Pedro Martín returns to his hilarious and heartfelt childhood in Mexikid: Dreams, a stand-alone companion to his acclaimed graphic memoir Mexikid (2023). The first Mexikid earned multiple awards and honors at the 2024 ALA Youth Media Awards, and it’s also one of my personal favorite graphic novels for tweens. I laughed out loud so many times reading it, so I absolutely cannot wait to get my hands on this one!
Author and Illustrator: Pedro Martín
Genre: graphic memoir, humor
Setting: Watsonville, California, USA; 1970s
Themes: sharecroppers, poverty, immigrant families, parental approval, migrant workers, family history, undocumented workers, school band
Protagonist: male, age 7+, Mexican American
Recommended for: Grades 5-8
Starred reviews: Kirkus, Booklist, and SLJ
Notes: Companion to: Mexikid (Newbery Honor, 2024)
Publication date: September 1, 2026
WHAT IT’S ABOUT
Set in 1970s California, Mexikid: Dreams follows young Pedro and his family after an earthquake destroys their restaurant. The family moves north to Watsonville, where they become strawberry sharecroppers. Pedro and his siblings spend their afternoons, weekends, and summers working alongside their parents in the fields.
But Pedro has bigger plans. He wants a way out of strawberry picking—and he thinks the trombone might be his ticket. When his music teacher encourages him to play, Pedro throws himself into becoming the best (and loudest!) trombone player he can be.
EVEN BETTER THAN MEXIKID?
As in Mexikid, Martín mixes laugh-out-loud childhood antics with much heavier family history. Strawberry fights, competing radio stations, musical daydreams, and an especially awful outhouse bring plenty of humor.
At the same time, Pedro begins to understand his father’s history as an agricultural worker and the difficult realities faced by migrant farmworkers, including low wages, exhausting physical labor, and the constant threat of immigration enforcement.
All three major professional reviews—Booklist, Kirkus, and School Library Journal—gave Mexikid: Dreams starred reviews. School Library Journal even suggests that this sequel may be better than the original (I mean, how could that possibly be?), praising its combination of vibrant artwork, humor, humanity, and insight.
For readers who loved Mexikid, this is an easy addition to the TBR. And because Mexikid: Dreams stands on its own, newcomers can jump right in.
ILLUSTRATIONS
All illustrations are in color. You can see a preview of Mexikid: Dreams on Pedro Martín’s website.
MORE MIDDLE GRADE HUMOR
