In the first book, “Stella Diaz Has Something to Say, Stella is in third grade. She has to deal with a bully named Jessica, who makes snarky comments and calls her names. Her best friend is not in her class. She is afraid the new student, Stanley, doesn’t like her. She has a class assignment that will require speaking for five minutes, which she is dreading.

I enjoyed seeing how her passions for art and the ocean, as well as her turning to her family for support, enable Stella to keep moving forward.

Stella ticks so many boxes — funny, friendly, spunky — that young readers may fall in love with her the way those of my generation loved Harriet the Spy

The second book, “Stella Diaz Never Gives Up,” takes place the summer after third grade. Stella gets to visit family in Mexico, where Stella sees her beloved ocean for the first time, and attends a week of camp at Chicago’s Shedd Aquarium, where she learns about ways the oceans are in trouble and comes up with ways she can help make a difference. 

At the camp she figures out a way, together with several fellow campers, to raise awareness by creating a club (the Sea Musketeers), holding a bake sale and asking people to sign a pledge promising to use less plastic. This story line shows how to start a group and makes it feel very doable. It also shows how solving a big problem is more fun if you do it with a group.

The challenge (reducing plastic use) is scaled perfectly to target audience for the book. This episode also show how she responds when her big brother Nick gets older and doesn’t want to hang out with her as much. 

She and her best friend, Jenny, also have a fight over which of their passions, saving the ocean or dancing, is more important. And they figure out a way to support one another instead of fighting. Their combined passions come together when they have the idea to have a bake sale about their club, Sea Musketeers, at Jenny’s recital for dance camp.

In the third book, “Stella Diaz Dreams Big,” Stella is in fourth grade. We see a distinct change in Stella. As she gains confidence she has more commitments, not to mention more homework. Dominguez shows how Stella feels as she is stretched thin and how her mom and her teachers help her figure out how to balance her interests with some relaxation time. 

Many things carry over from the other books, including her friendships, her vow to minimize use of plastic and her love of art and the ocean.

I enjoyed seeing Stella grow through the series. I liked that she had a stable homelife and modeled good ways to solve her problems. This is a really good middle-grade series because the challenges Stella has are manageable and we get to see how working in a team can generate so many excellent ideas and extra energy, not to mention make a big task feel less overwhelming.

I also appreciated the liberal use of Spanish phrases and discussion of Mexican food because it made me feel like I got a little bit smarter along the way!

Stella ticks so many boxes — funny, friendly, spunky — that young readers may fall in love with her the way those of my generation loved Harriet the Spy. One great thing about Stella is that the sequels are already there, waiting for you to finish the first and then just keep going. 

This review first appeared in the Champaign-Urbana News-Gazette In December 2022