Review of Nerds, Goths, Geeks, and Freaks: Outsiders in Chicanx and Latinx Young Adult Literature

In lieu of an abstract:  Nerds, Goths, Geeks, and Freaks: Outsiders in Chicanx and Latinx Young Adult Literature is characterised by a certain frustration that there is still a lack of representation in literature for teenagers, with each chapter foregrounding the need for Chicanx and Latinx youth to read about their own lives and issues and to see themselves portrayed on stage and in the media. In their introduction, co-editors Trevor Boffone and Cristina Herrera consider the peripheral status of Latinx teens as they exist on the edge of white US society; in the liminal and transitional state of the teenager; and in terms of a frequent outsider status within the Latin community where they are frequently neither Latin nor American enough and fail to adhere to narrow and restrictive stereotypes that threaten to oppress and suppress their burgeoning adult identities. This book aims to look at each of these experiences of peripherality, focusing on literature exploring youth identities that are not specific to this community – including the titular “nerds, goths, geeks, and freaks” – while also looking at issues within Chicanx and Latinx communities that are already marginalized by the societies in which they live.