ABSTRACT
The protagonist of The Upside Down Boy/El niño de cabeza (2000) by Juan Felipe Herrera comes from a Mexican family and has just started school in California. He is afraid his tongue will turn into stone, but his school teacher sees his talent and encourages him to make drawings that mix words and chili, giant suns made up with the palms of his hands, cucumbers, chickens, and sombreros. Slowly he gains confidence, and eventually creates his first poem in English, the little tale of an intercultural transformation.
