Earlier this week I published my first TPRS novel, a story that emerged in my classes some years ago and that has been re-written several times over the years. The story starts with Rodney, a kid who reluctantly works in a local hamburger joint in order to pay for the AP exams that his parents refuse to cover. As an adolescent joke, he decides to never wash his hands so that no one comes to the restaurant and he can use the time to study. That night the daughter of a major drug trafficker comes in with her boyfriend; when she gets sick, a chain of events is set in motion that changes everyone´s lives. Oh, if only he had washed his hands!
Although it is for the most part a tongue in cheek homage to the best adolescent goofball humor that appears whenever storyasking in class, there is also some serious culture built into the novel. Some cultural elements that come up include Mexican masks used in Carnaval celebrations, a painting by Goya, and the way Spanish speakers pronounce English names that begin with J such as “Jessica” (often pronounced as a Y). There is a full glossary at the end of the book and difficult phrases are also translated in footnotes so that students do not have to interrupt the flow of their reading by flipping to the back glossary. This version is written in the first person, but a different character narrates each chapter so that I was able to provide a view into multiple characters perspectives without using complicated language.
There are three ways you can purchase the novel:
(1) I actually get the best deal from the publisher if you purchase it directly through my createspace page
(2) but it is also available through Amazon. For those of you in Europe it is also available through country-specific Amazon distributors such as Amazon.co.uk
(3) If you plan on buying a class set and can pay via Paypal then please contact me directly: mikepeto AT gmail DOT com. Sets of 25 or more copies will sell at a discounted rate of $5.50 per copy, rather than the normal price of $6.49
Click here to see all resources connected to Superburguesas.
I brought the proof copy to NTPRS to show people just how easy it is for independent authors to publish a professional-looking novel. I think a future blog post will focus on the process, step by step, so that more of you will be encouraged to revise and publish your best stories. While I am enormously proud of this novel, I hope it is obvious that the main thrust of my work is to encourage more TPRS teachers to dream, write, edit, practice with their classes, edit further simplifying the text as much as possible and eventually publish their own class novels. Yes, have a native speaker who truly understands the concept of limiting vocabulary comment on your draft, but do not let anyone intimidate you into thinking that a mere classroom teacher cannot publish a TPRS novel. Over the last year as I have read a half dozen submissions to the FVR Cooperative Library I have been impressed by the quality of the stories. We need more TPRS novels by more TPRS teacher-authors.
Wow! What a helpful post! Thank you so much for all your hard work…you are appreciated! 🙂
Reblogged this on tarafarah7.
More novels in French, please!!!
I AGREE!! Where are the French teachers?! I really wish I could rely on my French language skills to translate my own novel into French…
What level Spanish student can comfortably handle Superburguesas? Would love to use it- I’m only teaching level 1 this year.
I cannot believe I somehow missed this question from… last year! So sorry for the delay, I use Superburguesas with second semester level 1, but I suspect many teachers would prefer to place it in first semester of level 2. I blogged about how I teach the novel here: https://mrpeto.wordpress.com/2016/03/12/how-i-melded-ssr-with-whole-class-reading-to-encourage-independent-reading-with-accountability/
This year, I am teaching a College Spanish course to Spanish high school students that have had two years of high school Spanish and we are going to start with your novel Superburguesas! I ordered myself a copy early in the summer and read it and loved the wackiness in the story. Well done. I have filled out the paperwork for my school to purchase copies for my students. Thanks for writing this!!
THANK YOU for this novel! And for being an inspiration to all of us. I am encouraged to do many more things because of your work. It was a pleasure to finally meet you in Reston. 🙂
Believe me, it was a great pleasure meeting you. I hope we bump into each other again at another conference, preferably not in the men´s bathroom though. You must be the most hilarious teacher, I hope your colleagues appreciate you. Please keep in touch.
Thanks for both your own courage to put yourself out there and your encouragement to do so too. I have bought the book, and I am thinking of a project for more advanced students (Int. High/Adv. Low) in which they read and analyze 8-10 of the TPRS readers for word limits, structures etc., and then write their own.
Thanks Diane. I hope they enjoy it!
Congratulations, Mr. Peto. Looking forward to reading this! ¡Enhorabuena!
By the way, I seriously was considering dropping by your classes (announced) in mid-June but I found myself too busy working on the FVR presentation that I gave at NTPRS. I love coming in cold and seeing if I can win over a class in one period, so I am holding onto that “open invitation” you once gave me. 🙂
So excited for you, Mike. And you are giving me some wonderful models and help in this regard.
Thank you Bob, I will do better to make sure we meet face to face next time.