Lety Out Loud

Lety Out Loud, by Angela Cervantes, is an animal shelter story for 8 year olds about a girl who needs a moment to line her words up before she says them.

What happens

Lety grew up speaking Spanish. She can write in English, because writing lets you look things up and cross things out. Speaking is the hard part. Once a word is out of your mouth there is no getting it back.

So when the shelter asks for a scribe to write profiles for the cats and dogs waiting to be adopted, Lety wants it badly and hesitates just a second too long. Hunter Farmer signs his name first.

They end up sharing the job, which neither of them wanted.

Then Mario suggests a contest. Five profiles each. Whoever gets more animals adopted by the end of week two is the real scribe. Whoever doesn't spends the rest of camp shifting sacks of kibble in the pantry. And nobody tells the grown-ups, because the last scribe got in trouble and nearly lost her place.

Hunter also hands Lety five words she has to use. Supersonic. Infectious. Rigid. Colossal. Fusion.

Her five for him come off a paint swatch, because her mum paints houses now and brings home the brightest colours she can find. Sweet Cerise is the one that really annoys him.

What this book does beautifully is put you inside the pause. Hunter says Lety has missed the boat and she stands there wondering what a boat has to do with anything. Alma tells the pair they have big shoes to fill and Lety looks down at her sandals. It's funny. It also stings, and your reader will feel both at once.

There is a real dog in the middle of all this. Spike is a terrier who once pulled free of his lead, scratched at a car and got a baby out of the heat, and who keeps being adopted and brought back for being too wild. Lety wants him.

The home scenes are the warmest part. Her dad works construction and rarely speaks English though he understands everything. Her little brother Eddie picks up languages like a sponge and intends to learn all of them. Her mum was an artist in Mexico.

One thing to flag for a British reader. This is very American. Kansas City, fifth grade, forever families, a trip to the mall. Nothing is confusing, but your reader will meet some unfamiliar furniture.

The quieter thread matters too. Lety's friends who are also learning English never get invited to birthday parties and get picked last for teams, and the book says so plainly rather than tidying it away.

What to read next

There's a good companion for this one here as well. In Me, Frida, and the Secret of the Peacock Ring, Paloma lands in Mexico City clutching a Spanish phrasebook with a cartoon cat on the cover, coming at the same problem from the other side.