I AM NOT YOUR PERFECT MEXICAN DAUGHTER BY: ERIKA SANCHEZ
Bibliographic Information:
Author: Erika Sanchez
Title: I Am Not Your Perfect Mexican Daughter
Copyright:2017
Publisher: Knopf Books for Young Readers
ISBN: 978-1524700485
Summary: Julia’s life changes forever when her sister Olga was hit and killed by a truck. While she mourns the loss of her sister, she still can’t help but think that her own parents may never love her as much as they loved Olga. Her family doesn’t seem to want to acknowledge that Julia is in fact greatly affected by Olga’s death, and her mother’s way of grieving consists of continuously criticizing Julia’s “failures”. However, as time goes by Julia begins to uncover the real truth behind her sister Olga. On the surface Olga seemed to be perfect, but sometimes things aren’t always as they seem.
Critical Evaluation: One of the things that the author does really well is covers the topic of mental health as well as provides a healthy way to deal with mental health both from a teenager and parental perspective. This book is actually multilayered with various themes intersecting concerning Mexican Culture, hard truths, and how things have changed. The main character definitely had a lot of depth to her: she is sassy, determined, strong willed, confrontational, and courageous. At times the book appears to take up different genres such as sometimes it appears to be a memoir, and a mystery. This book accurately captures what it is like to be a first generation American.
Reader’s Annotation: Julia feels that her parents will never love her as much as Olga, but was Olga really that perfect? Or is there more to her than what meets the eye?
Author Information: Erika L. Sanchez wears many hats including a novelist, essayist, and poet. She is also the daughter of Mexican immigrants, and she grew up in Cicero, Illinois in the Mexican working part of town. From a young age, she was already a feminist and an overachiever. After graduating from the University of Illinois Phi Beta Kappa and Magna Cum Laude, she went to Spain on a scholarship called Fulbright Scholarship. Once her scholarship was completed, she went on to get her MFA in creative writing from the University of New Mexico.
“I am Not Your Perfect Mexican Daughter” was her debut YA novel which is both a New York Times Best Seller and a National Book Awards finalist. She has won many awards including the Bread Loaf Scholarship, and the 2013 “Discovery”/Boston Review Prize, and the Ruth Lilly and Dorothy Sargent Rosenberg Poetry Fellowship. Her poetry has been included in a few well known library journals such as POETRY Magazine, Copper Nickel, Vinyl Poetry, and more. Erika is also fluent in Spanish.
https://erikalsanchez.com/about/
Genre- Fiction
Curriculum Ties– Mexican Culture
Book Talk Ideas- Mental Health
Interest Age/Reading Level- Grades 9-12
Challenge Issues & Defense Preparation
Challenge Issues: Mental health; family issues
Selection Policy: http://ccclib.org/policies/CollectionDevelopmentAccess-1999-11-16.pdf
Library Bill of Rights: http://www.ala.org/advocacy/sites/ala.org.advocacy/files/content/intfreedom/librarybill/lbor.pdf
Right to Read: http://www2.ncte.org/statement/righttoreadguideline/
Rationale:
Bibliographic Information:
Author: Erik Sanchez
Title: I Am Not Your Perfect Mexican Daughter
Copyright:2017
Publisher: Knopf Books for Young Readers
ISBN: 978-1524700485
Intended Audience: The intended audience is young adults specifically the upper grades of 9-12. This particular book would be beneficial for an English or social studies class. Primarily the book will be used for individual study in which every member of the class should read the book, and then afterwards there can be a group discussion of what transpired in the book as well as observations and thoughts concerning the book. “I Am Not Your Perfect Mexican Daughter” can be utilized to discuss family dynamics and issues as well as mental health.
Summary: Julia’s life changes forever when her sister Olga was hit and killed by a truck. While she mourns the loss of her sister, she still can’t help but think that her own parents may never love her as much as they loved Olga. Her family doesn’t seem to want to acknowledge that Julia is in fact greatly affected by Olga’s death, and her mother’s way of grieving consists of continuously criticizing Julia’s “failures”. However, as time goes by Julia begins to uncover the real truth behind her sister Olga. On the surface Olga seemed to be perfect, but sometimes things aren’t always as they seem.
Relationship to Program: The relationship of the book to school objectives would be helping 9th graders develop their literal and inferential understanding skills and comprehension skills. Through reading this book they would learn SLE # R.9.9.1 Connect own background knowledge, including personal experience and perspectives shaped by age, gender, class or national origin, to determine author’s purpose. R.9.9.5. Draw inferences from a sentence or a paragraph (including conclusions, generalizations and predictions) and support them with text evidence. Concerning summary and generalization students will utilize R.9.9.8 Summarize and paraphrase structures in informational and literary texts, including relationships among concepts and details. Concerning analysis and evaluation students will utilize R. 9.9.11 Recognize and define various points of view (e.g., omniscient narrator, third person limited) and R. 9.9.13 Identify and discuss a position using concepts gained from reading (e.g. debate, discussion, position paper, etc.).
http://www.fayar.net/edvision/language/09_reading_0405.pdf
Impact: I think this would be both a very insightful and relatable book for the students. The students most likely have siblings, and by reading this book, they can begin to see that their siblings also have their shortcomings as well. Also this book raises awareness concerning mental health, and it would be good for the students to know that they can get therapy to assist them if need be. This book would be insightful because it would help the students to see that they don’t need to be perfect. All they would ever need to be is themselves.
Why Included: I think that teens would really be able to relate to this book. Most teens do have siblings, and they very well may feel that their sibling is better than them or their parents care about the other sibling more. This book reconfirms that no one is in fact perfect, and that sometimes these seemingly perfect siblings have quite a bit of things going on that reconfirms that they aren’t perfect. Also, the fact that this book highlights Mexican culture, which is great for other teens that have a Mexican heritage to identify with.
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