The Boys from Little Mexico: A Season Chasing the American Dream

Great Story

Most people will never bother to read a story of Hispanic males who play soccer, especially in a Football dominated society as the United States. But still, the story is about defeat, victory, and obstacles, which are things that make for a good sport-related story. First some background history of Woodburn (tried to spoil as little as possible): When I read books based on people or events I like doing my research. So being from Oregon this book seemed like a must read and on top of that seemed like it was imperative to learn of this town's people. This book is actually based on the Woodburn High School Varsity Soccer team, from Woodburn, Oregon. Woodburn is a town that is mostly made up of people who are immigrants, most being from Mexico. Hence, "Boys from Little Mexico". But the community is also made up of people of Russian descent, Guatemalan descent, and then the "Americans" (or people of white descent who are Western European background). But Woodburn is best known for the Woodburn Mall which is frequented by people from Washington or Canada, but by those who live near Woodburn know it most by the stereotypes that plague it, such as, gangs, poverty, and "foreigners". By the way, there can be some bias due to the fact that I am of Hispanic/Mexican descent as to why I enjoyed this book, for I can relate to a few things talked about in the book. A bit about the book and what it is about (trying to spoil as little as possible): The book is about a group of students, most of which are Hispanic, and about their high school's varsity soccer team that has qualified for several playoffs in a row (during the making of the book it was 20, when I read it the Woodburn Varsity Soccer Team made it about 25 years in a row and won 3 OSAAC state championships in a row). Additionally, the book details, to some extent, the hardships that the students go through, such as, most students suffer from lack of confidence in a society that both rejects and accepts them (the lack of ...