Book Look: The First Rule of Punk by Celia C Pérez

I saw this in Books a Million one day; Seriously, how can you not be curious at this cover;

So I bought and read it.

There are no shortcuts to surviving your first day at a new school—you can’t fix it with duct tape like you would your Chuck Taylors. On Day One, twelve-year-old Malú (María Luisa, if you want to annoy her) inadvertently upsets Posada Middle School’s queen bee, violates the school’s dress code with her punk rock look, and disappoints her college-professor mom in the process. Her dad, who now lives a thousand miles away, says things will get better as long as she remembers the first rule of punk: be yourself.

The real Malú loves rock music, skateboarding, zines, and Soyrizo (hold the cilantro, please). And when she assembles a group of like-minded misfits at school and starts a band, Malú finally begins to feel at home. She'll do anything to preserve this, which includes standing up to an anti-punk school administration to fight for her right to express herself! 

You can guess what happens, It's a middle grade book, but it's surprisingly candid. I love how authentic Malú is about feeling as if she doesn't fit in.

You wouldn't know it until the book says it, but she's mixed, and a big portion of the book is how she doesn't feel Mexican enough, or that she's not allowed to be punk because of it.

I also found her very relatable, even as an adult;

• Will my dog miss me when I'm gone?
• How will I survive in a new city?
• Why is my mother constantly complaining?

There's also the beginnings of snippets of Mexican Punk history and general. It's a quick and entertaining read, and I really hope we see more stories about Malú from Pérez.