美国国家公共电台 NPR Celia Perez's New Novel 'The First Rule Of Punk' Comes With Advice For Adolescents

 

KELLY MCEVERS, HOST:

Maria Luisa is 12 years old. Her parents are divorced¹, and her mom just got a job at a new city. Things are not looking good. So Malu - that's the shortened² version³ of her name, the version she prefers - puts on her headphones.

(SOUNDBITE OF SONG, "DO YOU REMEMBER ROCK 'N' ROLL RADIO")

RAMONES: (Singing) Rock 'n, rock 'n' roll radio, let's go. Rock 'n, rock 'n' roll radio, let's go. Rock 'n...

MCEVERS: Malu is the main character in a new novel for middle-grade readers called "The First Rule Of Punk." It's punk that helps her as she moves to that new city and starts seventh grade. And it's not just that she's new. She's also struggling with who she is. Her mom is Mexican-American. Her dad is white. And the students at her school have some surprising thoughts about that.

Celia Perez wrote the book, and she is with us now. Welcome to the show.

CELIA PEREZ: Hi, thank you.

MCEVERS: Malu has a hard time with her mom. She calls her mom super Mexican because her mom's really, like, into her heritage⁴ as a Mexican-American. But then she sees her dad, who owns a record store and is really into punk, like, as super cool. So there's this dynamic⁵, right? The one who's, like, into her heritage, she's tough and hard to relate to. But then dad's, like, super cool. How did you come up with that dynamic?

PEREZ: I think they're - I mean, I don't think I'm a cool person, but I think there's a little bit of both of those parents in me. So I thought it would be interesting to create these parents that give Malu these two very kind of strong parts of her identity⁶. So...

MCEVERS: Right.

PEREZ: ...I thought it would be fun to kind of pit⁷ them against each other and see how she works⁸ that out.

MCEVERS: And one way she does it is through this character, this woman that she meets when she moves to Chicago. Why don't you just tell us about Mrs. Hidalgo?

PEREZ: Mrs. Hidalgo is the mom of one of Malu's classmates. And she owns a coffee shop in the neighborhood, Calaca. And I think she's the adult that Malu maybe envisions herself as eventually growing into. She is not just a punk, but she is also really into her Mexican heritage. And when I started learning⁹ about Mexican-Americans in punk, those individuals kind of served a similar role for me.

MCEVERS: Yeah. There's this one band she mentions. It's The Brat¹⁰. And we actually have some of it. Let's listen.

PEREZ: Yeah.

(SOUNDBITE OF SONG, "SWIFT¹¹ MOVES")

THE BRAT: (Singing) You won't forgive, but soon forget all the time we have spent. So again I get the shaft¹². Beer - what beer? I'll take a draught¹³.

MCEVERS: And I - so yeah, Mrs. Hidalgo, like, plays Brat for Malu. And this really starts to change Malu.

PEREZ: Yeah. And in that scene, Mrs. Hidalgo says to her something along the lines of, you should know about your history. And up to that point, Malu only - you know, only thinks of her history as what her mom is trying to teach her. And so for her, you know, history kind of feels like this stuffy¹⁴, unrelatable thing that she just has no interest in. And then when Mrs. Hidalgo introduces this band and says, this is - you know, this is your history, too, then she starts to - I think something starts to click¹⁵ for her.

(SOUNDBITE OF SONG, "SWIFT MOVES")

THE BRAT: (Singing) As he works the master plan.

MCEVERS: Most of the kids at Malu's school in Chicago are Mexican-American. And she actually gets teased¹⁶ for not being Mexican enough. It's where she hears the word coconut¹⁷ for the first time. And she doesn't even know what that word means¹⁸.

PEREZ: Yeah. So she - when the story begins, she's living in Florida. And she lives in a town called Gainesville. And it's a small college town. And I think like most small college towns in the middle of, you know, wherever, it's predominantly white. And she has been surrounded by mostly white people during her life.

