Los Tres Amigos

BASIC INFO	LANGUAGE LEVEL	COMPREHENSION-AIDING FEATURES
Book Title Los Tres Amigos (The Three Friends) Author(s) Jennifer Degenhardt Illustrator(s) Sofía Salazar Other Contributors José Salazar Stephanie Mancini Published by Puentes Genre Realistic Fiction Publication date 2017	From the author/publisher’s website Levels 2 & 3 Total Word Count 6,500	Illustrations YES Glossary YES Guiding Questions NO Context NO Other

IDENTITIES PRESENT IN THE TEXT		SYNOPSIS
Races, Ethnicities, and Nationalities white Puerto Rican Latinx Languages spoken Spanish/Puerto Rican Sex and Genders Female Male Ages Teenagers Adult Social classes Middle Class	Sexual Orientation Gay, Heterosexual Abilities Non-disabled Non-Impaired Neurotypical Religions Christian Family Structures Heteroparental Body Type Straight-size	From the author/publisher’s website Marissa and Jack have been best friends for as long as they can remember, only having troubles when Jack wasn’t always honest about himself. Despite their differences, their friendship endures. However, that friendship is challenged when a new student, Julio, moves to town and upsets the longstanding dynamic between Marissa and Jack.

ILLUSTRATIONS	STORY	SOCIAL JUSTICE
To what extent do the illustrations present positive and thoughtful representations of identities? The images, especially those used in the form of screenshots from a Snapchat account, present a fairly realistic and accurate description of the story. The book cover art has a very enticing and positive image representing two male and a female figures in a triangle with the colors of the LGBTQ+ Pride flag.	We understand identities are complex and no single story represents the spectrum of identity-based experiences. Also, a text may address a stereotype, misrepresentation, or generalization without relying on it. *Does any stereotype, misrepresentation, or generalization affect any positive and thoughtful representations of identities in the text?* Characters of diverse cultural backgrounds are represented stereotypically, or presented as foreign or exotic or are tokenized. (microaggressions) The book plot seems to revolve around the comfort and suffering from the cishet female (Marisa) rather than celebrating Jack’s journey and self-discovery as a gay person.	This section is for teachers who are working towards sourcing more texts within the four domains of anti-bias education. We are excited about reading all books and we understand that not all books are written for this specific purpose. *Does this text work toward goals within any of the* four domains of anti-bias education as defined by Learning for Justice?

LLLAB’s REVIEW
Los tres amigos is a story that includes two gay students as main characters. There are three perspectives narrated in this story. The plot is narrated in first-person, with each chapter written from a particular character’s unique perspective. This book may help open dialogue with students about sexual diversity by showing that many relationships are situated outside of heteronormativity. One of the main characters, Jack, is struggling with his identity. As the book is written from the first-person perspective, the reader can engage with Jack’s inner dialogue as he processes his identity. One of the main characters references wearing “masks” since he feels unable to be honest about his identity. The “mask” metaphor may be relatable to many readers. The storyline revolves around three friends: Marissa, Jack, and Julio. Julio is the new kid at the school. Marissa and Julio begin dating. Jack and Marissa are best friends. Jack is gay. At the beginning of the book, Marisa feels angry at Jack for not telling her sooner that he is gay. This attitude of Melissa’s underscores a mainstream cultural assumption that everyone is straight and that many straight people feel entitled to know if someone isn’t straight. These assumptions are also present in the synopsis on the book’s back cover: “Marissa and Jack have been best friends for as long as they can remember, only having troubles when Jack wasn’t always honest about himself.” As the story progresses, Julio questions his sexual orientation and begins having a dating relationship with Jack, without breaking up with or informing Marissa, who finds out through social media about the relationship between Julio and Jack. This leads to the end of the dating relationship between Julio and Marissa. This story line perpetuates mainstream cultural stereotypes that gay people cheat on their heterosexual partners, steal straight people’s partners, and can be sneaky and dishonest. In the midst of the breakup of her romantic relationship with Julio, Marissa states her frustration and confusion: “Mi novio de cuatro meses me decía lo imposible. Le gustaban los muchachos.” / My boyfriend of 4 months was telling me the impossible. He liked boys (p. 40). It is unclear whether Marissa is more upset that her boyfriend is gay or that he likes someone else and is cheating on her. Marissa isolates herself from both Julio and Jack as they pursue a dating relationship with each other. While the last chapter of the book implies that the three may become friends again, none of the characters acknowledge or take responsibility for the harmful things said and done. The text presents Julio’s sexual identity as creating chaos, both in the previously-discussed dissolution of his relationship with Marissa (p. 40) and in the tensions that develop within his family: “Tenía muchos problemas con su familia cuando le decía que era homosexual. Todavía los tiene.” / He had a lot of problems with his family when he told them he was homosexual. He still has them. (p. 43). As such, the story line does not center the gay characters nor does it foster intergroup understanding, but rather focuses on the discomfort felt by Marissa and by Julio’s family. The author uses the following word choice: “soy homosexual / I’m homosexual” (p. 4). While this is a correct usage of the vocabulary, the term is more technical than tends to occur in everyday language; many LGBTQ+ youth and some LGBTQ+ educators refer to their own identity by just saying “soy gay” or “soy queer.” The book references Operación Manos a la Obra (Operation Bootstrap), which the author footnotes as “a multifaceted program that transformed the Puerto Rican economy, formally one of agriculture, to an industrial one” (p. 30). In the text, one of the main character’s families emigrated from Puerto Rico to New York in the 1950s. The text states: “Como la economía de la isla cambiaba de una agraria a una industrial, les faltaban muchos trabajos y muchos hombres emigraron a los Estados Unidos en busca de trabajo / As the economy of the island changed from an agrarian to an industrial one, it was hard to find jobs and a lot of men emigrated to the United States in search of work” (p. 26). This may be an opportunity to acknowledge how programs such as Operación Bootstrap exploited the Puerto Rican population by giving U.S.-based companies tax exemptions for moving their businesses to the island in order to capitalize on a lower cost of labor. Update 1/2/2025: This review has been updated by the Board. Second update 2/9/2025 to correct an editing mistake from January.

