EL BOWIE BAKERY

A heartwarming multigenerational family story for middle-grade readers.

Muñoz, a ninth generation “Bordercanx,” here explores the history of her mestizo family living along the border of the United States and Mexico. The story centers around her grandparents, Maria (Cuca) and Alfonso (Poncho). Maria was a factory worker and devout Catholic with a rich spiritual life. People often asked her to pray for their loved ones, so Maria would write down their names on slips of paper and tuck them in her Bible. One day, a coworker gave her the names of soldiers from the border to pray for; among them was Alfonso, a military sniper from El Paso. After the war, Maria and Alfonso met while working at the same factory—it was “love at first sight.” They married a year later, and the birth of a son (Muñoz’s father) soon followed. Around this time, a paper fell out of Maria’s Bible; on it was written Alfonso’s full name, suggesting that their marriage was divinely orchestrated. For their granddaughter Muñoz, Sundays were filled with family traditions, including Mass and homemade tortillas. Alfonso took the young author to his hometown’s El Bowie Bakery, introducing her to the employees with pride. This family origin story is intertwined with a broader history of the Latine community in La Union, New Mexico, where American, Indigenous, and Mexican heritages combine to create a unique culture and identity. The author’s descriptions, like how Maria’s skin was “as smooth as desert dunes” and Alfonso’s lanky frame was “like a long twig in a windstorm,” paint a vivid picture of her family. Muñoz infuses the narrative with Spanish, styled in a large, blue font to differentiate it from the English text. The book’s breathtaking collage artwork, a combination of painting and illustrations by Cortez and photography by Lopez, captures the beauty of border communities and the tenderness of loved ones’ faces. However, non–Spanish speakers may find the bilingual text challenging to interpret, and some readers may struggle with the story’s nonlinear timeline.

A gorgeous tribute to family history and cultural heritage that could benefit from a clearer chronology.