12, the book is better suited to ages 11 and older. Includes some instances of profanity.
(Margaret Ferguson Books)
About the Author
Sonya VanderVeen Feddema is a freelance writer and a member of Covenant CRC in St. Catharines, Ontario.