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Joseph Gutiz: A multitalented educator, professional landscape photographer, an author of two books, Dream to Achieve, a motivational book, and Southern Hospitality, a photo traveling journal book.
In his debut children’s novel, The Adventures of Chubby Cheeks: The Pro Quest, Joseph highlights many of the social issues children face nowadays, such as bullying, financial hardships, and common middle school dilemmas, which Joseph experienced while growing up in the great metropolitan area of Los Angeles.
Since childhood, Joseph appeared to have a keen eye for the arts and the world as a whole, for which he now credits much of his success. He also aspires to continue motivating the youth by leading as a positive role model.
Joseph Gutiz grew up in the Pico-Union neighborhood, just west of downtown Los Angeles. Joseph was the son of a struggling single mother that was constantly battling overwhelming poverty, gang violence and lots of “can’t do this, can’t do that” attitude from friends and neighbors, whose dreamless states led them to accept a life of conformance. As he self-nurtured himself in this harsh environment, he soon learned that dreams would come and go and that only those, which were nourished, had a better chance of being realized. Joseph’s positive outlook in life helped him not easily give up on his dreams. He used his many obstacles to fuel his fire in meeting his dreams.
Reviewed by Trisha Dawn Daffon for Readers' Favorite
"The Adventures of Chubby Cheeks" tells the pro quest story of this boy who, because of his cheeks, was so aptly nicknamed Chubby Cheeks. This is written in Chubby's point of view. His adventure started during summer when every one seemed to have gone somewhere while he and his best friend Jimmy Jam were stuck in their neighborhood. As it turned out, this summer was unlike what they had imagined. The story does not stop there. It continues as Chubby enters middle school. It tells of Chubby's experiences in his new learning environment. This story wraps up right when everything got a whole lot better for him and his friends.
What can I say? I fell in love with it. I couldn't help but go through what Chubby Cheeks and his friends went through. It is so powerful that I was sucked in. It convinced me that in my mind I was one of them. I was there when he experienced some highs and some lows. I was there to laugh at his experiences and I was also there to share his thoughts about almost everything. This story made me feel. It made me sympathize. I must say every bit of this story is very integral in making it the success that it is. There were various emotions being played, there were different issues being faced and there were different characters filling this up but somehow Jospeh Gutiz has managed to mix them harmoniously and come up with this original. This will be a hit among children and adults, too. Chubby Cheeks' experiences with his school life, friends and family are something most of the kids can relate to all over the world. This is definitely a good read; I would say, a must.
