They Call Her Fregona: A Border Kid’s Poems

A companion to the Pura Belpre Honor book They Call Me G ero

You can be my boyfriend. It only takes five words to change G ero’s life at the end of seventh grade.The summer becomes extra busy as he learns to balance new band practice with his old crew, Los Bobbys, and being Joanna Padilla’s boyfriend. They call her fregona because she’s tough, always sticking up for her family and keeping the school bully in check. But G ero sees her softness.Together they cook dollar-store spaghetti and hold hands in the orange grove, learning more about themselves and each other than they could have imagined. But when they start eighth grade, Joanna faces a tragedy that requires G ero to reconsider what it means to show up for someone you love.

Honoring multiple poetic traditions, They Call Her Fregona is a bittersweet first-love story in verse and the highly anticipated follow-up to They Call Me G ero.