photo by K. Reyes 2/2021
Bibliographic Information:
- Title: Furia
- Author: Yamila Saeid Mendez
- ISBN: 9781616209919
- Publisher: Algonquin Young Readers, an imprint of Algonquin Books of Chapel Hill
- Copyright Date: 2020
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Realistic fiction, Sports fiction [book]
- subject tags: cultural diversity, #OwnVoices, female empowerment
Awards or Honors:
- 2021 Winner Pura Belpré Award
Reading Level/Interest Level:
- TeachingBooks.net (2021) places the reading level as grades: 7-12; should appeal to anyone interested in sports and empowering girls.
Plot Summary:
Camila loves fútbol (soccer to US Americans) and in Rosario, Argentina, football is life. Her brother, Pablo, plays for a semi-professional league and she aims to play professionally as well. But she is a girl and her dad does not expect her to be anywhere as good as her brother so when she gets the chance to play in a league where scouts could be watching for the next best talent, Camila must hide this fact from her parents. Camila must also reconcile her love for the game, which might eventually lead her to attend a University in the US on a soccer scholarship, with her blossoming love for the local soccer star turned pro who wants her to join him in Italy. Outside soccer, she is just another poor girl from a small town who will likely get pregnant soon and never leave Rosario; but, on the soccer field, she is La Furia, unstoppable, and this is the game she wants to play in life.
Camila loves fútbol (soccer to US Americans) and in Rosario, Argentina, football is life. Her brother, Pablo, plays for a semi-professional league and she aims to play professionally as well. But she is a girl and her dad does not expect her to be anywhere as good as her brother so when she gets the chance to play in a league where scouts could be watching for the next best talent, Camila must hide this fact from her parents. Camila must also reconcile her love for the game, which might eventually lead her to attend a University in the US on a soccer scholarship, with her blossoming love for the local soccer star turned pro who wants her to join him in Italy. Outside soccer, she is just another poor girl from a small town who will likely get pregnant soon and never leave Rosario; but, on the soccer field, she is La Furia, unstoppable, and this is the game she wants to play in life.
Author Background:
Yamila Saied Mendez is originally from Rosario, Argentina, the same town where the novel Furia is set. Rosario is where many of Soccer’s famous players come from and its inhabitants, like Mendez, are fútbol fanatics. Méndez moved to the US when she was 19 and attend BYU where she studied International Economics. She then went on to complete an MFA program in writing for children and young adults at the Vermont College of Fine Arts later in life (Jackson, 2021). Mendez is married with five children and currently lives in Utah. She is a full time writer now and one thing fascinating about her writing in English is that she taught herself “...how to read and write English with a bilingual dictionary” (Latinosinkidlit.com, 2017).
Yamila Saied Mendez is originally from Rosario, Argentina, the same town where the novel Furia is set. Rosario is where many of Soccer’s famous players come from and its inhabitants, like Mendez, are fútbol fanatics. Méndez moved to the US when she was 19 and attend BYU where she studied International Economics. She then went on to complete an MFA program in writing for children and young adults at the Vermont College of Fine Arts later in life (Jackson, 2021). Mendez is married with five children and currently lives in Utah. She is a full time writer now and one thing fascinating about her writing in English is that she taught herself “...how to read and write English with a bilingual dictionary” (Latinosinkidlit.com, 2017).
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Méndez, like her protagonist Camila Hassan, is of mixed cultural heritage. Her father is a son of Syrian immigrants thus her last name Saeid, reflects that cultural heritage. Listen to Mendez explain herself
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Here’s Mendez talking about writing and the inspiration for Furia:
video courtesy of Workman Library, 2020
Critical Evaluation:
Furia is lodged in my mind. Camila is a very well-developed character in this story that follows her determination to attend a university in the US where she can play soccer in the university women’s team. But this dream is faced with so many obstacles. First, she’s a girl and girls are not deemed suitable to play sports professionally. Second, she’s not rich and going overseas to attend a university hinges on doing very well in her local high school and in getting a soccer scholarship, and finally, her family must support her and neither parent is willing to do that for her. When she gets the opportunity to go overseas with her rising superstar soccer player, Diego, she is faced with what looks like an opportunity but she wisely recognizes this as yet another obstacle. Furia is so much more than soccer and soccer fanaticism. It is also about breaking the cycle of violence in a family, of facing racism and subjugation, and ultimately of triumphing over so much heartbreak and hardship. Camila is a person who finds La Furia in herself and unleashes its power without immolating herself in the process.
Furia is lodged in my mind. Camila is a very well-developed character in this story that follows her determination to attend a university in the US where she can play soccer in the university women’s team. But this dream is faced with so many obstacles. First, she’s a girl and girls are not deemed suitable to play sports professionally. Second, she’s not rich and going overseas to attend a university hinges on doing very well in her local high school and in getting a soccer scholarship, and finally, her family must support her and neither parent is willing to do that for her. When she gets the opportunity to go overseas with her rising superstar soccer player, Diego, she is faced with what looks like an opportunity but she wisely recognizes this as yet another obstacle. Furia is so much more than soccer and soccer fanaticism. It is also about breaking the cycle of violence in a family, of facing racism and subjugation, and ultimately of triumphing over so much heartbreak and hardship. Camila is a person who finds La Furia in herself and unleashes its power without immolating herself in the process.
