★ “Alcaraz has created a story that aims to show BIPOC readers how imposter syndrome has been a long-standing struggle for people of color to overcome. A great read for budding young activists interested in a realistic perspective of the Great Migration and Jim Crow era.” —Booklist, starred review
“Readers will be drawn into this compelling story and root for heartbroken Rosa as she struggles to find the courage to tell the truth. Deeply moving and beautifully written.” —Kirkus Reviews
“Via sympathetic and fully three-dimensional Rosa’s narration, Alcaraz effectively portrays the ‘not quite white experience’ of Mexicans during the 1950s in a well-plotted story that includes unexpected romance for Rosa, too.” —Publishers Weekly
“This retelling of Romeo and Juliet shifts the focus from star-crossed lovers to someone outside of the relationship, which allows the story to reflect on the aftermath of a terrible violence both at personal and community levels.” —BCCB
“A Romeo & Juliet re-imagining you absolutely MUST read! Creative, compelling, timely & unputdownable . . . Alcaraz’s Rosa pays homage to Shakespeare’s version while making it uniquely, beautifully hers.”
—Priscilla Oliveras, USA Today bestselling author of West Side Love Story
“What’s in a name? For Mexican American teen Rosa Capistrano, it’s everything— college, opportunity, her future. In Rosa by Any Other Name by Hailey Alcaraz, it’s staying at her school as ‘Rosie,’ where she has a chance of achieving the life she wants, one that will make her and her family’s sacrifice worth it. But when one of her classmates falls in love with her best friend, Rosa’s delicate balance of separating school from her barrio is upended. Against the backdrop of civil rights demonstrations and school desegregation, Alcaraz deftly explores identity and the pressure to assimilate in this Romeo and Juliet-inspired retelling. The characters are full-bodied and familiar. The prose is captivating and honest as it confronts racism, discrimination and the real fears that can be met when revealing your true self. Brave and determined, Rosa is a chameleon, cautiously blending into the background—until she can’t. Rosa by Any Other Name is a smart, engaging call-to-action complete with star-crossed lovers, tragedy, and hope where “separate is not equal” and one voice in the crowd can make a difference.”
—Krystal Marquis, New York Times bestselling author of The Davenports
“Alcaraz’ characters jump off the page in this achingly resonant and romantic story about those who fight through fear to tell the truths too-often erased from history.”
—Shannon C.F. Rogers, author of I’d Rather Burn Than Bloom and Eighteen Roses
“A vivid snapshot of Phoenix in the ’50s, this moving novel of star-crossed lovers feels incredibly timely and raises important questions of what we’re willing to give up—for an education, for a future, for love.”
—Susan Kaplan Carlton, author of In the Neighborhood of True
QUICK VIEW
