Read With Us: Book Three

Today's the day! You get to find out the third book Carole, Kym, and I have chosen for Read With Us. I'm excited to tell you a little about it, and I hope you'll be excited to read it. 

We looked at many lists of potential book club books and kicked around a lot of titles, in search of a "Goldilocks" just right book. Some were too long, some contained too much violence, others were not readily available, some just seemed too blah. The discussion around American Dirt was reaching a fever pitch while we were considering books, and while we weren't quite ready to take on a controversial book, we came across this list of 17 Great Books to Read Instead of American Dirt. As a white, middle class, 62-year-old woman who lives in NJ and MD, my experience around borders and immigration is next to nil. Like the list says, "there’s no shortage of talented Latinx writers with all kinds of stories to tell," so we've chosen a book that tells one of those stories.

I Am Not Your Perfect Mexican Daughter by Erika L. Sánchez

Fifteen-year-old Julia Reyes recounts her story and her battles to find a place for herself in this National Book Awards finalist. She fears that she may never measure up to her mother's expectations or her sister's perfect behavior, at the same time struggling mightily against all the stereotypes of growing up in a Mexican-American home. Julia is aloof, judgmental, sarcastic, and arrogant, but she's also a teenager, so this is a coming-of-age story in many ways. It is a portrayal of Mexican culture, the good and bad with an interesting mix of English and Spanish that felt right for the story.

Each us of will be doing promotional posts beginning April 7th, and we'll start the discussions on May 5th, so you've got plenty of time to find the book at your local library or support your local bookseller if you're lucky enough to still have one. We do hope you'll come along and Read With Us once again!