Pub Date: August 26, 2025
Dewey: FIC
Lexile Code: 0980
Features: Price on Product
Target Age Group: 14 to 17
Physical Info: 1.12" H x 8.25" L x 5.50" W ( 1.00 lbs) 448 pages
BISAC Categories:
Juvenile Fiction | Hispanic and Latino | General | Social Themes | Prejudice Racism and Colorism | Friendship | Historical
Description: A Pulitzer Prize-winning author makes his teen fiction debut with a gritty coming-of-age novel that is full of details and icons of teenage life in the 1960s: the lure of the hippie culture, the fight to fit in, and the desperate need to break away.
Brief description: Oscar Hijuelos (1951-2013) was a first-generation Cuban American and the first Latino to win the Pulitzer Prize for fiction; he also won the Rome Prize and the Hispanic Heritage Award for Literature. He wrote several novels, including Dark Dude, The Mambo Kings Play Songs of Love, and Beautiful Maria of My Soul.
Review Quotes: "Dark Dude's journey toward self-discovery is a compelling read. Today's teens will be thrilled to discover a voice as authentic and accomplished as Oscar Hijuelos's" - Ellen Hopkins, New York Times bestselling author of Crank and Glass