LLLAB’s REVIEW

Los tres amigos is a story that includes two gay students as main characters. There are three perspectives narrated in this story. The plot is narrated in first-person, with each chapter written from a particular character’s unique perspective. This book may help open dialogue with students about sexual diversity by showing that many relationships are situated outside of heteronormativity.

One of the main characters, Jack, is struggling with his identity. As the book is written from the first-person perspective, the reader can engage with Jack’s inner dialogue as he processes his identity. One of the main characters references wearing “masks” since he feels unable to be honest about his identity. The “mask” metaphor may be relatable to many readers.

The storyline revolves around three friends: Marissa, Jack, and Julio. Julio is the new kid at the school. Marissa and Julio begin dating. Jack and Marissa are best friends. Jack is gay. At the beginning of the book, Marisa feels angry at Jack for not telling her sooner that he is gay. This attitude of Melissa’s underscores a mainstream cultural assumption that everyone is straight and that many straight people feel entitled to know if someone isn’t straight. These assumptions are also present in the synopsis on the book’s back cover: “Marissa and Jack have been best friends for as long as they can remember, only having troubles when Jack wasn’t always honest about himself.”

As the story progresses, Julio questions his sexual orientation and begins having a dating relationship with Jack, without breaking up with or informing Marissa, who finds out through social media about the relationship between Julio and Jack. This leads to the end of the dating relationship between Julio and Marissa. This story line perpetuates mainstream cultural stereotypes that gay people cheat on their heterosexual partners, steal straight people’s partners, and can be sneaky and dishonest. In the midst of the breakup of her romantic relationship with Julio, Marissa states her frustration and confusion: “Mi novio de cuatro meses me decía lo imposible. Le gustaban los muchachos.” / My boyfriend of 4 months was telling me the impossible. He liked boys (p. 40). It is unclear whether Marissa is more upset that her boyfriend is gay or that he likes someone else and is cheating on her. Marissa isolates herself from both Julio and Jack as they pursue a dating relationship with each other. While the last chapter of the book implies that the three may become friends again, none of the characters acknowledge or take responsibility for the harmful things said and done.

The text presents Julio’s sexual identity as creating chaos, both in the previously-discussed dissolution of his relationship with Marissa (p. 40) and in the tensions that develop within his family: “Tenía muchos problemas con su familia cuando le decía que era homosexual. Todavía los tiene.” / He had a lot of problems with his family when he told them he was homosexual. He still has them. (p. 43). As such, the story line does not center the gay characters nor does it foster intergroup understanding, but rather focuses on the discomfort felt by Marissa and by Julio’s family.

The author uses the following word choice: “soy homosexual / I’m homosexual” (p. 4). While this is a correct usage of the vocabulary, the term is more technical than tends to occur in everyday language; many LGBTQ+ youth and some LGBTQ+ educators refer to their own identity by just saying “soy gay” or “soy queer.”

The book references Operación Manos a la Obra (Operation Bootstrap), which the author footnotes as “a multifaceted program that transformed the Puerto Rican economy, formally one of agriculture, to an industrial one” (p. 30). In the text, one of the main character’s families emigrated from Puerto Rico to New York in the 1950s. The text states: “Como la economía de la isla cambiaba de una agraria a una industrial, les faltaban muchos trabajos y muchos hombres emigraron a los Estados Unidos en busca de trabajo / As the economy of the island changed from an agrarian to an industrial one, it was hard to find jobs and a lot of men emigrated to the United States in search of work” (p. 26). This may be an opportunity to acknowledge how programs such as Operación Bootstrap exploited the Puerto Rican population by giving U.S.-based companies tax exemptions for moving their businesses to the island in order to capitalize on a lower cost of labor.

Update 1/2/2025: This review has been updated by the Board. Second update 2/9/2025 to correct an editing mistake from January.

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