Stef Soto, Taco Queen

Fiction | Novel | Middle Grade | Published in 2017

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Summary

Background

Chapter Summaries & Analyses

Chapters 1-12

Chapters 13-24

Chapters 25-36

Character Analysis

Themes

Symbols & Motifs

Important Quotes

Essay Topics

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Discussion Questions

Background

Authorial Context: Jennifer Torres

Mexican American author Torres is a former reporter turned author who has dedicated her authorial career to writing books for young readers. She has published picture books, including her bilingual debut, Finding the Music/En pos de la música, in addition to the Bad Princesses series and a chapter book series, Catalina Incognito, and her website provides resources for teachers. Stef Soto: Taco Queen has been translated to Spanish and Korean.

Through her outreach and education work, Torres champions early literacy, as well as diverse books, believing all children have the right to read both about characters like and different from themselves. Her experience as the daughter of immigrant parents informs much of her storytelling. She particularly identifies with Stef’s struggle for independence in Stef Soto: Taco Queen. Having children of her own has allowed Torres to understand the perspective of Stef’s parents, which brought a deeper understanding to the story and the messages she sought to impart. Her background in journalism also informs her writing and the experiences she aims to capture. In her time writing for Stockton, California’s newspaper The Record, Torres interviewed immigrants from many countries, finding that they all saw the US as the place where they had a chance at a better future. Torres highlights this outlook through the food truck conflict in Stef Soto: Taco Queen, helping to shed light on the prejudices and challenges immigrants face.

Literary Context: Middle Grade Latinx Fiction

Stef Soto: Taco Queen falls under the category of Latinx fiction, stories written by Latinx authors that have Latinx characterization and voice. Latinx is the gender-neutral term for Latino/a, and it broadly refers to people in the US with roots in Latin American countries, including Mexico, Central America, Spanish-speaking countries in South America (such as Peru and Columbia), and the Caribbean islands Puerto Rico, Cuba, and the Dominican Republic. Torres’s exploration of her Mexican American cultural experience is unique to her but also offers characteristics common among middle grade Latinx fiction. Torres includes Spanish words throughout the book, having Stef refer to her parents as Mami and Papi and frequently communicating with them in Spanish, which Torres then translates for English-speaking readers. By doing so, Torres makes the novel understandable and educational for readers who don’t speak Spanish and offers a familiar experience for kids who are bilingual, complete with the benefits and struggles of speaking multiple languages.

Though Stef Soto: Taco Queen represents one Latinx experience, it is not representative of all Latinx fiction or writers. Broadly, Latinx stories and authors often explore themes of staying true to heritage and culture despite American influences, and the ways in which authors do this are as varied as the countries that make up Latin America. Pablo Cartaya explores the Cuban American experience in his 2017 novel The Epic Fail of Arturo Zamora, in which a Cuban American boy fights to protect his Florida apartment building while also dealing with cultural divides. Latinx literature may also cross cultural boundaries, such as in The Poet X (2018) by Elizabeth Acevedo, which features an Afro-Latina protagonist who finds her voice through poetry when the world would have her be silent. Latinx titles are also not limited to realistic fiction. Science fiction and fantasy titles bring adventure and magic to young readers seeking to see themselves in books, such as with Sal and Gabi Break the Universe (2019) by first-generation Cuban American author Carlos Hernandez.