Creative Use for a Library Program:
Create a bracket following the world cup bracket and in addition to the countries playing the sports, highlight YA books whose authors hail from those countries and have those on display. Mendez is originally from Argentina and Furia will be on display along with many others. Kids will get to know literary figures from different countries that they normally would not know. I would call this the World Book Cup.
Speed-Round Book Talk:
Camila has one dream: to one day play soccer for a university in North America. Camila is a talented soccer player but her parents don’t think a girl should play a man’s game, and they don’t think attending a university is a practical idea, and her boyfriend has a better idea: escape the small town life and poverty of Rosario and join him in Italy where he is a highly paid, popular soccer player. Read this and find out what Camila’s choices beget.
Create a bracket following the world cup bracket and in addition to the countries playing the sports, highlight YA books whose authors hail from those countries and have those on display. Mendez is originally from Argentina and Furia will be on display along with many others. Kids will get to know literary figures from different countries that they normally would not know. I would call this the World Book Cup.
Speed-Round Book Talk:
Camila has one dream: to one day play soccer for a university in North America. Camila is a talented soccer player but her parents don’t think a girl should play a man’s game, and they don’t think attending a university is a practical idea, and her boyfriend has a better idea: escape the small town life and poverty of Rosario and join him in Italy where he is a highly paid, popular soccer player. Read this and find out what Camila’s choices beget.
Potential Challenge Issues and Defense Preparation:
There is an undercurrent of violence in Camila’s life and the portrayal of domestic violence could be triggering for some readers. There’s also a scene where she is taken to an apothecary and this could be interpreted as witchcraft. Nonetheless, these issues are handled very delicately by the author. The violence as described in the book are not gratuitous and its portrayal highlights the reality of many women’s lives in Argentina where femicide (a term formerly unfamiliar to me) is a prevalent issue (Frayssinet, 2015). It is our duty as librarians to provide materials of all types regardless of the difficulty or rawness of the topic addressed. Providing books like this helps in upholding the ALA Policy B.3.3 Combating Prejudice, Stereotyping, and Discrimination (American Library Association, 2018).
Reason for Inclusion:
I don’t know many YA books that involve sports except for everything Lupica, so Furia, with its bright cover which I absolutely loved, jumped out of the pile. I enjoy recommending books with a strong female protagonist who is not just believable but one whom readers can hold up as a heroine.
There is an undercurrent of violence in Camila’s life and the portrayal of domestic violence could be triggering for some readers. There’s also a scene where she is taken to an apothecary and this could be interpreted as witchcraft. Nonetheless, these issues are handled very delicately by the author. The violence as described in the book are not gratuitous and its portrayal highlights the reality of many women’s lives in Argentina where femicide (a term formerly unfamiliar to me) is a prevalent issue (Frayssinet, 2015). It is our duty as librarians to provide materials of all types regardless of the difficulty or rawness of the topic addressed. Providing books like this helps in upholding the ALA Policy B.3.3 Combating Prejudice, Stereotyping, and Discrimination (American Library Association, 2018).
Reason for Inclusion:
I don’t know many YA books that involve sports except for everything Lupica, so Furia, with its bright cover which I absolutely loved, jumped out of the pile. I enjoy recommending books with a strong female protagonist who is not just believable but one whom readers can hold up as a heroine.
REFERENCES
American Library Association. (2018, November 16). B.3 Diversity (Old Number 60). About ALA. http://www.ala.org/aboutala/governance/policymanual/updatedpolicymanual/section2/3diversity#B.3.3.
Frayssinet, F. (2015, January 30). Teenage girls in Argentina – Invisible victims of femicide. Inter Press Service. http://www.ipsnews.net/2015/01/teenage-girls-in-argentina-invisible-victims-of-femicide/.
Jackson, J. (2020, October 7). The PEN Ten: An interview with Yamile Saied Méndez. PEN America. https://pen.org/the-pen-ten-yamile-saied-mendez/.
Latinosinkidlit.com. (2017, February 27). Latinxs and the MFA: A Chat with Emerging Writer Yamile Saied Méndez. Latinxs in Kid Lit. https://latinosinkidlit.com/2017/02/27/latinxs-and-the-mfa-a-chat-with-emerging-writer-yamile-saied-mendez/.
TeachingBooks.net. (2021). Furia. TeachingBooks. https://www.teachingbooks.net/tb.cgi?tid=74431.
Workman Library. (2020, June 9). #ownvoices Yamile Saied Méndez, author of FURIA. [Video file]. YouTube. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=I4SwUlyO3BY
Frayssinet, F. (2015, January 30). Teenage girls in Argentina – Invisible victims of femicide. Inter Press Service. http://www.ipsnews.net/2015/01/teenage-girls-in-argentina-invisible-victims-of-femicide/.
Jackson, J. (2020, October 7). The PEN Ten: An interview with Yamile Saied Méndez. PEN America. https://pen.org/the-pen-ten-yamile-saied-mendez/.
Latinosinkidlit.com. (2017, February 27). Latinxs and the MFA: A Chat with Emerging Writer Yamile Saied Méndez. Latinxs in Kid Lit. https://latinosinkidlit.com/2017/02/27/latinxs-and-the-mfa-a-chat-with-emerging-writer-yamile-saied-mendez/.
TeachingBooks.net. (2021). Furia. TeachingBooks. https://www.teachingbooks.net/tb.cgi?tid=74431.
Workman Library. (2020, June 9). #ownvoices Yamile Saied Méndez, author of FURIA. [Video file]. YouTube. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=I4SwUlyO3BY
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