Gringa Apestosa - Stinky Gringa : Bowker Identifier Services : 9798985347005 : 05 Sep 2023 : Join Patricia - a thirteen-year-old girl - as she arrives with her family in Irapuato, Guanajuato, Mexico. Wave goodbye with her and her abuelita (grandma) as her family is driven to the airport in Mexico City to return to their hometown of Springfield, Illinois. Start her first year of Mexican high school (secundaria) with her. Listen with her to Spanish but speak only English for several months, and then "burst out" in a miracle of Spanish fluency, startling everyone, including herself. Question and wonder and grow with her as she changes from a skinny, scared and angry little girl to a confident, funny and happy young woman. Extremely shy and introverted as a child, Patricia spent much of her time reading to escape notice by her Mexican mother, who scolded her at every opportunity. When the plan for her to spend a year in Mexico materialized, she was certain she had died and gone to heaven.