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Review: I am Not Your Perfect Mexican Daughter by Erika L. Sánchez

Title: I am Not Your Perfect Mexican Daughter
Author: Erika L. Sánchez
Year Published: 2017


Genre: YA non-fiction
Pages: 340
Rating: 4.5 out of 5

Location (my 2017 Google Reading map)USA (IL) and Mexico

FTC Disclosure: I bought this book with my own money


Summary (from the inside flap of the book): Julia--definitely not your perfect Mexican daughter. She has big dreams of being a writer, and she refuses to allow her family's expectations to derail her plans.

Olga--Julia's older sister, who was the perfect Mexican daughter. She went to community college, worked a part-time job, and took care of her parents--until an accident left her dead and eternally perfect.

Connor--a white boy from Evanston, who can't possibly understand Julia's world but wants to be a part of it anyway.

Angie--Olga's best friend--and polar opposite. She doesn't believe that Olga could have kept any secrets. But she'll stick with Julia along the way.

And seriously, how on earth can Julia fall in love or find the truth under the never-blinking eyes of her parents?

Review: I picked up this book after reading about it on various blogs and in the NY Times and boy am I glad I did! It's so good!

I want all the Latinas in our local high schools to read this book. We need more books like this with Latino/a authors and Latino/a characters that aren't gang members, drug addicts, or single young mothers.

Julia is a good student, she is a fabulous writer, and she wants to create a better life for herself by going to college and getting a job that isn't "working in an office" like her family thinks she should. And yes, she is sometimes a brat and finds her parents exhausting and her friends irritating. And sometimes it's difficult to like her when she doesn't seem to show empathy for anyone around her. But she's a teenager. She'll get over it.

After the death of her sister Julia wants to find out all about the sister she didn't really know or appreciate. That proves to be difficult and sometimes we learn things we didn't want to know. I really liked the way the author dealt with Julia visiting her extended family in Mexico, learning about her parents and sister, and in the end, herself. This is a book of tragedy and hope all rolled into one and I highly recommend it.

Challenges for which this counts:

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