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Little Mocos is a novel in stories centered on Bea and Manito, curious and sensitive children from Southern Colorado who must face the reality of dead fathers, absent mothers, and the notorious murderer Ray “Cornbread” Vigil.
Set in a world of working-class struggle, family damage, tenderness, and endurance, the book follows children and families trying to survive the emotional weather of poverty, fear, memory, and love.
Edition Details
$15.00
Book Info
Praise
What Reviewers Are Saying
“Jaramillo’s second novel in stories builds on his debut collection, and fans of that work will likely find much to enjoy here. His writing is crisp, concise, and realistic, with a gimlet eye for the details of his characters’ grim existences.”
— Kirkus Reviews
“Little Mocos, as the cover artwork suggests, depicts a grey and hazardous world with only a flower of hope sprouting defiantly against all odds.”
— Latino Book Review
Excerpt
Little Mocos
A few weeks later Bea’s lip came up busted and scarred, her t-shirt ripped off of her. She found someone with quarters and called from the Mesa Theatre pay phone. I convinced Neto to drive out and the first thing he did was give her his sweatshirt. She begged us not to tell the Abuela. The next day she wore heavy makeup over a pretty obvious bruise, the makings of a deep scar on her temple, and we bypassed school. We walked over to China Lantern Diner near Santa Fe Avenue to blow dollar bills on egg rolls. She was particularly striking even with her wound, radiant and fragile, and on the way she gave a 4th Street vagamundo a five-dollar bill.
“If he doesn’t use it for anything worse than cigarettes or booze that will be good with me,” she said. “People ought to look out for one another, cousin. That’s what religion’s for, no?”
Excerpt from Little Mocos (Twelve Winters Press, 2017), featured at Duende Literary.
From the Inside Flap
Little Mocos
Bea and Manito are curious and sensitive “little mocos” from Southern Colorado who must face the reality of dead fathers, absent mothers, and the notorious murderer Ray “Cornbread” Vigil.