Margarita in the Spotlight

By: Maria Frazer

Narrated by: Adriana Gaviria

This middle grade story has it all: humor, heart, and country music - including original songs!

Margarita McCoy plays banjo and sings backup in her stepsister Stephanie McCoy’s wildly popular country music band.

Margarita isn’t particularly passionate about music, but she loves Stephanie and would do anything to help her - and that includes being thrust into the media spotlight after an article in the New York Times calls out country music for its lack of diversity. Since Margarita’s father is Mexican American, the McCoys' record label wants to use her to show that they aren’t as whitewashed as the article says.

For Margarita, the media frenzy is overwhelming and quickly has her considering how exactly she should define herself and her identity. How Mexican American is she? How should she use her 15 minutes of fame? And how come no one ever taught her about Selena Quintanilla?

Margarita in the Spotlight is a fun and empowering story about identity, family, music, and the power of finding your voice - featuring original music that will delight your ears and get your toes tapping!

©2020 Maria Frazer (P)2021 Audible Originals, LLC.

Dangerous?

Overall, this was fun. But seriously, it was “too dangerous” for Margarita to go to a movie opening or continue in the band after negative comments appear about her in Social Media, but NOT too dangerous for her to be a speaker at a justice rally? I guess middle readers need to start getting their politics fed to them young! I get the point, but understand going in that there is some heavy-handed ness in this story.

Funny and heartfelt

A debut that lives up to the hype! Maria Frazer spins a tale of identity, sisterhood, and country music like nothing you've heard before. Filled with laugh out loud moments and a fantastic original soundtrack, this is not one to be missed! Can't wait for Maria's next book!

💜

A great story with a positive message and catchy songs! I can't wait to share it with my daughters and enjoyed listening to it very much!

Excellent!

MARGARITA IN THE SPOTLIGHT is such a great book. The writing was funny, engaging, and moving, with characters that felt entirely real. The narration was amazing too—not to mention the original music. Highly recommend!

A story about Latinos written by a non-Latino woman

The fact they use “LatinX” tells you no Latino was involved in the writing process. Ironic, cause this whole story is about white people exploiting the Latino community. Hey Audible, you want to be allies for the Latino community? How about adapting Latino stories BY Latino authors?

Such a fun listen!

This was such a fun audiobook experience! I really enjoyed it and the original songs elevated the story so much. Margarita was very likable and the whole McCoy family had such a sweet dynamic. I wonder if the themes might be a little over a middle grade reader’s head, but as an adult I loved it. And I think any middle grader would still enjoy the listen even if they don’t get the nuances of identity that Margarita deals with.

An intelligent voice

I love that Maria Frazer does not dumb down her message or story because she targets a young audience. It is an excellent story about the love of family. It carries a strong positive message about being from a mixed ethnic heritage and a blended family while finding your place in the world. All this in addition to addressing difficult issues like racism, homosexuality, and the realities of ICE for the Hispanic population. Highly recommend!

Sweet and heartfelt!

I loved every moment of MARGARITA IN THE SPOTLIGHT! A wonderful middle-grade novel by about sisterhood, identity, and of course awesome original music.

I like it a lot.

The audiobook is amazing. The story is light, interesting, and funny. The narration is good and I loved the songs. This is how the audiobook should be recorded.

Loved this book

Good story line. I also like the bit of music that was added to the story.