Confetti, rainbow, color. The book Confetti Girl is by the author Diana López. This book is easy to understand, has a good format, mostly deals with common middle-grade issues, and is suitable for middle school readers and elementary readers.

This book is suitable for elementary and middle school readers because it's simple to read and the words aren't difficult to pronounce at all. The first main character you will meet when starting this book is Apolonia Flores, or as many people call her, Lina. The name Apolonia is the girl form of Apollo, the Greek god of the sun. Lina lives in Texas. Lina lives with her dad who is obsessed with books, but Lina has noticed that his book obsession has evolved ever since her mom passed away the year before from Staphylococcus. Staphylococcus is a blood infection that Lina’s mom got after she fell and they had to amputate her leg.

Confetti Girl is relatable and funny because the book talks about a lot of things we have all encountered in middle and elementary school. It made me think about the old memories I forgot I had. I could feel the emotions that the author expressed very nicely. At one point in the book, I could feel second-hand embarrassment for Lina (a volleyball hit her and she fell to the ground at a volleyball game, and her crush was there).

Lina and her best friend Vanessa have many similarities but also differences. For example, Lina is a "sock enthusiast." She has a collection of "daily socks," "lonely socks," "holey socks," and "sock heaven." On the other hand, Vanessa is now totally boy crazy. For example, Lina has a big crush on a boy named Luis, like most of us have had crushes. For example, we have all had crushes if we want to admit them or not. When Lina was talking about her crush Luis, I was reminded about my old crushes and it made me laugh.

Vanessa's mom, Ms. Cantu, became obsessed with making cascarones (hollowed eggshells filled with colorful confetti) after she had her divorce. Lina and Vanessa came up with a “brilliant” idea to stop her obsession. Will their idea make Vanessa’s mom more obsessed with cascarones or will the idea be perfect and make her stop?

My favorite part about this book is how each chapter of the book starts with a dicho, a short Spanish proverb. Three of my favorite dichos are in this book. The first dicho is “Un amigo es el mejor espejo” (“a friend is the best mirror”). That could mean many different things, but, for me, it means exactly what it says. When your friend looks at you, they see something that nobody else can, because nobody will ever be like you. The second dicho is “Una acción buena enseña más que mil palabras” (“Actions speak louder than words”). To me, this quote means you can say you want something or will change something but words are nothing compared to you actually doing it. The third dicho is “Dime con quién andas y te diré quien eres” (“Tell me who you are friends with and I'll tell you who you are”). This quote is my all-time favorite one because when I read this the first thing I thought of was being a follower. For example, if one of your friends is doing bad things and you want to fit in, you will not only be a follower, you will be the bad person. If you were with friends who were doing good things you wouldn't be a follower, you would be an achiever.

One of the most important things the book Confetti Girl taught me was to be honest with my friends. For example, Vanessa's mom would call Lina a “poor baby” and Lina hated it so much she would even try to avoid going through the front door when she went over to Vanessa's house. What do you think the outcome would have been if Lina would have just spoken to Vanessa about it? I personally believe that Vanessa would just have a talk with her mom, but at least Vanessa would know and Lina would not have to hide that feeling. I would give this book a rating of 5 out of 5 because sometimes I can get bored of just one topic, but this book conquers different topics, like Lina's mother’s death, Lina’s crush, and Vanessa’s amazing ideas. I wouldn't change anything.

Confetti Girl didn’t teach me a lesson that I didn’t already know, but it did give me an amazing memory. I started reading the book during the lockdown and now when I think about it, I remember how this was my escape from everything that was happening. It made me feel almost normal again because I’m in middle school and this book had a lot of common middle school problems. All in all, Confetti Girl tackles some very tough issues, like Ms. Catu’s divorce and Lina and her fathers’ grief over her mother's death, but this book is still lighthearted and cheerful