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Local News includes stories surrounding a day in the life of thirteen Latino teenagers. Readers meet Weasel who thrives off teasing his brother, Angel. Soto introduces Alma who still goes trick-or-treating at thirteen and Alex who attempts his first job opportunity without much luck. Young readers become familiar with Patricia, Melinda, and several others in this collection of stories about the normal everyday life of these teens.
While the stories are humorous, entertaining, and full of adventure, the content may be too immature for some teens. While the focus of each story is to concentrate on the significant moments in the lives of each character, they all underdeveloped with unorganized plots. In Trick-or-Treating, Alma starts trick-or-treating and the story all of a sudden ends up with her at a pizza party. As in many of his books, Soto includes Spanish words and terms within the text. This feature is significant because it gives the novel a truly authentic twist and exposes readers to Latino culture. A dictionary is included at the end of the book. Local News invites teens to consider the way various cultures, or just ordinary people, function daily.
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