Publisher’s Summary: The Absolutely True Diary of a Part-Time Indian meets Jane the Virgin in this poignant but often laugh-out-loud funny contemporary YA about losing a sister and finding yourself amid the pressures, expectations, and stereotypes of growing up in a Mexican-American home.
Perfect Mexican daughters do not go away to college. And they do not move out of their parents’ house after high school graduation. Perfect Mexican daughters never abandon their family.
But Julia is not your perfect Mexican daughter. That was Olga’s role.
Then a tragic accident on the busiest street in Chicago leaves Olga dead and Julia left behind to reassemble the shattered pieces of her family. And no one seems to acknowledge that Julia is broken, too. Instead, her mother seems to channel her grief into pointing out every possible way Julia has failed.
But it’s not long before Julia discovers that Olga might not have been as perfect as everyone thought. With the help of her best friend Lorena, and her first kiss, first love, first everything boyfriend Connor, Julia is determined to find out. Was Olga really what she seemed? Or was there more to her sister’s story? And either way, how can Julia even attempt to live up to a seemingly impossible ideal?
Speaking from the perspective of a teenager from the paleolithic era, and as a mother, educator, and person with experience in life, I Am Not Your Perfect Mexican Daughter realistically portrays an adolescent who is intellectually maturing and emotionally quaking. Teens – and adults who remember – can relate to the love-hate relationship Julia has with school, her parents, her peers, and her community.
Empathy is learned by walking in someone else’s shoes but also from reading or hearing others’ experiences. Sanchez deftly reveals the limited options available to those who are undocumented, have minimal financial resources, and struggle with racial and class discrimination. Even though I Am Not Your Perfect Mexican Daughter addresses many social and diversity issues, Sanchez keeps the focus on the Julia’s personal struggle. Yes, her struggle includes ethnic, gender, and class concerns, but the story is both singular and universal.
Because it addresses topics of self-harm and mental illness, I Am Not Your Perfect Mexican Daughter is recommended for readers 14-17 years old.
Sanchez’s wit and insight as well as the conflict that results from cultural expectations make I Am Not Your Perfect Mexican Daughter an interesting and timely story.
Happy Reading, Susan C.
Gabi, A Girl in Pieces by Isabel Quintera – Sixteen-year-old Gabi Hernandez chronicles her senior year in high school as she copes with her friend Cindy’s pregnancy, friend Sebastian’s coming out, her father’s meth habit, her own cravings for food and cute boys, and especially, the poetry that helps forge her identity.
The Cholo Tree by Daniel Chacón – Recovering from a shooting and stereotyped as a Chicano gangbanger, fourteen-year-old Victor Reyes loves reading books, has a genius girlfriend and an art teacher who mentors and encourages him to apply to art schools, but Victor cannot seem to overcome society’s expectations for him.
I’ll Give You the Sun by Jandy Nelson – Jude and her twin brother, Noah, are incredibly close. At thirteen, isolated Noah draws constantly and is falling in love with the charismatic boy next door, while daredevil Jude cliff-dives and wears red-red lipstick and does the talking for both of them. But three years later, Jude and Noah are barely speaking. Something has happened to wreck the twins in different and dramatic ways . . . until Jude meets a cocky, broken, beautiful boy, as well as someone else–an even more unpredictable new force in her life. The early years are Noah’s story to tell. The later years are Jude’s. What the twins don’t realize is that they each have only half the story, and if they could just find their way back to one another, they’d have a chance to remake their world.
The O'Fallon Public Library News 