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4.0 AVERAGE
4.0 AVERAGE
Don’t Ask Me Where I’m From by Jennifer De Leon was such a fast read! I loved Lilliana’s friendships and the growth that occurred throughout the book. Her story is so similar to people I know and I think that this is a very important read. Something I found relatable was the high school assembly! It’s been 10+ years since I’ve been in high school, but OMG I remember how cringe assemblies were and before they settled on a theme, I was definitely getting flashbacks to how awkward it could’ve turned out.
The relationships and situations felt real to me, even if I haven’t personally experienced everything that happened. This book took me on an emotional rollercoaster from anger, to joy, to heartbreak, to warm fuzzies. It was a really great book and I highly recommend.
This is an important read for a) people to see themselves and have their experiences validated in media and b) people to get a glimpse of experiences they’ve been privileged not to face and gain understanding and empathy.
The relationships and situations felt real to me, even if I haven’t personally experienced everything that happened. This book took me on an emotional rollercoaster from anger, to joy, to heartbreak, to warm fuzzies. It was a really great book and I highly recommend.
This is an important read for a) people to see themselves and have their experiences validated in media and b) people to get a glimpse of experiences they’ve been privileged not to face and gain understanding and empathy.
I really enjoyed this book and how it touches on current immigration issues and racism. It is an easy read that is appropriate for YA and was super quick to get through. I didn’t find myself particular in love with any character but the story was well written and it was something I would recommend to others!
This was a good and relevant story. It really felt like growing up. The author did a good job at showing a point in time when you start to really see the world around you; when you transition from a kid who doesn't really see and understand things happening to growing up and having your whole perspective changed. The emotions and fear it creates. It was also felt like a real story of fear and immigration, but also hope and love and family. One of the major things that bothered me about this book was sometimes the slang was a little much. I understood the purpose of it was to really get Lili's voice across and to make it more real, I just think it could have been slightly less without impacting the feeling or the story dramatically. But I am not a teen so maybe teens would feel differently.
it took me a minute to really get into this book, like admittedly i didn't read the synopsis before going into it, i picked it up after hearing the author speak on a panel about it, i really had no idea where it was going. but man, once we got to where it was going it Went. i'm so glad this book is out in the world.
Thanks to the publisher and Netgalley for a copy to review! Find more reviews at https://spinesinaline.wordpress.com!
A timely book that draws on current issues and discussions in American politics! There’s a lot of talk about the “wall” that was harped on by current administration at the beginning of their term, but in this case we get to hear from a teen who worries about what that physical barrier and increased border security controls mean for her father who’s been deported and is trying to return to his family.
A quick aside here: one low-rated review complained that the book never addresses the “illegal” status of the MC’s parents and passes off undocumented immigrants as acceptable. First of all, we’re not going to call anyone “illegal immigrants”. And this take is incredibly superficial by not considering the context of immigration issues: who’s allowed in, humanitarian crises, the intense processes involved in following official protocol, not to mention all the biased systems that go into declaring something “illegal”. As a different reviewer argued, this book is about humanizing undocumented people so I hope more readers can recognize the good this book is doing and the harm more superficial stances cause.
I really enjoyed getting the story through Liliana’s POV. She has such a unique voice and it was easy to get immersed in her world and feel for her hopes and fears alongside her. As well as regular high school concerns, Liliana is worried about her father and her family, struggling with racism at her new school, and trying to embrace her identity as both American and Latina when others around her want her to embrace only one.
I was dreading a little where the story was going because there’s a lot of casual foreshadowing that something (or everything) is going to fall apart. The eventual downhill is therefore not surprising but disappointing (in the characters/systemic racism, not in the story) all the same but I still felt a lot of hope and excitement for the strategies that Liliana and her friends are coming up with to improve their school and the wider community.
One of my favourite parts is with one of the METCO group’s meetings. There’s discussion around topics like when to use “Spanish” to refer to groups of people and the more inclusive “LatinX” rather than Latino and Latina, and in these discussions it’s emphasized that the kids in this group are learning new things. I thought this was really important because not only are they trying to educate others who are from different cultural groups but they’re also getting to learn about their own identities and cultural history, which hasn’t isn’t been taught or encouraged in school. I really liked that they got to expand their own understandings of who they are through these conversations.
It’s an enjoyable YA with important discussions and a likeable cast of characters, if some of them don’t get much air time. A great debut!
A timely book that draws on current issues and discussions in American politics! There’s a lot of talk about the “wall” that was harped on by current administration at the beginning of their term, but in this case we get to hear from a teen who worries about what that physical barrier and increased border security controls mean for her father who’s been deported and is trying to return to his family.
A quick aside here: one low-rated review complained that the book never addresses the “illegal” status of the MC’s parents and passes off undocumented immigrants as acceptable. First of all, we’re not going to call anyone “illegal immigrants”. And this take is incredibly superficial by not considering the context of immigration issues: who’s allowed in, humanitarian crises, the intense processes involved in following official protocol, not to mention all the biased systems that go into declaring something “illegal”. As a different reviewer argued, this book is about humanizing undocumented people so I hope more readers can recognize the good this book is doing and the harm more superficial stances cause.
I really enjoyed getting the story through Liliana’s POV. She has such a unique voice and it was easy to get immersed in her world and feel for her hopes and fears alongside her. As well as regular high school concerns, Liliana is worried about her father and her family, struggling with racism at her new school, and trying to embrace her identity as both American and Latina when others around her want her to embrace only one.
I was dreading a little where the story was going because there’s a lot of casual foreshadowing that something (or everything) is going to fall apart. The eventual downhill is therefore not surprising but disappointing (in the characters/systemic racism, not in the story) all the same but I still felt a lot of hope and excitement for the strategies that Liliana and her friends are coming up with to improve their school and the wider community.
One of my favourite parts is with one of the METCO group’s meetings. There’s discussion around topics like when to use “Spanish” to refer to groups of people and the more inclusive “LatinX” rather than Latino and Latina, and in these discussions it’s emphasized that the kids in this group are learning new things. I thought this was really important because not only are they trying to educate others who are from different cultural groups but they’re also getting to learn about their own identities and cultural history, which hasn’t isn’t been taught or encouraged in school. I really liked that they got to expand their own understandings of who they are through these conversations.
It’s an enjoyable YA with important discussions and a likeable cast of characters, if some of them don’t get much air time. A great debut!
challenging
emotional
hopeful
inspiring
tense
medium-paced
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Yes
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
hopeful
inspiring
lighthearted
medium-paced
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Complicated
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
emotional
funny
hopeful
reflective
medium-paced
Strong character development:
Yes
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
hopeful
medium-paced
Strong character development:
No
Loveable characters:
Complicated
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
No
I really struggled with how to rate this book because I long for more books with Latinx protagonists but I’ve never felt so angry from reading a book ever in my life. I come from a mixed status family and sadly this book was not written for me. It was clearly written for white kids to be able to learn about and empathize with a Latina girl and her undocumented parents. She was so ignorant about immigration and her own culture the only explanation is that the author assumed that her readers would be just as ignorant. Also our protagonist literally does nothing until the 11th hour. Everything happens to her. And when she finally does something it’s just to take an idea from a book and implement and art project that her friend came up with. She has no ideas of her own! And don’t even get me started on how when there was a racist meme the solution was to have most of the students of color meet in a special group to learn about racism and then their final project was to educate the white students about what it is to be marginalized. And not once does any one point out how messed up it is to put this added burden on the students of color! I could really go on and on on how problematic this book is.
emotional
reflective
medium-paced
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Complicated
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes