**A compelling read about the quest for fame!
--Debbie Allen, star of Fame
**
Redemption is a heartbeat away.
--Guadalupe Garcia McCall, author of the Pura Belpre Award winner Under
the Mesquite
Beatriz dreams of a life spent dancing--until tragedy on the day of
her quinceañera changes everything.
**
** Up until her fifteenth birthday, the most important thing in the
world to Beatriz Mendez was her dream of becoming a professional dancer
and getting herself and her family far from the gang life that defined
their days--that and meeting her dance idol Debbie Allen on the set of
her favorite TV show, Fame. But after the latest battle in a constant
turf war leaves her brother, Junito, dead and her mother grieving,
Beatriz has a new set of priorities. How is she supposed to feel the
rhythm when her brother's gang needs running, when her mami can't brush
her own teeth, and when the last thing she can remember of her old self
is dancing with her brother, followed by running and gunshots? When the
class brainiac reminds Beatriz of her love of the dance floor, her
banished dreams sneak back in. Now the only question is: will the gang
let her go?
Set in New Jersey in 1984, Beatriz's story is a timeless one of a
teenager's navigation of romance, her brother's choices, and her own
family's difficult past. A companion novel to the much-lauded Like
Vanessa.