And so when she moves to Chicago, it's the first time that she is in an environment where she's surrounded by Mexican and Mexican-American people other than her own mom. And so here are these kids who are saying, you know, you're brown on the outside and white on the inside because you're into this type of music or you can't speak Spanish well or, you know, in her case she doesn't like cilantro...

MCEVERS: Right.

PEREZ: ...Which is kind of the running joke. I'm - you know, I'm bicultural. I'm Cuban and Mexican. And I grew up in Miami, where there weren't in the '80s - I mean, my mom was the only Mexican person I knew growing up. And so when I moved to Chicago as an adult, I was surrounded by Mexican and Mexican-American people. And for the first time, I kind of thought, like, am I Mexican (laughter) - am I Mexican enough, you know? So there is - you know, there - I think it's something that I'm guessing a lot of kids deal with, especially as you're, you know, moving into generations, U.S.-born generations.

MCEVERS: In the end, Malu is able to reconcile¹⁹ some of these different parts of her identity - right? - the traditional, the punk, the American, the Mexican-American, the Mexican. But, you know, you get the sense that, like, it's not going to be perfect and easy going forward. And the thing that works for her without, you know, spoiling²⁰ too much is just having people around you to support you. I don't know. What do you want young readers to take away from this book or even parents?

PEREZ: I like to joke that I wanted to write a book for brown weirdos just so kids who, you know, don't fit, like, the typical expectations of who they're supposed to be based on, you know, where they're from or how they look - I think I just wanted to really write about identity and about how, you know, there is no one way to be anything. And I just wanted to kind of get across that there are so many different ways to be Latino.

And I always feel like if you look at the title and you think, oh, "The First Rule Of Punk," if it's a book about punk and I'm not into punk, it's not really for me - but it really is about just the idea of being yourself and of creating in the world what you don't see. And I think that in this book Malu does that. She doesn't see how she can be these two things. But she - through the help of the people around her, she creates this - you know, this new way of being able to see herself and of being able to accept herself.

MCEVERS: Do you have a suggestion for a song we should go out on?

PEREZ: Yeah. The Plugz, "La Bamba."

(SOUNDBITE OF SONG, "LA BAMBA")

THE PLUGZ: (Singing in Spanish).

MCEVERS: Nice. That's great. Well, Celia Perez, thank you so much.

PEREZ: Thank you so much, Kelly. I appreciate it.

MCEVERS: That's Celia Perez. Her new book is called "The First Rule Of Punk."

(SOUNDBITE OF SONG, "LA BAMBA")

THE PLUGZ: (Singing in Spanish).

1 divorced   

adj.离婚的；分开的；不相干的；脱离的v.与…离婚(divorce的过去式和过去分词)；分离；与某人离婚，判某人离婚

参考例句：

• Apparently they are getting divorced soon. 看样子，他们很快就要离婚。
• Many divorced men remarry and have second families. 许多离婚的男子再婚组成了新的家庭。

2 shortened   

v.弄短，缩短( shorten的过去式和过去分词 )

参考例句：

• She shortened the skirt by an inch. 她把裙子缩短了一英寸。 来自《简明英汉词典》
• Vacations have lengthened and the work week has shortened. 假期延长，工作周就缩短了。 来自辞典例句

3 version   

n.版本；型号；叙述，说法

参考例句：

• His version of the events is pure supposition.他对这件事的说法纯属猜测。
• What is your version of this matter?你对这件事情的看法 怎么样？

4 heritage   

n.传统，遗产，继承物

参考例句：

• The ancient buildings are part of the national heritage.这些古建筑是民族遗产的一部分。
• We Chinese have a great cultural heritage.我们中国人有伟大的文化遗产。

5 dynamic   

adj.有活力的，能动的；力的；动力的

参考例句：

• This is a dynamic world.这是一个不断变化的世界。
• There is a dynamic ball in the computer.在电脑里有个动态的球。

6 identity   

n.身份，本体，特征；同一(性)，一致

参考例句：

• He never revealed his identity.他从未暴露过自己的身份。
• He showed his identity card and went in.他把工作证亮了一下就进去了。

