Undercover Latina

Gr 5 Up–The Hernández-Baldoquín parents have been working for the Factory—“an international intelligence organization that serves people of color”—as spies for 20 years; now the whole family is involved. At 14, daughter Andréa is assigned her first major mission: to stop a white supremacist attack by getting close to the suspected perpetrator’s estranged son Kyle. To do so, she must sublimate her Mexican/Puerto Rican identity and become ANN-drea Burke, a white high school student in Phoenix, AZ. An unexpected complication arises when Kyle’s Latinx best friend proves to be irresistible. De León’s impressive middle grade debut gets marvelously paired with Mexican American actor Villarreal whose characterizations effortlessly range from sublime to rollicking. De León reads her ending author’s note, vulnerably sharing her own identity journey.