TOP TEN      La perdida by Jessica Abel. New York: Pantheon Books, 2006.

            ISBN: 9780375714719

            Annotation: The story is about Carla a girl with Mexican heritage but she feels like she is not Mexican enough and decides to go to Mexico where she meets some American expats and then she meets some Mexican guys she ends up hanging around with the wrong people and ends up in a big mess.

            Media: Comic book style, black and white drawings, Spanish and English text.

            Rating: 5Q/5P

            Fiction in graphic novel format.

            This book could potentially be challenged at a high school because of the language and the suggestion of sex, drugs and violence. The response to this challenge will be that there are already a lot of books that are in the collection that have these same topics and that this is what a lot of the teens talk about now days. The language is strong but it is as common as we see it on TV same with the drug and sex situations in the book.

Armando Rivera 7-05-09

            La Perdida by Jessica Abel. New York: Pantheon Books. (2006). ISBN: 0-375-42365-6.

Carla, in her early 20s, goes to Mexico City as she searches for adventure and herself.  Unsatisfied with the ex-patriot lifestyle, she dances on the edge of the darker side of Mexico City, and gets caught up in a scam in which she is only a pawn. 

Black and white ink drawing.

Artist website with many panels from La Perdida and many of her other works, most widely known Art Babe. 

http://www.jessicaabel.com/

(DM 4.23.08)