Cruzita and the Mariacheros by Ashley Granillo
Cruzita’s great uncle has run a bakery, Lupe’s Bakery, for decades, and after his death, her grandmother, Mamá Vincenta, inherits it. Her grandmother, parents, and Tia Pocha are all trying to keep the once successful bakery running, but none of them are as good a cook as Lupe. Cruzita’s parents are struggling financially, and Cruzita, who wants to be a pop star, believes that if she enters a contest at an amusement park in Nashville (spoiler, I live here, and there have been no amusement parks since Opryland sadly closed), she can save the family business. However, her parents say she can’t travel to Nashville and that, instead, she has to help out at the bakery and take violin lessons at a Mariachi studio. But could Mariachi offer another solution to her family’s financial woes? This is a lovely middle grade novel about a Mexican American family.
