Lucía the Luchadora by Cynthia Leonor Garza & Alyssa Bermudez

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Lucía the Luchadora by Cynthia Leonor Garza & Alyssa Bermudez (2017) #ownvoices

by Anna HK

Lucía's pretend superpowers on the playground are significant, but the boys she wants to play with ignore her and tell her that girls can't be superheroes. Lucía's Abuela introduces Lucía to a new kind of superhero--a masked luchadora who has moxie, bravery and heart, and is willing to fight for what is right without ever revealing her true identity. Lucía's new identity grabs lots of attention at the playground, and soon other kids are wearing lucha libre masks too. When a kid in a pink glittery lucha libre mask appears, the boys' start saying girls can't be superheroes again. Just as Lucía is about to intervene, there's an emergency on the slide; Lucía to the rescue! On behalf of the new girl, she reveals her identity to prove that girls CAN be superheroes. All the children unmask, and Lucía finds that many of the luchadores are actually lucadoras! This is a longer story, but it's themes will resonate for older children, making it a good choice for school visits or classroom read-alouds

Themes/topics: bullying, superheroes, luchadores, bravery, rescue, friendship

Sample text from three spreads: 

I zip through the playground in my red cape. I go POW. I go BAM. 
The boys zoom by with their own capes fluttering behind them. They go BOOM. They go CRASH

The boys try to jump off the monkey bars, but no one can do a high-flying leap from the top like I can. I dive. I spin. I nail my landing. Every! Single! Time! I dash up the dark, swirly slide that no one dares go near, but the boys pay no attention to me. 

They dart off when I try to play with them. Mighty Mick yells out to me, "Girls can't be superheroes!" Ninja Nick, his twin, adds, "Girls are just made of sugar and spice and everything nice!"
I don't feel very nice and sweet at that moment. I feel mad. Spice mad. KA-POW kind of mad!