I’m going to be participating in this year’s #MGBookmas list – look for titles for the next 12 days that fit each of these fun categories! You can participate to on Instagram, Twitter or your own blog! Follow #MGBookmas for everyone’s choices. Day 4: A Book with a Festive Get Together Title: The Epic Fail of Arturo Zamora Editor: Pablo Cartaya Publisher: Viking Books for Young Readers Publication Date: May 16, 2017 Page Number: 256 pgs. Description from Goodreads: “Save the restaurant. Save the town. Get the girl. Make Abuela proud. Can thirteen-year-old Arturo Zamora do it all or is he in for a BIG, EPIC FAIL? For Arturo, summetime in Miami means playing basketball until dark, sipping mango smoothies, and keeping cool under banyan trees. And maybe a few shifts as junior lunchtime dishwasher at Abuela’s restaurant. Maybe. But this summer also includes Carmen, a cute poetry enthusiast who moves into Arturo’s apartment complex and turns his stomach into a deep fryer. He almost doesn’t notice the smarmy land developer who rolls into town and threatens to change it. Arturo refuses to let his family and community go down without a fight, and as he schemes with Carmen, Arturo discovers the power of poetry and protest through untold family stories and the work of Jose Marti.” Thoughts: This isn’t specifically a holiday/festive story, but I loved how entrenched in the community Arturo’s family’s restaurant is in the community and each Sunday the family closes the restaurant to have family dinner together – aunts, uncles, cousins, cousins-who-aren’t-really-cousins, friends – everyone! And that sounds like such a great get together!