But how do we live with these secrets locked within us? National Book Award nominee I Am Not Your Perfect Mexican Daughter is a powerful young adult novel that deals with the very real trauma of grief and depression. Fifteen-year-old Julia Reyes, our narrator, lives in Chicago with her parents and older sister Olga, who has just died in a tragic accident. Julia is struggling with feelings of grief, guilt and anger, and her already fragile relationship with her parents is at the breaking point. […]
To Aim High is to Make Waves to Split Seams
So, like many CBR folks, I’m working on my backlog of reviews but I wanted to be sure to get a review in of this debut novel by Erika Sanchez, even though I finished it back in early November. My positive feelings about this novel were influenced by my experience hearing Sanchez talk at the Chicago Humanities festival in October. She’s funny, irreverent, honest, and an encouraging role model to young writers of color. I watched as one young Latina woman after another stood up […]