The Horn Book Guide

OLDER FICTION

Engle, Margarita

Jazz Owls: A Novel of the Zoot Suit Riots

179 pp. | Atheneum | May, 2018 | Trade ISBN 978-1-5344-0943-9 $17.99 | Ebook ISBN 978-1-5344-0945-3

(2) YA Illustrated by Rudy Gutierrez. Real-life victim José Díaz is killed at a party in 1942 Los Angeles--leading to police racial profiling, biased news coverage, the trial and conviction of "a bunch / of Mexican kids," and the terrorizing of Mexican American neighborhoods and jazz-dancing zoot suiters by gangs of white sailors. Engle's historical novel in free verse weaves together plenty of voices for a vivid look at a seldom-represented moment in U.S. history. Bib.

Reviewer: Lettycia Terrones | Horn Book Magazine Issue: May, 2018