La Lucha de la Vida

After years of living with uncertainty, first with his mother and then in foster care, J.P.'s life is finally becoming more predictable, routine and even comfortable. Now that he is living with his father, his stepmother and his two half-sisters, J.P. finally has the opportunity to learn more about himself. As a fan of professional wrestling that he views on TV, he decides to pursue that sport at his new school. What he is not nearly as keen on is the idea of studying, mostly because it's hard for him. Nevertheless, he resolves to do well enough to ensure eligibility for participation on the wrestling team, as his sights are set on winning a state championship that year. J.P.'s father, Juan, is also learning. He is learning how to contend with the challenges that come with raising a teenager. Juan tries to better understand the son who recently came to live with him and attempts to connect with him further by letting J.P. know that he, too, was once a wrestler back in Mexico, a luchador mexicano. Wrestling serves as the topic of most of the father/son conversations as they get to know each other better at this stage of their lives - conversations that are peppered with J.P. constantly reminding his father of the desire to get his driver's license as soon as he turns 16. But there is a problem, one J.P. knows nothing about, and one that Juan hopes can be fixed before his son finds out. In this novel, readers are presented with a wealth of vocabulary and grammatical structures while delving into family and social issues. The cultural component is that of Mexican wrestling - la lucha mexicana.