Confetti Girl by Diana Lopez

One of the main characters in Confetti Girl are inanimate objects - cascarones, confetti filled eggs that you crack on your friends' heads, spilling confetti everywhere. Lopez even includes a recipe for cascarones in the very beginning of the book. The real main character of the story, Lina, is best friends with Vanessa, whose mother is obsessed with making the confetti eggs. Lina is a very entertaining character, a girl who is crazy about her socks, and organizes them very carefully, she is also a science lover and a volleyball player, though she knows that she's not very good. Her father is a widower, an English teacher who seems to be only interested in his books, or in Lina's English grade at school. As Lina and her father struggle with dealing with her mother's recent death, they also help Vanessa and her mother come to terms with Vanessa's father leaving. In the midst of all of this, Lina and Vanessa are discovering the boys at their school, and understanding the changes that happen to their friendship as a result.
This is a good story about friendship and family struggle, although it is definitely a book that will really only be enjoyed by tweens. It is not one that older teens or adults will find anything in, but for less sophisticated readers, it is a great story of family, friendship, and Latino culture.