Estela, Undrowning
Book •
René Peña-Govea's Estela, Undrowning follows Estela Morales, a seventeen-year-old poet and one of the few Latinas at San Francisco's most selective public high school.
When Estela places behind a non-Latinx student in a heritage poetry contest, she becomes embroiled in citywide debates about merit and identity while juggling college admissions, first love, anxiety, and her family's housing instability.
The novel intersperses Estela's poems to convey intense adolescent emotion and to show how art and community anchor her amid systemic inequities.
Set against San Francisco's divided neighborhoods, the book examines racial and economic disparities in schools and housing, celebrating cultural roots and the role of the arts as resilience.
As a debut by a San Francisco teacher-librarian, the novel foregrounds representation and tools for teens to navigate personal and civic challenges.
When Estela places behind a non-Latinx student in a heritage poetry contest, she becomes embroiled in citywide debates about merit and identity while juggling college admissions, first love, anxiety, and her family's housing instability.
The novel intersperses Estela's poems to convey intense adolescent emotion and to show how art and community anchor her amid systemic inequities.
Set against San Francisco's divided neighborhoods, the book examines racial and economic disparities in schools and housing, celebrating cultural roots and the role of the arts as resilience.
As a debut by a San Francisco teacher-librarian, the novel foregrounds representation and tools for teens to navigate personal and civic challenges.
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Introduced and read from by ![undefined]()
René Peña-Govea
Local YA Novels Tell San Francisco Stories
