Once I started reading this novel, which was assigned reading at Harvard last year, I dedicated myself to reading it straight through, that's how real Amalia, the beautiful opinionated, moving, passionate, and at times self-evading woman, is as she rummages through her life, much violence--including marrying the man who rapes her, her son in gangs, another son hustling, her daughter concealing a knife, her live-in boyfriend attempting to advance on her daughter, and through it all only faith in the Holy Mother sustains Amalia, until this one day when her faith is shattered--her son is dead in prison, and everything is collapsing. That's when the book pushes the reader to the extremity of her despair--in a mall in Beverly Hill!--and, there, Amalia will or will not experience the miracle she finally demands. I'll never foget this woman, nor her family, nor the tattered new Hollywood populated by Hispanics. Despite its seriousness, there is much humor, especially iln Amalia's wonderful way of rearranging things--even religious dogma--to allow for reconcilliation with her own unconventionals views. This is an unforgettable novel.

Lyrical account of one day in the life of a beautiful Mexican-American woman and her family in Los Angeles today as she discovers her son is a gay hustler, her daughter may be roaming around with gangs, her live-in lover may be harboring dangerous secrets. A further shattering revelation about her firstborn tests her enduring faith and pushes her to the brink of such despair that she demands a miracle. This book is moving and, yes, at times hilarious in its depiction of Amalia's indomitability. You'll never forget the dazzling, astonishing ending in a glitzy Beverly Hills mall.

The book is a true story of a well known palestinian meeting a well known Israel journalist

This book is about a young boy named Leigh Botts who writes letters to an author, Mr. Henshaw. Leigh Botts parents are divorced and he does not get to see his dad too much. Leigh writes in his journal when he does not write to Mr. Henshaw. Leigh's has a dog named Bandit that lives with his Dad. This is a great book that teaches journal writing.

This is a great book. Maggie is still battling her eating disorder, and Amalia is trying to help her cope with it. The author really brings on strong points about anorexia and things that some may not know about. Amalia & Maggie's friendship reaches it's max. in this book, which is another reason why it is so good. Meanwhile, Amalia is also developing a romance with a certain new guy named Brendan. To find out what happens between the two, read this book and get ready to read it over again about 10 times, just because it's so good!

I have read all of the books in this series and I really enjoy all of them. They deal with real life problems that many teens have. In this book Amalia is trying to help her friend Maggie, over come her eating disorder. Amalia also has problems of her own, trying to be free of James, her controling ex-boyfriend. This book kind of left me haning, and I think the author does that because she will end up coming out with more of them, which I hope she does!

This book is excellent. Ann M. Martin is great at expressing problems that you can relate to. I would definately recommend this whole series for someone who is going through a tough time. I myself own all of the Cal. Diaries. I like books that don't always show you the bright side of life. I guess now I'm only wondering these things: 1. Is James going to leave Amalia alone finally? 2. Is Sunny's mom going to die, or recover? 3. Will MAGGIE recover? 4. Will Dawn ever make up with Sunny? 5. Is the California Diaries series going to be as long as the ever-growing Baby-Sitters Club? I hope Ann M. Martin reads this and answers some of these questions in her future books. Sincerely, Jaime Pfisthner

In Amalia Diary 1, it deals with a young girl about age 13 and she is going through a difficult "love life" She begins going out with a boy who is 16 years old, which is a major age difference, throughout the book complications begin to appear, jealousy, fights, etc. It all turns out well but you'll have to read it to see how good it is! I can never put down California Diary books because they are so interesting, its like I'm in that persons life. Especially in Amalia's books she draws doodles on some of the pages on what is going on in her life, so your anxious to see what the next drawing looks like. Ann M. Martin is an excellent author of this series and I recommend it to everyone! I'm 13 myself and she's got a great idea of what goes on in our minds!

I loved this book, as well as the other California Diaries, because the girls' lives (like mine, me being 11) are so real. Their problems seem MUCH more real to me than the girls' problems in the BSC. The only thing I don't like about the California Diaries are 2 of the girls sound sooooo depressed (Sunny & Maggie). Amalia & Dawn seem to be the more up-beat, less depressed half of the group. This book covers the subject of abuse, which I don't think should be left alone. My mom used to run a safe-house before we moved& then I was about 7 when i realized what an important issue it was. I'm glad this book covered that subject.

I like Amalia's courage in dealing with her abusive boyfriend. Good thing she dumps him and her friends and sister stood by her! Bravo! It tells girls that no, they do NOT have to put up with abuse. This book was as good as the BSC "Claudia & the Terrible Truth" which was also about abuse. Have Amalia & Claudia met? They should, they're somewhat alike, being artistic and creative and each having an older sister. The California Diaries delve somewhat deeper because it's in a diary form, but the BSC books are just as great. What I like are the first-person accounts that make you feel as if you're right inside the main character's head. Those who claim the BSC are "goody" ought to read deeper. In some ways the BSC books are diarylike.

Amalia, Diary Three was one of the better California Diaries books. It's great that there's a series for teenagers which portrays more to life than little boy troubles and other pre-pubescent junk - but real angst and events that happen to us. All people, whether or not a survivor of a racist incident, can relate to being discriminated against - and this book can help you get through it. CD #14 was excellent, though I wish it had been a little longer. Go read! :)

This was such a great book. I love California Diaries, why does it take Ann M. Martin so long to write them? Normally, the diaries focused on certain problems each character had. Maggie, another girl, had an eating disorder and had a lot of family problems. Amalia struggled with an abusive relationship, Sunny struggled with her mother's cancer, and then later tried to cope with the death of her mother. This book took a shocking twist when Amalia was attacked (verbally abused, then spat on) by a group of girls because of the fact that she is hispanic. Amalia has a really hard time dealing with this, but eventually pulls through. The book also focused on her friendship with Maggie, and her new relationship with boyfriend Brendan. I love these books and thought this one was great. Maggie is my favorite character (though Amalia is awesome, too), and I loved how good friends she and Amalia are. Read it, I bet you will love it!

this book was really,really good. my only problem is that i wish that this book was longer. their so easy to read. and when you get to the end your like 'Oh . . .that's it?' and amalia is my favorite character. and i thought that those racist girls shared one brain between them or something, cause how can you judge someone by the color of thier skin? it's just the type of thing a moron would do. a complete idiot. But i'm glad that amalia was able to see what they really were and go beyond what they expected of her. i'll leave you with this word of advice:READ THIS BOOK!

This is a semi-autobigraphical story of a poverty-ridden, dysfunctional family that many urban, American-born Hispanic students aged 12-18 years old may well identify with. I taught it to grades 6-8, and students were mesmerized by the poetic language (Mr.Martinez is a published poet), realistic episodes, true-to-life characters, and Jerry Springer-like trauma-drama.These characters may appear trailer-trash types, but the main character Manny, overcomes his emotional restraints bythe end of the novel. He's a strong, young, Hispanic male character, and we need more of these. The similies and metaphors alonemake this book worth reading.