Winner of 2021 Royal Dragonfly Book Award for middle grade fiction! Victor faces a rough year! His family moves, he's at a new school, the bully hates him, a street thug targets him, and he has to survive on an icy-cold trail alone in the dark! What's next, Victor?!

Adventurous, funny, inspirational story told by Victor Ortega, an Hispanic boy in a lower-income American neighborhood. Kids in any community can relate to his adventures and misadventures through growing pains of the middle years.

Beautifully illustrated, Victor's narrative keeps the story witty and vivid as his troubles pile up. When will his father return from Mexico? Why can't the bully just leave him alone? Can he do it on his own? Or can Victor--with the help of family and friends--find a way to Survive Being a Kid? Readers enjoy the book's humor and adventure, while sharing Victor's growth in faith and maturity.

This story shows Mexican American family life with warmth and respect. The author lived happily for a dozen years in a Mexican American neighborhood in Denver, Colorado and taught multicultural kids like Victor, his Black friend Akeem, Victor's new friend Isobel, and others. The book refreshingly avoids stereotypes, and talks up, not down, to kids. For parents, teachers, and librarians, the newSongPress.NET website for Victor Survives Being a Kid has a link to a free discussion and activity guide.

Will Victor survive as the new kid at school? Can he survive on the mountain at night? Do Victor and the bully survive the kidnapper? Will Victor survive being a kid?! There's only one way to find out...

www.newSongPress.NET/victor