The First Sandcastle: A Novel

M.E. Delgado
Barrio City Press (2008)
ISBN 9780980141009
Reviewed by Neha Kashmiri (age 14) for Reader Views (8/08)


“The First Sandcastle” by M.E. Delgado is a book about an extraordinarily artistic teenager brought up to believe by his father that all women are evil, causing men “the worst of pains.” This has horrible consequences for Marlo as he endeavors to love his mother and sister.

When one of his best friends, Danny Skies, falls in love with a girl that crushes his heart dreadfully, it only goes to reinforce what his father has long told him. But by then Marlo has met Desiree Castillo, a girl he struggles to believe is an exception. She sees the magic in Marlo’s sandcastle dreams and even tells him her own. She even writes a beautiful story about the first sandcastle.
  
Finally allowing himself to fall in love with the unique girl, it seems that his father’s views on women were wrong. But when Marlo meets Desiree’s “twin cousin” his father was proven right again and Marlo’s life falls into turmoil. Will Marlo’s tide-less dreams ever come true?

Mr. Delgado’s writing is lyrical and poetic. Like those truly great books, you’r’e sad when “The First Sandcastle” is finished. Marlo and his world is so real you feel as if you’re going run into him at any time. “The First Sandcastle” is a spellbinding read full of hope and dreams. A must read for everyone.

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