When Hector's mother suggests that he and his amigo, Mando, get out of East LA for the weekend and see some of the world, he's thinking Paris. So he's a little disappointed when they end up in Fresno, sleeping on a lumpy couch in his Uncle Julio's messy apartment. Hector figures it's going to be one boring weekend. He couldn't be more wrong. Between flying in a rickety old plane, spotting an armored car heist, and warding off the bumbling thieves who did it, this could be the craziest-and scariest-weekend ever.
"Soto's adept character development brings to life the witty, streetwise boys; the bumbling thugs; and the disheveled but well-meaning Julio. Humor is interjected on each page but is seldom forced…As in a number of other books by this talented author, Spanish words and phrases are sprinkled throughout…A fast-moving, light read."
School Library Journal
"The boys' language is a lively and often musical mixture of English and Spanish…An entertaining novel, especially for contemporaries of these hip, likable protagonists."