Book Description

A feisty little girl learns that physical disability can't limit her ability to make a difference. Lupe loves nothing better than riding her father's horse, El Diablo. Fearless and agile, she rampages around her rural village in Mexico like a tigrilla (little tiger), which is her father's nickname for her. But one day Lupe falls while climbing a tree. Paralyzed from the waist down, she will never again be able to ride El Diablo. Her life might as well be over, she thinks. At first Lupe is filled with rage and self-pity. Her family brings her to a center run by and for disabled people, to recuperate. Despite the evidence around her, she refuses to believe that disabled people can be happy and self-sufficient, and she can't believe that these people think their lives are worth living. But slowly the people and the spirit of the center help Lupe realize that she, too, has something to offer. Award-winning author/illustrator Molly Bang brings emotional honesty and bravery to this compelling, fact-based story of coming to terms with disability.