Dark Dude

(Hardback, Reissue)

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Description

From Pulitzer Prizewinning author Oscar Hijuelos comes a frank, gritty, vibrant, and wholly absorbing (Booklist, starred review) young adult novel set in the late 1960s about a haunting choice and an unforgettable journey of identity, mis-identity, and all that we take with us when we run away. Now with a stunning new look!

He didnt say good-bye. He didnt leave a phone number. And he didnt plan on coming backever.

Fifteen-year-old Rico Fuentes has had enough of life in Harlem, where his fair complexioninherited from an Irish grandfatherkeeps him caught between two cultures without belonging to either. He pours his outsider feelings into a comic book Dark Dude, with his friend Jimmy illustrating. But when Gilberto, whos always looked out for Rico, moves to Wisconsin and Jimmy loses himself to an insidious habit, Rico decides enough is enough.

With Jimmy in tow, Rico runs away to the Midwest in search of Gilberto. The heavily white community feels worlds away from Harlem, and for the first time, Rico sees what its like to blend inno longer the dark dude or the punching bag for the whole neighborhood. But the less energy Rico needs to put into proving hes Latino, the less he feels like one. And the more he gets to know the people around him, the more its clear that a change in location doesnt change human natureand that theres no such thing as a perfect community.

Faced with the truth that there are things that cant be cut loose or forgotten, things that keep him from ever having an ordinary white kids life, Rico must decide whether he can make a home in the place he ran toor the one he ran from.

Reviews

"Dark Dude's journey toward self-discovery is a compelling read. Today's teens will be thrilled to discover a voice as authentic and accomplished as Oscar Hijuelos's" - Ellen Hopkins, New York Times bestselling author of Crank and Glass

Author Bio

Oscar Hijuelos(19512013) was a first-generation Cuban American and the first Latino to win the Pulitzer Prize for fiction; he also won the Rome Prize and the Hispanic Heritage Award for Literature. He wrote several novels, includingDark Dude, The Mambo Kings Play Songs of Love, and Beautiful Maria of My Soul.