The Last Summer of the Death Warriors by Francisco X Stork

Publication Date: March 1, 2010
Reviewed For: Grades 8 and up

I decided that this book would be much better suited for the Printz Award, and will not be completing my Mock Newbery evaluation form for the book.  However, here is my review.

After the death of his older sister, Rosa, Pancho Sanchez has nothing in the entire world. No family, no friends, and nowhere to go. All he has is the burning knowledge that someone killed his sister, and that her murder will be avenged.

As for D.Q., death is all he has. Recently diagnosed with terminal cancer and living out his days in Las Cruces at a foster home, D.Q. spends his time writing the Death Warrior Manifesto – a guide for living life to the fullest.

When Pancho arrives at the foster home, D.Q. immediately declares Pancho his personal assistant. In need of money so that he can go kill his sister’s murderer, Pancho agrees to the job, for $30 a day. Soon the two find themselves in a cancer facility in Albuquerque, where D.Q.’s estranged mother hopes clinical testing will save her son. D.Q. is just hoping to woo the beautiful Marisol, and Pancho hopes to find the mysterious “Bobby” from his sister’s diary.

Being a Death Warrior isn’t easy. You must suck the marrow out of life and live each day to the fullest. But when your body is giving up on you, like D.Q., or your anger consumes you, like Pancho, the true meaning of being a Death Warrior can change.

You might like this book if you enjoyed Going Bovine by Libba Bray; Drums, Girls, and Dangerous Pie by Jordan Sonnenblick; or Notes from the Dog by Gary Paulsen.