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March 2005

Trino's Choice
by Diane Gonzales Bertrand

Trino had to run or die. Hands clenched into fists, he ran through the hot dust that stuck to his tongue and made his eyes burn.

He cut through the alley behind the old Texaco; he didn't stop to read the new tags from the local gangs that grunged up the back walls. Tall brown weeds whipped against his jeans as his open blue shirt flapped behind him like a sheet on the clothesline.

Then he heard the whistle and knew they weren't far behind.

He cursed his stupidity for running this way. Just fields and the highway ahead. They'd check the Texaco first, then find him panting like a dog in the middle of the field. This was no good.

Hoping to impress a girl and frustrated by his lack of funds, seventh grader Trino falls in with a bad crowd led by an older teen named Rosca. This dude is vicious and all trouble. Trino is convinced that being thirteen totally sucks and he doesn't see much good in his future. Trino has three little brothers he's supposed to look after, but no father he can look up to. He's great at video games, but in the classroom . . . forget it. In the real world, he's barely getting by - just like his mom, who scarcely manages to pay the bills and feed her sons by working all the time. Trino gets angry when he looks at the world around him. But when Rosca invites him to start hanging with his crowd - and maybe make some fast money, too - Trino doesn't know what to think. What kind of choices does he have, anyway? To run or die?

This synopsis was written by a San José Public Library librarian

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Read On! - Other Books by Diane Gonzales Bertrand
(Select any title to request it from the library's catalog)

• Lessons of the Game
• Sweet Fifteen
• Trino's Time

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