7 pit   

n.深坑，核，矿井，陷阱，英国剧场正厅后排，凹陷疤痕；vt.使...有伤痕，去...的核，与...较量

参考例句：

• A sheep fell into a pit,and I helped it out.一只羊掉进坑里，我把它弄了出来。
• They dug a pit to bury the rubbish.他们挖了一个坑把垃圾埋掉。

8 works   

n.作品，著作；工厂，活动部件，机件

参考例句：

• We expect writers to produce more and better works.我们期望作家们写出更多更好的作品。
• The novel is regarded as one of the classic works.这篇小说被公认为是最优秀的作品之一。

9 learning   

n.学问，学识，学习；动词learn的现在分词

参考例句：

• When you are learning to ride a bicycle,you often fall off.初学骑自行车时，常会从车上掉下来。
• Learning languages isn't just a matter of remembering words.学习语言不仅仅是记些单词的事。

10 brat   

n.孩子；顽童

参考例句：

• He's a spoilt brat.他是一个被宠坏了的调皮孩子。
• The brat sicked his dog on the passer-by.那个顽童纵狗去咬过路人。

11 swift   

n.雨燕，大滚筒；adj.迅速的，快的，敏捷的，立刻的；adv.迅速地，敏捷地

参考例句：

• He is swift to hear,but slow to speak.他听力敏锐，但不善言辞。
• He made a remarkably swift recovery.他康复得相当快。

12 shaft   

n.(工具的)柄，杆状物

参考例句：

• He was wounded by a shaft.他被箭击中受伤。
• This is the shaft of a steam engine.这是一个蒸汽机主轴。

13 draught   

n.拉，牵引，拖；一网（饮，吸，阵)；顿服药量，通风；v.起草，设计

参考例句：

• He emptied his glass at one draught.他将杯中物一饮而尽。
• It's a pity the room has no north window and you don't get a draught.可惜这房间没北窗，没有过堂风。

14 stuffy   

adj.不透气的，闷热的

参考例句：

• It's really hot and stuffy in here.这里实在太热太闷了。
• It was so stuffy in the tent that we could sense the air was heavy with moisture.帐篷里很闷热，我们感到空气都是潮的。

15 click   

n.点击，滴答声，拍答声；v.点击，作滴答声，使...作拍答声

参考例句：

• Click the Allow button on the yellow bar.点击黄色栏中的允许按钮。
• Click on the links for each city for a detailed map.点击连接看城市地区详细地图。

16 teased   

v.取笑，戏弄( tease的过去式和过去分词 )；梳理（羊毛等）

参考例句：

• He took a screwdriver and teased out the remaining screws. 他拿出螺丝刀把其余的螺丝卸了下来。 来自《简明英汉词典》
• I felt annoyance at being teased. 我恼恨别人取笑我。 来自《简明英汉词典》

17 coconut   

n.椰子

参考例句：

• The husk of this coconut is particularly strong.椰子的外壳很明显非常坚固。
• The falling coconut gave him a terrific bang on the head.那只掉下的椰子砰地击中他的脑袋。

18 means   

n.方法，手段，折中点，物质财富

参考例句：

• That man used artful means to find out secrets.那人使用狡猾的手段获取机密。
• We must get it done by some means or other.我们总得想办法把它干完。

19 reconcile   

vt.使协调，使和解，使顺从（甘心）（于）

参考例句：

• Must they reconcile themselves to their fate?难道他们甘心忍受这种命运吗？
• He found it hard to reconcile himself to the disagreeable state.他发现难以忍受这种不愉快的状况。

20 spoiling   

v.变质( spoil的现在分词 )；损坏；毁掉；破坏

参考例句：

• You are spoiling this man's son. 贼夫人之子。 来自《现代汉英综合大词典》
• The murderer attempted to escape from law punishment by spoiling his own face. 那个杀人犯企图自毁容貌以逃脱法律的惩罚。 来自《简明英汉词典》