The book begins with an introduction to Sapo, who even in junior high had a reputation for biting. Although his real name is Enrique, Sapo his nickname, meaning “toad”, due to his “huge mouth framed by fat lips, freaking bembas that could almost swallow you” (3). Sapo has an innate self-confidence that causes the narrator, Julio, to admire him. Sapo is his pana—his friend.

Nicknames and monikers are important in el barrio because they make you someone. Throughout his junior high years, Julio desperately wants to be someone, so he fights anyone and everyone, since he has nothing to lose. He also distinguishes himself by painting R.I.Ps (graffiti memorials to people who have died) around the neighborhood. Due to his fighting and his “high, flat cheekbones, almond-shaped eyes, and straight black hair…and because kung fu movies were very popular at the time” (8), Julie earns himself a new name, Chino.

Chino and Sapo are classmates at Junior High School 99, also named Julia de Burgos after the Puerto Rican poet. The school is divided into white teachers with power who hate their jobs and Hispanic teachers, themselves the descendants of Puerto Rican immigrants, who encourage their students to work hard. Many of the students see no connection between their existences in

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