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Parrot in the Oven: Mi vida | 
 enlarge | Author: Victor Martinez
Creator: Steve Scott
Publisher: Rayo
List Price: $5.99
Buy Used: $0.01
You Save: $5.98 (100%)
New (44) Used (115) Collectible (4) from $0.01
Rating:  83 reviews
Sales Rank: 26009
Media: Paperback
Reading Level: Young Adult
Pages: 224
Number Of Items: 1
Shipping Weight (lbs): 0.2
Dimensions (in): 6.6 x 4.2 x 0.8
ISBN: 0064471861
EAN: 9780064471862
ASIN: 0064471861
Publication Date: March 31, 1998
Availability: Usually ships in 1-2 business days
Shipping: Expedited shipping available
Shipping: International shipping available
Condition: A readable copy. All pages are intact showing heavy wear and creasing. Cover has creases and wear. This copy may be an ex-library copy.
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| Editorial Reviews:
Amazon.com Review
It's no wonder that Parrot in the Oven won the 1996 National Book Award for Young People's Fiction. Victor Martinez's lush, evocative prose leaps from the page, grabbing the reader by the throat right from the start. Not only do we witness Manuel Hernandez's coming of age, we feel every juicy moment of it: his ache for something just out of reach, the confusion of seeing his family with new eyes, the tickle and flood of awakening passion. It's difficult to portray transformation from the inside, but Martinez does so with grace and power.
Product Description
Dad believed people were like money. You could be a thousand-dollar person or a hundred-dollar person -- even a ten-, five-, or one-dollar person. Below that, everybody was just nickels and dimes. To my dad, we were pennies. Fourteen-year-old Manny Hernandez wants to be more than just a penny. He wants to be a vato firme, the kind of guy people respect. But that's not easy when your father is abusive, your brother can't hold a job, and your mother scrubs the house as if she can wash her troubles away. In Manny's neighborhood, the way to get respect is to be in a gang. But Manny's not sure that joining a gang is the solution. Because, after all, it's his life -- and he wants to be the one to decide what happens to it.
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| Customer Reviews: Read 78 more reviews...
 great book February 14, 2008
"Mr. Hernandez" We're going to have to take your rifle away." This is a quote from the book Parrot in the Oven about a boy named Manny who is 14 years old and has two sisters and a brother. He is Mexican and lives in the projects in Los Angeles. He lives with his mom and dad. His dad is an alcoholic who gets mad at his family easy. Once he even tried to shoot his wife. His mom cleans the house all day. Manny is trying to get respect but he can't get it. The only way to get respect where Manny lives is to join a gang. He knows that is not the right way to get respect. There are many people who pick on Manny but some get scared because he has a tough older brother. He has a good relationship with his brother Benardo. The main problem is he doesn't get respect
When I was reading this book I could relate a lot to it. His is from a Mexican family. There are many choices he has to make everyday. He has many difficult problems a lot of young Latino immigrants face in their lives. His family is always having a lot of stress in their family. Manny doesn't like the stress because he doesn't get respect. Every time his parents are stressed out and give him respect. Since they are they always worry about money. His family are not the only ones who don't give him respect. Also some of the other kids he knows in his neighborhood He is poor and his mom supports him in going to school.
I will recommend this book to someone who is into life and growing up books. I think he wrote about experiences he had in his life. I think he is also to make right choices.
 Parrot Review December 19, 2007
D. Collier (Masachusetts)
The book was okay. The story is about a 14 year old, Mexican-American named Manny. He lives somewhere near the United States, Mexico border. Manny lives with his alcoholic father, his distant mother, his brother and two sisters. Manny's family is very poor, this is because his father refuses to work, leaving Manny and his brother Bernado to support the family. Manny's mother spends all of her time taking care of her youngest daughter, and cleaning the house. Manny is forced to deal with bullies, who pester him and his brother. The book did lack a plot. There was really no point to the story, it was just about the struggles of an average 14 year old boy. This was not a book I would recommend purchasing, it wasn't anything special.
Parrot in the Oven Kids Review May 11, 2007
M. M. Ford (Bronx, NY)
We think that this book is good for kids who are age 10 and up. Our favorite part of the book is when Victor has family problems with his mom and dad. This is one of the most important parts of the book that many students can relate to. The book is about a boy named Victor with family problems, and the reader learns about his entire life. The people who would like this book are people who enjoy real life stories, such as an autobiography.
nothing spectacular in Parrot... May 3, 2007
LARRY (Capitol Heights, MD)
I'm sorry but I really do not see what was special in Martinez' *Parrot in the Oven* that reaped him some awards. I did not see anything special about the story. However, I do agree that Martinez does have a way with words. They were eye-catching and made you wonder.
*Parrot in the Oven* is divided into chapters that each one focuses on one particular topic. While there is a subtle storyline throughout, the overall picture is blurred. There's that "missing link" that prevents you from knowing each characters in the book. Simply, there's no depth other than with Manny.
The book is told from Manny's perspectives. His dad has lost his job. He simply goes to the local pool hall and spends whatever money he can find and gets drunk. The mother is constantly cleaning the house. His older brother is never home and constantly has a new job. His older sister is secretive. His baby sister is simply a brat.
Manny tells his experiences with school, White people, boxing, and the gang. Most of all, he tells how these experiences impact his family and their world-view.
*Parrot in the Oven* is an alright book. It's nothing that you'd go around and recommend this book to friends. Just simply ok. The only best thing is Martinez' ways with words.
 Lacking Plot February 15, 2007
A. Luciano (Lowell, MA United States)
4 out of 4 found this review helpful
Manuel is fourteen years old and living close to the Mexican border. He is Mexican-American himself. His life is full of conflicts, from his father who is alcoholic and abusive and can't seem to keep a job, to his passive mother who lets herself be scared and abused, to his three siblings.
This books is about Manuel's struggle to find himself and to figure out his life. It takes the reader on a journey through about a year in Manuel's life, and we get to see the things he interacts with daily, from his family situation to the bullies who live on his street, to the other people who surround him. Even though he sometimes has problems, like when he is invited to a party full of all white kids and things start to go bad, Manuel always manages to keep his head on his shoulders and get through things okay. Even though his family is dysfunctional, the reader is able to see some good in them.
The language in this book is beautiful; the author has a gift for stringing together very poetic sentences. However, there wasn't any sort of cohesive storyline. I kept trying to wrestle the individual parts of the story into a plot, and was frustrated when they remained disjointed until the end.
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