Parrot in the Oven: Mi Vida Themes

When you have a strong-willed mom, a dad with a drinking problem, and a handful of feisty siblings, you've got yourself a recipe for some family drama. And for the Hernandez family in Parrot in the...

Parrot in the Oven: Mi Vida dishes out a sad truth: Racial stereotypes are alive and well—and most of the time, these stereotypes are super mean and hurtful. Manny's family is Mexican and he grow...

School isn't really the center of Manny's world in Parrot in the Oven: Mi Vida; instead, it's kind of a nuisance. So that means he spends a lot of his school time thinking about things like hot tea...

There's tons of stuff to be afraid of in this book: dads with guns, punch-throwing bullies, enormous boxing opponents, talking to girls… the list goes on. Sometimes, it seems like Manny experienc...

For the Hernandez family in Parrot in the Oven: Mi Vida, poverty doesn't mean not having a home, nor does it mean completely going without food. But don't start thinking that struggling with povert...

We can split the characters in Parrot in the Oven: Mi Vida into two categories: the hard workers and the slackers. On the hard working side, we've got folks like Manny, Mom, and Magda, who might no...

Did you flinch when Dad is hunting for Mom with his rifle? Was your stomach in knots when the neighbors bullied Manny? Did you cringe when the shot went off in Pedi's direction? Yep, Parrot in the...

Community can be hard to come by in Parrot in the Oven: Mi Vida, and this is a pretty tough fact for Manny to face. He has a bunch of siblings but no real sense of belonging, so he's looking for a...