The Life and Times of Benny Alvarez

negative, adjective: (1) characterized by lacking positive attributes; (2) Benny Alvarezcontrary, adjective: (1) stubbornly opposed or willful; (2) Benny Alvarezfamily, noun: (1) any group of persons closely related by blood or marriage; (2) Mom, Dad, Irene, Benny, Crash, Grandpa Alvarez, and Glorialove, noun: a feeling of warm personal attachment or deep affectionloss, noun: (1) the state of being deprived of or of being without something that one has had; (2) something that is lost; (3) death, or the fact of being deadEveryone thinks Benny Alvarez is Mr. Negativity. According to Benny, he's just realistic about seeing the "other side" of things—when it comes to almost everything.But maybe there's a different way to deal with the things Benny can't control—like his ailing grandfather, his wild younger brother, and the know-it-all girls at school.In this poignant novel about acceptance, Benny Alvarez will have to decide . . . is the glass half empty or half full?