What is the author's style in Bluish by Virginia Hamilton?

Language is a highlight in several parts of the book. There is first and most obviously Tuli's butchering of the Spanish language, with her cries of "chica-chica!" and her put-on Hispanic accent. This helps to make Tuli an amusing sidekick to Dreenie, comic relief to counteract the serious main story of Bluish and her cancer. This use of language also reveals Tuli's character, in that she is using another language and accent to help cover her low self-esteem, to help hide who she really is because she is ashamed.