Loteria - Mario Alberto Zambrano

For just eleven years old Luz Maria is experiencing so many family hardships. In order to cope with her older sister Estrella in the ICU and her father in jail and her been taken into the custody of the state, she uses a popular Mexican game called Loteria. This Mexican game features riddles and spirited images and each card represents a different memory creating recollections that focus the joy and pain of the young girl's life, and the events that led to her present situation.

I was impressed with the beauty of this book has thick pages and full page images of Mexican Loteria. Loteria is similiar to bingo, except that images are used instead of numbers. There are many Spanish phrases throughout the book, which makes the book fun but translations of the Spanish words would have been helpful to those that do not speak Spanish. 

An easy and delightful read and I thought it provided welcome insight into Mexican-American culture.  It was beautifully written and so creative.

RPA 1/26/2015