Shame the Stars (Shame the Stars #1)

Best Books, Kirkus Reviews
Junior Library Guild Selection
Commended Lists - Américas Book Award, Consortium of Latin American Studies Programs

In the midst of racial conflict and at the edges of a war at the Texas-Mexico border in 1915, Joaquín and Dulceña attempt to maintain a secret romance in this young adult reimagining of Romeo and Juliet.

Eighteen-year-old Joaquín del Toro's future looks bright. With his older brother in the priesthood, he's set to inherit his family's Texas ranch. He's in love with Dulceña--and she's in love with him. But it's 1915, and trouble has been brewing along the US-Mexico border. On one side, the Mexican Revolution is taking hold; on the other, Texas Rangers fight Tejano insurgents, and ordinary citizens are caught in the middle.

As tensions grow, Joaquín is torn away from Dulceña, whose father's critical reporting on the Rangers in the local newspaper has driven a wedge between their families. Joaquín's own father insists that the Rangers are their friends, and refuses to take sides in the conflict. But when their family ranch becomes a target, Joaquín must decide how he will stand up for what's right.

Shame the Stars is a rich reimagining of Romeo and Juliet set in Texas during the explosive years of Mexico's revolution. Filled with period detail, captivating romance, and political intrigue, it brings Shakespeare's classic to life in an entirely new way.

GUADALUPE GARCIA McCALL was born in Mexico and moved to Texas as a young girl, keeping close ties with family on both sides of the border. Trained in theater arts and English, she is now an assistant professor of English at George Fox University in Oregon. Her poems for adults have appeared in more than twenty literary journals, and she won the Pura Belpré Award for her first novel, Under the Mesquite.