Sammy and Juliana in Hollywood

Top Ten Best Books for Young Adults, 2005
–Young Adult Library Services Association

A young adult novel Latino-style–the year is 1969. America is at war, “Hollywood” is a dirt-poor Chicano barrio in small town America, and Sammy and Juliana, about to head into their senior year, are in love.

Sammy & Juliana in Hollywood is a Chicano ode to survival. In so many ways, in so many of the characters’ lives, I see images of riding out the storms of youth, of a cultural revolution, of war and of death. But of love, too: lost love, found love, the love for friends and family, for place. What else is there to chase after?
–René Saladaña, Jr., author of Finding our Way and The Jumping Tree