Description

There are no shortcuts to surviving your first day at a new school – you can’t fix it with duct tape like you would your Chuck Taylors. On Day One, twelve-year-old Malu inadvertently upsets Posada Middle School’s queen bee, violates the school’s dress code with her punk-rock look, and disappoints her college-professor mum in the process. Her dad, who now lives a thousand miles away, says things will get better as long as she remembers the first rule of punk: be yourself. The real Malu loves rock music, skateboarding, zines, and Soyrizo (hold the cilantro, please). And when she assembles a group of like-minded misfits at school and starts a band, Malu finally begins to feel at home. She’ll do anything to preserve this, which includes standing up to an anti-punk school administration to fight for her right to express herself!

Publisher Review

A 2018 Pura Belpre Author Honor Book A 2018 ALSC Notable Children's Book A 2018 Tomas Rivera Mexican American Children's Book Award Winner A 2017 ABA Indies Introduce Title A Kids' Indie Next List Pick An E.B. White Read-Aloud Middle Reader Award finalist A 2018 Boston Globe-Horn Book Fiction and Poetry Honor Book An Amelia Bloomer List Book CCBC Choices 2018 A 2018 Bank Street Best Children's Book of the Year A Junior Library Guild Selection Publishers Weekly Flying Start NPR Best Books of 2017 Kirkus Reviews Best Fiction of 2017 School Library Journal Best Books of 2017 A Horn Book Fanfare Selection Center for the Study of Multicultural Children's Literature Best Books of 2017 NYPL Best Books for Kids 2017 Chicago Public Library's Best of the Best Books 2017 Evanston Public Library 101 Great Books for Kids 2017 A Seattle Public Library Top 10 Children's Chapter Book of 2017 A UPenn Graduate School of Education Best Book of 2017 2018-2019 Dorothy Canfield Fisher Children's Book Award Nominee 2018-2019 Sunshine State Young Readers Award Nominee A 2018 Great Lakes, Great Reads Award Winner 2017 Nerdy Book Award Winner PRAISE FOR THE FIRST RULE OF PUNK "A charming debut about a thoughtful, creative preteen connecting to both halves of her identity." --Kirkus Reviews (starred review) "Those who enjoy vivacious, plucky heroines... will eagerly embrace Malu." --School Library Journal (starred review) "Perez's debut is as exuberant as its heroine... A rowdy reminder that people are at their best when they aren't forced into neat, tidy boxes." --Publishers Weekly (starred review) "Extremely relatable and creatively inspiring, with a voice that is equal parts witty and sharp." --Bustle.com "Malu is an irrepressible force, one that readers will long remember." --Diana Lopez, author of Confetti Girl and Nothing Up My Sleeve