JENNIFER TORRES GUEST POST AND STEF SOTO, TACO QUEEN GIVEAWAY

Happy Monday Everyone! Today I'm thrilled to have debut author Jennifer Torres here to share about her MG contemporary STEF SOTO, TACO QUEEN. Stef sounds like a fantastic middle grader, and I love the multicultural themes in the story.

Here's a blurb from Goodreads:

Estefania "Stef" Soto is itching to shake off the onion-and-cilantro embrace of Tia Perla, her family's taco truck. She wants nothing more than for her dad to get a normal job and for Tia Perla to be put out to pasture. It's no fun being known as the "Taco Queen" at school. But just when it looks like Stef is going to get exactly what she wants, and her family's livelihood is threatened, she will have to become the truck's unlikely champion. 

Now here's Jennifer!

Extraordinary moments and ordinary lives

I started my writing career as a reporter, so the first stories I ever wrote professionally were true stories. True in the sense that they were about real things that really happened to real people. I covered issues like immigration and education, poverty and population change for The Record newspaper in Stockton, California. I wrote about interesting and influential events and trends and people. And, like any local reporter, I spent a lot of time at school board meetings and on the phone with watch commanders.

It was the best fun.

What I loved most about local news, I think, was that almost every assignment was an opportunity to uncover the extraordinary moments contained within ordinary lives.

(In fact, my picture book, Finding the Music/En pos de la música, was inspired in part by an obituary I wrote about a neighborhood mariachi teacher. “He wanted to rest in peace,” the man’s widow had told me at his wake. “But with music.” Someone like that, I thought afterward, is someone I want to know better.)

It’s been a while since I last wrote an obituary or even worked in local news. But I still draw on the

lessons of reporting in the writing I do now: I listen for voice, and I try to seek out the telling details that help capture and crystallize who a character really is.

And I am still inspired by the extraordinary lives of ordinary people.

Not too long ago, I chaperoned my daughter’s class field trip to a cherry-packing shed in the heart of Central California farmland. When I told my dad about the visit later, he laughed. “So we’ve gone from farm workers to farm tourists in three generations?”

That’s an extraordinary story. It’s also a true story— one about ambition and striving—shared by millions of other ordinary, real-life families, as well as by the fictional Soto family in my debut middle grade novel, Stef Soto, Taco Queen.

Stef is the first-generation daughter of Mexican-American immigrants who own a taco truck business. The truck (they call her Tía Perla) represents the family’s hope and hard work. But also, for Stef, a point of frustration and embarrassment—until she can recognize old Tía Perla as a source of strength too.

Like my picture book, Stef Soto, Taco Queen, was inspired, in part by a story I covered as a reporter. Not an obit this time, but part of a series about a struggling school working hard to improve student learning. While visiting the campus, I met Nancy, a third grader, and her dad. He read to her every night, and three mornings a week, he came to school with her to attend special English classes for parents.

He drove an ice cream truck, and after school, when he picked her up in it, Nancy’s eyes gleamed with pride in him – as much as he had in her.

I began to wonder what Nancy would think about the truck three or four years later. That’s where Stef’s story starts.

Thanks for sharing all your great advice, Jennifer. You can find Jennifer at:

Website: jenntorres.com

Twitter: @jennanntorres

Instagram: @jennanntorres

Facebook: facebook.com/authorjenntorres

Jennifer is generously offering an ARC of STEF SOTO, TACO QUEEN, for a giveaway. o enter, all you need to do is be a follower (just click the follow button if you’re not a follower) and leave a comment through January 28th. If your e-mail is not on your Google Profile, you must leave it in the comments to enter the contest.

If you mention this contest on Twitter, Facebook, or your blog, mention this in the comments and I'll give you an extra entry. You must be 13 years old or older to enter. This giveaway is for U.S. 


Marvelous Middle Grade Monday was started by Shannon Messenger. You can find the participating blogs on her blog.

Here's what's coming up:

Wednesday January 18th, I'm participating in the Best of 2016 Giveaway Hop.

Monday January 23rd, I'll be interviewing debut author Brianna Shields with a giveaway of her YA fantasy POISON'S KISS

Monday January 30th, debut author Celeste Lin will be here doing a guest post with her agent Rosemary Stimola and a giveaway of Celeste's MG THE BRIDE FROM HUNAN

Monday February 6th, debut author Dana Langer will be doing a guest post with a giveaway of her MG fantasy SIREN SISTERS

Monday February 13th debut author Elly Blake will be here doing a guest post with her agent Suzie Townsend with a giveaway of Elly's YA fantasy FROSTBLOOD and a a query critique giveaway by Suzie

Hope to see you on Wednesday!