Turton, a middle school teacher who really gets the fragility of her students, Zu examines and analyzes past and present. In seven parts neatly organized around the scientific method as presented by Mrs. And Zu is desperate for answers and relief from her haunting grief and guilt. In middle school, where “Worst Thing” can mean anything from a pimple to public humiliation, Suzy “Zu” Swanson really has a reason to be in crisis: her former best friend has died unexpectedly, and the seventh-grader is literally silenced by grief and confusion.Ī chance encounter with a jellyfish display on a school trip gives her focus-for Zu, the venomous Irukandji jellyfish, while rare, provides a possible explanation for the “how” of Franny’s death. This heartrending and thoughtful memoir puts a human face on immigration’s personal toll. Read this along with Francisco Jiménez’s biographical series, starting with The Circuit (1997). Though redacted for young readers, this edition pulls no punches, and its frank honesty does not read “young” in any way.

They must live in fear of deportation, learn a new language, cower under their father’s abusive treatment, and make do, always on the financial edge. The author describes a life that, though different, is not easy on the other side of the border. Eventually, their father takes them to the U.S. As Grande’s parents’ marriage collapses, their mother returns only to leave again and again. Their parents have left with the dream of earning enough money to build a house back in Iguala meanwhile the children have their own dream of being reunited with their parents and once more being a family. Life in Iguala is one of grinding poverty and abusive treatment. Grande and her older siblings are left in their grandmother’s care. The book starts as her mother is leaving for the United States to join her husband, who left two years before. The grown-up Grande writes credibly in the voice of her younger self about growing up in Iguala de la Independencia in southern Mexico. It has now been adapted for a younger audience.

This moving coming-of-age memoir by novelist Grande was a National Book Critics Circle Award Finalist in 2012.

The distance between us online book