Alisa Valdes

Alisa Valdes, also published as Alisa Valdes-Rodriguez, is a novelist and former newspaper journalist whose fiction often explores cultural identity, friendship, ambition, and belonging. Haters, her first novel for younger readers, follows Pasquala “Paski” Murray after she leaves Taos, New Mexico, for a very different school environment in Southern California. Paski is a mountain biker with an independent streak and unsettling visions of events before they occur. Her arrival brings new friendships, social rivalries, family tension, and questions about how much she should change to fit in. Hachette identifies Haters as a Little, Brown Books for Young Readers title published in 2006 and places Paski’s cultural background and intuitive gift at the center of the story. Kirkus likewise describes the novel as a school drama shaped by relocation, status, romance, and self-definition. Valdes brings a journalist’s alertness to social groups while keeping the narrative close to Paski’s perspective. The result connects a familiar newcomer story with bicultural family life and a touch of the uncanny.