Good Kings Bad Kings

Yessenia Lopez is the first narrator in Good Kings Bad Kings. She is a fiery Puerto Rican 10th grader who often gets herself into trouble. Her story begins in a “punishment room” that smells like a urinal at the “Illinois Learning something something” (6), which is a nursing home for disabled youths with disciplinary issues. She attends Hoover High in Chicago, where she assaulted a classmate after the girl called Yessenia a “Puerto Rican bitch” (9). Yessenia is a physically disabled student in a wheelchair, and she uses vulgar language to describe her attitude towards school and her classmates. Because her mother was not present in her life, her “tía Nene” raised her. Since her Tía Nene recently passed away, Yessenia wishes she had someone she could receive guidance from, and she dearly misses her tía. In only her second day at the “Illinois Center for Cripple whatever” (9), the institution has punished her for cutting up another girl’s blanket. Her Tía Nene told her everything happens in threes, and Yessenia wonders if after three bad things have just happened in her life, will three good things happen next?