| BASIC INFO | LANGUAGE LEVEL | COMPREHENSION-AIDING FEATURES |
|---|---|---|
| Book Title Atún (Tuna) Author(s) El Tuerto Guty Illustrator(s) Other Contributors Published by Self-published Genre Comedy Publication date 2019 #Ownvoices N/A | From the author/publisher’s website Level Total Word Count | Illustrations YES Glossary NO Guiding Questions NO Context YES Other |
| IDENTITIES PRESENT IN THE TEXT | SYNOPSIS | |
|---|---|---|
| Races, Ethnicities, and Nationalities white Spanish Languages spoken Spanish Sex and Genders Female Male Ages Teenager: 13-18 Young Adult: 18-35 Mid-life Adult: 35-65 Senior Adult: 65 Social classes Working class Middle class | Sexual Orientation Heterosexual Abilities Non-disabled Non-Impaired Neurotypical Religions N/A Family Structures N/A: The principal talks about his father, but no one else talks about their parents or family Body Type Straight-size | From the author/publisher’s website Have you ever felt like teachers sit around the teacher’s lounge and scheme about how to make student’s lives terrible? Do you think principals are part of a secret society of bad guys whose goal is to rule with an iron fist? That’s what students Juan Carlos and Sara think! After their principal takes away their backpacks unexpectedly, they decide to take action. Oh yes, there are pranks against teachers. Pranks galore! The teachers aren’t about that life. They retaliate with their own hijinks. Will Juan Carlos and Sara lead their comrades to glory, or will the secretive principal and his cronies be victorious? Set in the small fishing village of Barbate on the Southern coast of Spain, this book thrills readers as an ancient fishing process and the town’s identity is interwoven with a story of hijinks and heroes, happiness and sadness, and lots and lots of fun. |
| ILLUSTRATIONS | STORY | SOCIAL JUSTICE |
|---|---|---|
| To what extent do the illustrations present positive and thoughtful representations of identities? All of the characters are straight-size and most have a white skin tone complexion except on page 12 where we are able to see a slight range of skin complexions. There is a variety of boys and girls in the illustrations; however, only adult males are featured and no adult females. | 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? NO | 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 |
|---|
| Atún takes place in a high school in Spain called Instituto de Barbate. The town where it is located specializes in fishing for tuna. At the beginning of the story, the principal of the high school prohibits the use of backpacks in the school. In protest, the students plan a series of pranks led by the character Misterio, an unknown influencer on social media. The book includes a video providing background to the town of Barbate. La Almadraba is also mentioned in the story as an annual tradition in the town. The Almadraba is a style of catching fish with nets instead of hooks. The book explains this in Spanish and uses illustrations and footnotes to help with comprehension. The story is easy to follow and uses both the present and past tense in Spanish. Students are able to relate to the characters in their frustration with school policies and with their infamous school pranks. One of the pranks that takes place early on in the story is that pigs are let loose in the building and the teachers chase after them. There is an illustration to help the students understand the scene. The character Misterio also counteracts gender norms by having students think that the character is a male. On page 24, Sara says “No sé quién es pero me gusta / I don’t know who it is, but I like them” and Juan responds “a ti te gustan todos los chicos / you like all of the boys.” Misterio is in fact a girl, Lupita López, a girl who is considered the most perfect student in all of the school and no one can believe it is her (49). However, thanks to her online initiatives, the students are now able to use backpacks in school and partake in a new food fight tradition during the Almadraba. Some of the footnotes have a humorous style, i.e. for “cámara lenta” the footnote is “slow camera aka slomo aka 240fps” However, some footnotes also appropriate African American Vernacular English. For instance, “AHH! ¡SOCORRO!” (10) is footnoted as “HELP! EMERGENCY! HIDE YO KIDS HIDE YO WIFE!”, which appears to be a reference to a viral social media video, associated with Black culture, that contains this phrase (“Bed Intruder Song,” Antoine Dodson & Gregory Brothers, 2010; trigger warning: reference to sexual assault). This footnote additionally has a sexist tone as it implies that males may be the only ones capable of controlling the situation. It should also be noted that the words “shizz” (19) and “culo” (29) appear. The former may not be appropriate, depending on the age of the students, for while it is a colloquial expression that means “great,” it is based on a euphemism for excrement. The latter may be considered a vulgar way to refer to “butt” in some countries where Spanish is spoken. In other words, the word “shizz” (19) could be translated as “shit,” and “culo” (29) means “ass.” |
LLLAB 