STELLA DIAZ NEVER GIVES UP by Angela Dominguez.  New York:  Roaring Brook Press, 2020.  186p.  ISBN 978-125022911-3 hc. $16.99     Gr. 3-4    JUV

Stella Diaz is a week into summer break, and already bored with the routine.  Her fifteen-year-old brother, Nick, who used to be fun, has a job at a pizza place and is developing other interests that don’t involve the company of a third-grade sister.  She gets a surprise when her mother announces a four-day trip to Oaxaca, Mexico to visit the ocean.  Stella, who was born in Mexico, has never been to the ocean, but has a passion for ocean waters and all the fish therein.  No one can match the excitement of Stella's first visit to the beach, but even Nick joins in the family fun after arriving.  Stella’s next adventure is summer camp at Shedd Aquarium in Chicago, near her home.  This is the summer that her friends are all exploring their interests.  Best friend Jenny is at dance camp, while Stanley is at space camp.  She gets a little frustrated that they don’t love marine life as much as she does, but is glad to have their support when she proposes a project to use less plastic, keeping it out of the ocean where it could harm sea animals.  Besides learning about the effect of plastics on our oceans, readers will long for a mother as wise and kind as Stella’s and learn some Spanish vocabulary, which is sprinkled throughout the book.  This award-winning series started out with STELLA DIAZ HAS SOMETHING TO SAY (2018) and continues with STELLA DIAZ DREAMS BIG, to be released in January 2021.

Lynette Suckow, Superiorland Preview Center, Marquette, MI