Stella Diaz Has Something to Say by Angela Dominguez
Published by Roaring Brook Press on January 16th 2018
ISBN: 1626728585
Pages: 208
Goodreads

Third-grader Stella lives with her mother and older hermano (brother) in Chicago. Stella struggles to fit in as a Mexican-American girl who doesn’t speak Spanish fluently yet has to spend time with a speech teacher because she has trouble with English pronunciation. Worse, her best friend was assigned to another classroom. She is hopeful for a new friend when she hears a new student will be joining her class but her shyness and anxiety make it hard for her to get to know Stanley. Over the course of the school year, Stella gains confidence and finds her voice by participating in a spelling bee and making a presentation on her favorite animals — fish. This is a great story about what it feels like to be different with a simple lesson that when people get to know each other, they actually might not be all that different.

Reviewed by Karen Sandlin Silverman, Mt. Ararat Middle School, Topsham