Under the Mesquite, by Guadalupe Garcia McCall, is the well descriptive story about Lupita and her family and all of the new challenges and barriers that are introduced because of her mother’s recently diagnosed cancer, and how the group tries to deal and overcome these barriers within their lives. To start off, a majority of Under the Mesquite takes place in Mexico, Lupita’s home country, however, as a six year-old, she and the rest of her family had to move to los Estados Unidos, or the United States because of her father’s newfound job there. In this novel, the most important character of the plot is Lupita, first born out of the eight children conceived by her papí and her mamí, is the one who will be the narrator of the story, telling all of her experiences, both good and bad, in a manner that will make you feel very close and connected with her. The other characters, as previously mentioned are her mamí and papí, who are Lupita’s parents and will also end up being very important to the book’s plot. Finally, the rest include Lupita’s seven younger siblings which are (in order by age): Analiza, Victoria, Paco--all born in Mexico, Tita, Juanita, Rosita, and her baby brother Benito--all of which born in the United States. The plot of the book, Under the Mesquite, is about Lupita, and her brand new challenges that she and her family members must face, all because of her mother’s cancer slowly developing within her. Overtime, she will have to learn how to overcome these decisions and how to accept change within the world and the events that are taking place, and soon will have to take on a new responsibility. McCall’s writing style is very unique when compared to many run-of-the-mill books, as it takes the reader through the massive journey that is of Lupita, with freeform poetry. With this unexpected decision, it still makes the best of it, with McCall, the writing is very descriptive, generating a nearly perfect atmosphere for every single event that takes place, all while giving us a good look at a majority of the main characters’ personalities. Overall, McCall is a very well experienced writing, taking us on a wonderful, descriptive journey through her writing. Here are some quotes from the book to show how well written this novel truly is: “The mesquites listens quietly－as if the poems budding in my heart, then blossoming in my notebook, are Scripture－and never tells a soul the things I write” “All the girls around me dropped their scarlet mouths wide-open, like a circle of Venus flytraps, and laughed hysterically at me” Under the Mesquite by Guadalupe Garcia McCall, is a very well made novel. Just by how simply lovely the description is in each part of the book makes it seem as if you are right in Lupita’s shoes and experiencing how she feels, all of the conflicts within her life, and the way Lupita and her family deals with her Mother's newfound cancer. The novel made me feel as if I was facing all of the hardships she’s facing, sometimes making me filled with glee, others with pity, and sometimes even sorrow. Overall, this book is nearly flawless, having amazing description of the situation. To conclude, her are some extra bits of fact that you might not of known about the author, Guadalupe Garcia McCall, and the simply stunning novel that she has thought of: The novel’s plot is based of McCall’s real-life experience during her teenage years and all of the difficult barriers and challenges that came with this time in her life Under the Mesquite won the Pura Belprė Award in 2012 for creating a novel that best portrays, affirms, Latino cultural experience.