Marcus Vega Doesn't Speak Spanish

By Pablo Cartaya

A boy's quest in Puerto Rico to find his missing father leads to unexpected discoveries.

4.0/5 Goodreads · 3,659 ratings

288 pages

$8.99Save 5%

In stock. Also at Amazon or Bookshop.

Bookroo's summary

Eighth-grader Marcus Vega, towering and misunderstood, faces suspension after a school fight. His mother takes him and his brother to Puerto Rico, hoping for a fresh start. But Marcus is on a mission: to find the father who vanished a decade ago. As he navigates the island, meeting unfamiliar relatives and encountering misadventures, Marcus's journey becomes more than a search for his father. What he uncovers about family and himself will change his life forever. Will Marcus find the answers he seeks, or will the island reveal something entirely unexpected?

From the publisher

One boy’s search for his father leads him to Puerto Rico in this moving-middle grade novel, for fans of Ghost and See You in the Cosmos. Marcus Vega is six feet tall, 180 pounds, and the owner of a premature mustache. When you look like this and you’re only in the eighth grade, you’re both a threat and a target. After a fight at school leaves Marcus facing suspension, Marcus’s mom decides it’s time for a change of environment. She takes Marcus and his younger brother to Puerto Rico to spend a week with relatives they don’t remember or have never met. But Marcus can’t focus knowing that his father–who walked out of their lives ten years ago–is somewhere on the island. So begins Marcus’s incredible journey, a series of misadventures that take him all over Puerto Rico in search of his elusive namesake. Marcus doesn’t know if he’ll ever find his father, but what he ultimately discovers changes his life. And he even learns a bit of Spanish along the way.

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