Lolo & Red-Legs

Have a pet tarantula? No way! Or so eleven-year-old Lolo thought before he found a Mexican red-leg outside the fort he built with friends Frankie and Mario. When Lolo's abuelo shows him how to capture the tarantula, Lolo names the spider Red-Legs and decides to keep it as a pet. The three friends could never anticipate that Red-Legs would become the key for turning an ordinary summer into an extraordinary one filled with unexpected adventures and new experiences. When Red-Legs is missing, the boys and their school friend Lisa try to figure out who might have stolen or killed the tarantula. Is it the two bullies, Rogelio and Joker, who have been giving them a hard time? Maybe . . . and then maybe not. Set in "Las Lomitas," the "little hills" of East Los Angeles, Lolo & Red-Legs offers a glimpse into the lives and culture of three close friends during their most unusual summer. Published originally in 1998, Lolo & Red-Legs received considerable recognition before its publisher closed its doors in 2005, including being named a "Commended Title" on the 1998 Americas Award for Children's and Young Adult Literature "that authentically and engagingly relates to Latinos in the United States."